Military History and POW Camp - Bushwhacker Museum in Newton and McDonald counties. Post-Dispatch photo, German POWs on a "boat camp" in the St. Louis area play chess and relax on the deck in 1945. Prisoners of war did basic farm work such as harvesting corn or potatoes. Last chance! A 150 feet (46m) electrically lighted escape tunnel was discovered by authorities. There were also few wholesale escape attempts made by prisoners of war in Missouri. As McDowell went on to explain, her uncle remained at Camp Weingarten until his discharge from the U.S. Army in December 1944. As a result, their supervision relaxed, sometimes to the point of being unguarded and unwatched. About 500 American soldiers were assigned to guard 3,600 Italians at the camp. The POWs were required to watch the film during an assembly in June 1945, one month after Germany surrendered. That was four days afterthe surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which killed 2,403 Americans, and three days after the U.S. declared war on the Empire of Japan in retaliation. Some escaped out of homesickness, some out of patriotism, some out of fear of being returned to their altered homeland. As noted in Humanities Texas, the first big batch of POWs arrived in the spring of 1943 following the surrender of Germany's Afrika Korps. 6U z*&`873 hkg7*I|dx^EY?IF$zwUJH!/V>H>is&n /t; Army Col. H.H. Missouri figured into this equation, housing some 15,000 prisoners of war from Germany and Italy inside state lines. All enlisted men were required to work, and they were paid 80 cents a day, the same rate American privates received. Too old to participate in the company sports . With Glidden is Lt. Lawrence Ponetretti, an Army interpreter. It was noted that many of the Italians were semi-emaciated when arriving in the United States because of a poor diet. In fact, much of life that prisoners of war led in Missouri during that time was like that of U.S. Army privates serving in those camps: they received the same food and housing, ate meals in the mess halls, were given days off and performed duties ranging from laundry to cooking to working as orderlies in the Officers Club. Earlier that evening, a English-speaking fellow prisoner heard an American radio broadcast suggesting that German POWs be dispatched to the uncertain care of the Soviet army. This was no invasionary force; rather these were prisoners of war, part of a flood of almost a half-million men captured and sent to the United States, held here until the end of the war. The photo was taken in March 1945, shortly after radio . | Updated May 7, 2018 at 11:23 a.m. Former Jefferson City resident Lyman Lester McDowell was given this cigarette case by his brother-in-law, Dwight Taylor, during World War II. Two escaped. According toSociety for Military History, because of its scant experience dealing with POWs, the U.S. chose to follow the edicts of the untried 1929 Geneva Convention. Once outside, they hopped trains or stole cars. "During one of my uncle's visits back to Alton, he asked his mother for an aluminum pie pan," McDowell said. By 1943 the army had acquired 42,786.41 acres (173.2km2), 66.9 sq. POW and ISU Camps and Hospitals in US. The road is in an area called the POW Camp Recreation Area in the De Soto National Forest. Located between Farmington and Ste. Most Americans regarded them as curiosities, but there was conflict. Now home to the CMP Headquarters and Gary Anderson competition center. As noted by Humanities Texas,methods of escape were as varied as reasons for trying and were occasionally quite inventive. Italys surrender in 1943 changed the status of the Italian POWs, who remained here but were granted more freedom, including occasional trips to the Hill neighborhood. J^q+q5(aP96\A8k=r2e+WokGrS7[FlDabO*P7K_3zpzvr~Q 0BjSvkVI-|u"FhBd/jaer+]Az5uj#rM9@m_G\wVifS9RFYX]mZaPxJi!8/qUFIfT? WMi{C/&pQToGp0|xT{;tXUWyaU=:7ju'r9!3? 5 0 obj My uncle then gave the cigarette case as a gift to my father, who was living in Jefferson City at the time and working as superintendent of the tobacco factory inside the Missouri State Penitentiary, stated McDowell. Camps were built on military bases, like Fort Leonard Wood, and within the base there would be a prisoner-of-war compound. Last edited on 25 December 2022, at 21:03, Learn how and when to remove this template message, University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=29115, http://worldandmilitarynotes.com/pow/camp-mcalester-ok-usa-pow-camp/, Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery, Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology, https://www.westbatonrougemuseum.com/573/Port-Allen-Prisoner-of-War-Sub-Camp-No-7, German prisoners of war in the United States, Italian Prisoners of War and Italian Service Units: From Enemies to Co-belligerents, Paul J. Jordan, University of Massachusetts Boston, PDF text of report: DAPAM Issue 20; Issue 213: Prisoner of war utilization by the United States Army 1776-1945, Raw Text of: Prisoner of war utilization by the United States Army 1776-1945, "Bellemead (New Jersey) Italian Service Unit", "German POWS Lived and Died in Florida Camps" by Jim Robinson, The Orlando Sentinel 4 May 2004, http://www.ourmidland.com/local_news/article_69cbc6a7-0b7a-59db-bf4a-f3d309b87808.html, "On American Soil: Camp Florence, Arizona. Four years later, the government offered the buildings at auction to relieve the post-war shortage of housing. About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II. Kansas City-Area Camps. Fort Leonard Wood, in central Missouri Camp Weingarten, near Ste. St. Louis on the Air hostDon Marshand producersMary Edwards,Alex HeuerandKelly Moffittgive you the information you need to make informed decisions and stay in touch with our diverse and vibrant St. Louis region. d3K/,diWAgCZ,7Y>&WqU(lt1iJ5cuy#}iv^L),ybY[Y="Ni' i~l + Troopers nabbed Levin in an empty clubhouse. The Enemy Among Us: Pows in Missouri During World War II - Goodreads Camp Clark was established in 1908 and was used as an assembly point for troops serving in Central America, in the Mexican border war, and in World War I. 200 German POWs were interned at the Tri-City Airport (now known as South Wood County Airport) from July to November 1945. The Chicago Tribune reported Oct. 23, 1943, that the prisoners at Camp Weingarten soon "put on weight" by eating a "daily menu superior to that of the average civilian.". In 2010, local author and researcher David Fiedler wrote a book about this very history titled The Enemy Among Us: POWs in Missouri During World War II. After years of copious research, gathering first-hand accounts, government files and newspaper clippings, he detailed the life POWs led in the some 30 camps that were spread across the state. The POW Camps in Missouri during World War II included: Clark (Camp), Nevada, Vernon County, MO (base camp) Crowder (Camp Enoch), Neosho, Newton County, MO (base camp) Weingarten (Camp), Sainte Genevieve County, MO (base camp) Wood (Fort Leonard), Pulaski County, Missouri (base camp) Enemy alien internment camp: Capacity for 4800 at main camp. The camp, located south of Neosho, Missouri, was established in 1941. According to Society for Military History, to create rights and status equal to the U.S. military, German officers above the rank of captain were assigned their own POW orderlies and generals were housed in private huts. The majority of the camps were located in the Midwest, South, and Southwest, and the biggest contingency of POWs 372,000 were German. Built in WWII, Camp Crowder, Missouri was once a booming U.S. Army post Kurt Rossmeisl escaped on 4 August 1945 and surrendered in 1959. Post-Dispatch file photo, Some of the German POWs who were housed in a prison compound at Fort Leonard Wood in central Missouri watch an Army Signal Corps film of scenes from a Nazi concentration camp in Europe. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch. Now Tampa International Airport and Drew Park. Only one escaped entirely. It was an enormous and complex task, but over the next three years, the War Department succeeded in housing more than 400,000 POWs in some 500 camps. Photo by Jack Gould of the Post-Dispatch, A German POW on a boat camp in St. Louis relaxes and reads on his bunk. Waste material generated from the former Fort include aviation and vehicular fuels, oils, greases, metals, paints and solvents. Transcripts for St. Louis Public Radio produced programming are available upon request for individuals with hearing impairments. Complementing that were screenings of carefully selected movies, including horrifying footage showing the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. Over 3000 German POWs were interned at Billy Mitchell Field airport (known today as Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE)) from January 1945 to April 1946. Incidents like Black soldiers being forced to dispose of the POWs' human waste and POWs refusing to follow instructions from Black work supervisors infuriated Black servicemen. xZOHa Often, descendants of those POWs come for a visit to see where their relatives spent the war. It held soldiers and officers of the Italian army captured in the Allied Mediterranean campaigns during World War II. <> Later known as an anti-Nazi camp where many intellectuals, artist, writers were among the POWs. Fiedler recounted the tale of one Italian gentleman who, after he returned to his home country, wrote to a farmer he worked for in Sikeston remarking on how much he liked working with him. ", As noted in Returning to America: German Prisoners of War and American Experience, of the more than half million Germans who immigrated to America between 1947 and 1960, several thousand were former POWs. The positive treatment they experienced here, another way we promoted that was a way to say these are people who will go back and reestablish society in Europe and have an opinion on the United States and we want that to be good, Fiedler said. When labor shortages due to enlistment hit the American economy, however, the War Department rethought its strategy and greatly expanded POW labor. CHESTERFIELD Cpl. Camp Locations The Enemy Among Us - Dave Fiedler For 16 years, starting in 1957, rocket engines for missiles such as the Atlas, Thor and Saturn were assembled and tested at Air Force Plant 65. Genevieve, Missouri, A former CCC camp it was used for POWs who were with Rommel's Afrika Corps. Post-Dispatch file photo, The chow line on a boat camp at St. Louis in 1945. POWs in the US. For one thing, they were needed to help rebuild European infrastructure. Many of the camps where they were held have faded into distant memory as little evidence remains of their existence; however, one local resident has a relic from a former POW camp that provides an enduring connection to the service of a departed relative. From San Pedro, Gaertner, who spoke fluent English, traveled north undetected, taking a series of odd jobs on the West Coast, including fruit picker, logger, and ski instructor. endobj <> Also the site of training for "The Ritchie Boys", European refugees trained there to go back into Germany and sabotage the war effort. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Salvatore E. Polizzi had become a national figure for his work in The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis. Genevieve. Weingarten was the location of a large prisoner of war camp during WWII. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Facilities now serve as an adjunct to the state's mental health program. Camp Crowder, outside of Neosho, Missouri, Click here for a state map showing camp locations, Columbia fraternity houses on the MU campus, Hannibal housed in tents in Clemens Field, Riverside housed in the former Jockey Club racetrack facility. The Italian and one German POW who committed suicide rather than be repatriated are buried just outside the post cemetery boundaries. His hometown really wasnt all that far from Camp Weingarten, she added. According to theSociety for Military History, because the Geneva Convention limited how differently one POW could be treated from another, camp authorities initially made "no distinction between ideologically hardened prisoners and those who are 're-educated.'" <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 9 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> About 15,000 of them were sent to 30 camps scattered across Missouri. The main camps supported a number of branch camps, which were used to put POWs where their labor could be best utilized. And it was the Germans, Nazi and non-Nazi, who defined camp life more than any other group of captives. 500 German POWs were housed in a warehouse and tent city next to the Rockfield Canning Co. plant, where many of them worked as pea packers. Indirectly, though? This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of News Tribune Publishing. They worked at 8 local canneries until moving to other parts of Wisconsin in August, 1945. Wxi7Enw{)}$yIOJ }E>kZkz6v;_c-dPc=lJeVP 2d}$uDOZeWEB{WHV>'HXDkX9F$j#h"6&U&Y{@G;hdGtDIWbRTo(BaA`cEln!PjYYN0S UJW)G)E*}!2HfK?8`P endobj Leisure activities included Ping-Pong, chess, and card games. Opened in 1943, a segregation camp from 1944. 10 0 obj Camp Weingarten quickly grew into a sprawling facility to house Italian POWs brought to the United States and, Jefferson City resident Carolyn McDowell explained, was the site where one of her uncles spent his entire period of service with the U.S. Army in World War II. Some of the camps were designated "segregation camps", where Nazi "true believers" were separated from the rest of the prisoners, whom they terrorized and even killed for being friendly with their American captors. mi. When Levin and Straussberg fled Hellwig farm on June 16, 1945, they were among roughly 100 German POWs who lived there. In Southern POW camps, some facilities were segregated by race, and Black servicemen were given the worst jobs. They were much less formal, much less heavily guarded, and there were much more opportunities for social interaction.. Southeast Missouri State University Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 Phone: (573) 651-2245; Fax: (573) 651-2666; Email: semoarchives@semo.edu Guide to the Weingarten P.O.W Camp Collection . About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II.. Now called Dennis Whiles, Gaertner told Jean he had been raised in an orphanage, thus eliminating any questions about his family.