In World War II, 75 men from Taylorsville served and two lost their lives overseas. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the US Army Air Corps wanted an isolated place to build a training base safe from any attacks by the Japanese and on the main rail routes to the Pacific Coast. The War Department bought of dry farmland in the western part of Salt Lake Valley. The land originally was part of a federal land grant to the state of Utah to be used to benefit schools and universities in Utah. But it had long since passed into private hands and was used for dry farms. Camp Kearns went through renamings as the focus and mission of the base changed; Camp Kearns was the name which stuck. It opened in 1942 but took about a year to gain its final size. The base was named for Senator Thomas Kearns of Utah who had made his fortune in the silver mines at Park City. Camp Kearns was not in Taylorsville.