Headquarters
From 1952 to 1967, an American army camp existed in Varrains, near Saumur. Local history mixed with international history in this small village for a short time. Saumur Signal Depot, as it was named, is remembered for its factories, which, after WWII, employed more than one thousand people. Created in May 1952, this American base took delivery, checked, repaired and dispatched electronic equipment to the American bases protecting Europe during the height of cold war.

Some areas are well known
There were areas of the Signal Depot other than the SSD itself. Residents of Saumur often speak about the camp at Méron near Montreuil-Bellay located on 20 hectares of meadow which had an aerodrome and where thousands of tons material was stored. Meron provided work opportunities to hundreds of French who worked there in the 1950 and 1960 years.

…others less
There was also an area know as Dulles which was built in 1956 on the lines of a small American village. It was located in Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg to be the residences of the families of American soldiers from Saumur Signal Depot. 

During this period another village was developed around the Chateau Des Ifs in Varrains. A veritable self-contained city with bowling, cinema, gymnasium, place of worship, gasoline station, etc. Headquarters at the American camp of Varrains accommodated the soldiers of the US with the necessities of life. The Chateau Des Ifs itself contained a military store on the first floor, a physician and dentist on the second and a photo laboratory and hobby shop on the third floor. Local people did not speak often of the Varrains site because it was always closed to the public. The fact remains that this site has left traces and buildings still in use today.

The soldiers were housed in concrete hutments built around 1953 before permanent housing was constructed. The preferred place of these soldiers and the French who had the privilege to enter the camp was the clubs. Whether the officers club or the enlisted club, it was a place of relaxation, where everyone was found playing cards, dancing and eating. A Varrain resident remembers jazz groups and strip dancers performing when he was hardly 10 years old at the time. The Americans had built a theater for entertainers which is still there. 

Bad international economic situation
Several reasons force the Americans to leave Varrains and Méron at the end of 1960. Bad international economic conditions, decline of the value of the dollar and a decision by General de Gaulle to remove the American bases from France forced the Officers Club, a place of festival and joy, to be closed on October 30, 1964. At the same time many of the employees at Meron were laid off. Closing the French bases forces the supply line north of  France. Some of the Depot buildings were destroyed, but today, there still remains the bowling alley (transformed into village hall in 1985), the Officers Club, the gymnasium, barracks and mess hall.