POWs in America

[carouselvic]

Kansas POW camps

http://www.kansastravel.org/campconcordia.htm
http://www.kansasphototour.com/concordia.htm


Fort Riley had branch POW camps, a large banch Camp Phillips in Salina, and 12 smaller branch camps in Kansas and Missouri: Council Grove, El Dorado, Eskridge, Hutchinson, Lawrence, Neodesha, Ottawa, Peabody, Wadsworth, Grand Pass, Lexington, Liberty.

 

[Gray Ghost]

There was a fairly large POW camp at "Camp Butner" in north-central N.C. After the war, this camp was renovated and opened as John Umstead State Hospital (one of NC's four state-operated psychiatric hospital's). John Umstead Hospital is still in operation, but is scheduled to be replaced by a new hospital that will serve the population of JUH in Butner and the old Doretha Dix psychiatric hospital in Raleigh. The new hospital, located in Butner, is scheduled to open sometime in 2007.

There was also a smaller POW camp in the mountains of western NC near the town of Tryon in the Rutherford/Polk county area. I am sure that there were more of these camps across the state, but do not have any information on them.

What he said.

 

[Story]

During World War II, the Army intentionally formed a unit chockablock with fascisti and their suspected sympathizers. What a sensible idea -- much better than kicking them out into society and losing track of them.

This is all discussed in the new issue of Army Lawyer , where Fred "Three Sticks" Borch has a fascinating article about PFC Dale Maple, a brilliant young man who was born in San Diego in 1920 and who graduated from Harvard with honors but then, because he was bad, was found guilty of treason and sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead.

The Army had just the place for him: the 620th Engineer General Service Company, which despite its innocuous name was actually a holding unit for about 200 GIs of suspect loyalty, many of them German-born. The unit, which was not given weapons, was located in Camp Hale, Colorado, which is far from any port, but happened to next to an detachment of German PoWs on a work party.

http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/02/18/a_pro_nazi_us_army_unit_in_wwii?wpisrc=obnetwork

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m6052/is_2010_Nov/ai_n57480989/

 

[TimeWarpWife]

My maternal grandmother told me that during WWII my mother was playing outside one day in the yard with her dog. The dog went under the fence and out onto the road and one of the German POW's working on the road that day grabbed the dog and handed it back to my mother. The POW's were housed at the Front Royal (VA) Remount Depot which was the Army base my paternal grandfather was stationed at during WWII.

 

[AmateisGal]

My maternal grandmother told me that during WWII my mother was playing outside one day in the yard with her dog. The dog went under the fence and out onto the road and one of the German POW's working on the road that day grabbed the dog and handed it back to my mother. The POW's were housed at the Front Royal (VA) Remount Depot which was the Army base my paternal grandfather was stationed at during WWII.

At the Fort Robinson POW camp in Nebraska, the Germans were going out to work in the fields and were getting up into the trucks. The American soldier guarding them was a little on the heavy side and needed help getting into the truck. He handed his rifle to the POWs who held it, then gave him a hand into the truck and gave the rifle back to him.

They were very well treated here. There are very, very few stories of German POWs causing trouble to the Americans they worked for.

 

[Stearmen]

One of the sadder stories involving German POWs had to do with Tuskegee pilots. Seems, at some of the basis they were stationed at after returning from combat, the POWs were allowed to sit in the front of the movie theater, the Black officers had to sit in the back. What a slap in the face!

 

[Story]

At the Fort Robinson POW camp in Nebraska, the Germans were going out to work in the fields and were getting up into the trucks. The American soldier guarding them was a little on the heavy side and needed help getting into the truck. He handed his rifle to the POWs who held it, then gave him a hand into the truck and gave the rifle back to him.

They were very well treated here. There are very, very few stories of German POWs causing trouble to the Americans they worked for.

Growing up, my next-door neighbor was a little bit older in 1942 when he drafted into the MPs. Prior to going to the Pacific, he was assigned PoW Guard Duty. Had one tale about another Guard falling asleep while taking the Afrika Korp boys out to the fields, woke up with no problems. Only upon turning in his double barrel shotgun (!) did he notice that the shells where empty - supposedly the PoWs borrowed it to nail some rabbits (w/ OO Buck?!).

 

[mdove]

If any of you get near Andersonville, GA recommend you go to the National POW Museum there. Very moving experience. Also drive around the POW Camp there. At Camp Perry, Port Clinton, OH there are huts used as housing for POW's. I had the opportunity, when I was in the OH Army National Guard, to stay in several. They are still there and on some sort of historical registry. Also worked at Fort Abraham Lincoln in Bismarck, ND which housed POW's. My classroom building had bars on the windows.

 

[AmateisGal]

Growing up, my next-door neighbor was a little bit older in 1942 when he drafted into the MPs. Prior to going to the Pacific, he was assigned PoW Guard Duty. Had one tale about another Guard falling asleep while taking the Afrika Korp boys out to the fields, woke up with no problems. Only upon turning in his double barrel shotgun (!) did he notice that the shells where empty - supposedly the PoWs borrowed it to nail some rabbits (w/ OO Buck?!).

Doesn't surprise me a bit.

 

[AmateisGal]

I love that this thread has been resurrected - I was the original poster, albeit under a different name - MelissaAnne. I did finish that thesis back in 2005 and graduated with my master's degree in history. Now, though, I really need to write the history of the Fort Robinson (Nebraska) POW camp as I have most of the research already accumulated.

 

[mdove]

Camp Forsyth at Fort Riley KS, also housed WW II POW's. There is a POW cemetery there.

 

[Story]

Interesting article on the "Italian Service Units" at Fort Devons, Mass.
http://www.nashobapublishing.com/ayer_news/ci_23827925/italian-pows-at-devens

 

[a20havoc]

There was a camp about 20 minutes from where I live, called Camp Michaux. It is now part of a PA state forest. Nothing remains of the camp, except the footprints of the buildings and one wall from one barracks. German and Italian POW's were sent there, and there is a legend about some names and drawings scratched into the foundations of a bridge near the site. The POW's were loaded onto flatbed trucks and driven to Adams County, PA, where they worked in the orchards picking fruit, or in the packing houses putting it in boxes and barrels. Often, Germans were assigned to drive equipment and tractors because they were handy with machinery. One guy I know, who's in his 60's now, went to scout camp at Camp Michaux and slept in the barracks. He distinctly remembered "artwork" left over from the war, that had swastikas on it. These pictures were on the walls of the barracks. Anybody who grew up in the area, working with the old WWII-era folks knows about the POW's at Camp Michaux.

 

[Widebrim]

^^Interesting, and rather odd that the camp officials would allow "artwork" containing swastikas on it.

 

[hatguy1]

There were several of these camps in Kansas as well. http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/1984autumn_obrien.pdf



Camp Concordia in the north central part of the state is probably the best "preserved" (portions, anyway):
http://kansastravel.org/campconcordia.htm

My grandfather had to supervise PWs from here used in manual labor because he spoke German. All the Germans he supervised told him they didn't want to go back to Germany. Even though they were PWs they were treated better (better fed, etc) than the German economy had ever offered them.

 

[Worf]

My late mother grew up in the rural south. Gates County, North Carolina was her home. During WWII she worked at the Naval Hospital in Norfolk Va. She often told the story of a German POW camp near her home in N.C. In it was a German who could play classical Piano REALLY well. She talked often of hearing him playing as it wafted across the fields in the early evenings. She said she wished she could've seen him play. I've no name or record of the camp, only her rememberances.

Worf

 

[Stearmen]

My late mother grew up in the rural south. Gates County, North Carolina was her home. During WWII she worked at the Naval Hospital in Norfolk Va. She often told the story of a German POW camp near her home in N.C. In it was a German who could play classical Piano REALLY well. She talked often of hearing him playing as it wafted across the fields in the early evenings. She said she wished she could've seen him play. I've no name or record of the camp, only her rememberances.

Worf

Maybe this sight will help you Worf! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_prisoner-of-war_camps_in_the_United_States

 

[Worf]

Maybe this sight will help you Worf! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_prisoner-of-war_camps_in_the_United_States

I went to that site right after reading this thread... I'm searching now. Maps would've helped where you could see where the camps were... State by State. But I'll suggest to them later.

Worf

 

[3fingers]

Camp Ellis was just a few miles from here. 5000 mostly German POWs. It was also a large training camp. All gone now but the water tower and the berm for the rifle range. A lot of the buildings were sold and moved, many can still be found around here today. There is a ton of information about Ellis online compared to some of the other camps and at least a couple of good books have been written about it. The folks who were involved are leaving us quickly now but it changed thousands of peoples lives for better or worse. If you were one of the uprooted families it wasn't a good time. Some never recovered from it and were bitter the rest of their lives.

http://www.lib.niu.edu/1995/ihy950460.html

 

[Phantomfixer]

http://www.militaryheritage.org/POW.html
Delaware had several POW camps...kinda cool, DE is a very small state to have several camps. Ft Saulsbury is in private hands if I recall, the rest are more or less state owned and available to the public. Ft Dupont has several original buildings standing, the pier at Ft Miles were the German sub was docked is still around..
the older folks talk of German POWs working the farms and going to town dances. Some even lived off camp to work...