pow camps in missouri pow camps in missouri

Five weeks after Germanys surrender, American security had become a bit haphazard. The caption information from 1945 does not identify the boat as the one on the Missouri River, near today's Chesterfield, or the one at the foot of Arsenal Street. Close to Fort Lincoln and held over 5,000 soldiers. With Glidden is Lt. Lawrence Ponetretti, an Army interpreter. <> When labor shortages due to enlistment hit the American economy, however, the War Department rethought its strategy and greatly expanded POW labor. Indeed, in correspondence, one POW described his camp as a "goldener Kafig," or golden cage, while another wrote home to say imprisonment was like a "rest-cure. The post is also notable as the birthplace of landmark LabVIEW programmer Michael Porter. 5 0 obj % All enlisted men were required to work, and they were paid 80 cents a day, the same rate American privates received. As of July 1, 1944, there were 353 camps in 39 states with 18 more camps under construction. The camp was named for General Harvey C Clark, Missouris adjutant general and commander of Missouris National Guard. Some were transferred to a special camp for Nazi incorrigibles in Oklahoma. Beginning as a reception center for newly inducted draftees and enlistments who were issued the initial uniform clothing allowance and transferred to other army posts for initial testing and subsequent assignment to a basic training command. 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 After Germany's surrender in May 1945, the process of POW release and repatriation began. They ruled with an iron fist, ordering work stoppages and holding kangaroo courts. 4 0 obj Salvatore E. Polizzi had become a national figure for his work in The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis. Photo by Jack Gould of the Post-Dispatch, The front gate of the POW camp at Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, part of the Missouri River bottomland in St. Louis County. In Chesterfield Valley, Fiedler said, there are stories of farmers getting to know the prisoners of war and inviting them in for lunch. One of the first three designated camps for anti-Nazis, along with. Many locals recognized the vital role the POWs played in their local businesses, and quite a few befriended their captive employees, continuing relationships even after the war, as noted in HistoryNet. And it was the Germans, Nazi and non-Nazi, who defined camp life more than any other group of captives. Despite the challenges of overseeing the internment of former enemy soldiers, the camp experienced few security incidents and conditions remained rather cordial, in part due to the sustenance given the prisoners. I will someday donate the cigarette case to a museum for preservation and display, and I believe my brother, Harold McDowell, would agree. It was noted many of the Italians were "semi-emaciated" when arriving in the United States because of a poor diet. At the same time, stories about Nazi violence and influence in the POW camps were beginning to circulate. Fielder said that, by and large, the prisoners of war coexisted positively with their American neighbors. For one thing, they were needed to help rebuild European infrastructure. Thirty-three German POWs and two Italian POWs are now buried in the post cemetery. 8 0 obj Hollywood movies and cartoons were screened. German POWs on the American Homefront - Smithsonian Magazine Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). In the United States at the end of World War II, there were prisoner-of-war camps, including 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war (mostly German). The majority of escapees were captured quickly and without incident. Other POWs were transported to work on farms and canneries in neighboring communities. POW and ISU Camps and Hospitals in US. The case not only had a specially crafted latching mechanism, but was also etched with an emblem of an eagle on the cover with barracks buildings and a guard tower from the camp inscribed upon the inside. Levin and Straussberg were among the 420,000 German and Italian prisoners of war who spent part of World War II under guard in the United States. 200 German POWs were interned at the Tri-City Airport (now known as South Wood County Airport) from July to November 1945. <> Sub Camp of Camp Forrest - April 1944 to March 1946 - 331 German Prisoners. They were: Fort Leonard Wood Camp Weingarten near Ste. "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," McDowell stated. Eventually, in the wake of the Nazis' six-month reign of terror, the War Department acknowledged the problem and began to enact reforms. The post also served as an infantry replacement center and had a German prisoner of war camp. mi. There were also few wholesale escape attempts made by prisoners of war in Missouri. A few continued into the early 1970s in Las Animas County where Trinidad is located. Attached to these main camps were branch camps to which they sent prisoners. A year later, the American government auctioned the buildings and fixtures, including 52 floodlights, at Camp Weingarten. The front gate of the POW camp at Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, part of the Missouri River bottomland in St. Louis County. 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. Some 500 POW facilities were built, mainly in. Gaertner stayed under the radar for years, and eventually the authorities stopped looking for him. Another episode involved entertainer Lena Horne, who, while performing at an Arkansas camp, became enraged when she saw that Black servicemen had been seated behind the POWs. After the war it became a men's dormitory for. 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. From the Stars to the Steamers, from the Billikens to the World Cup, St. Louis has a storied soccer tradition. In Oakland, he landed a steady salesman job, and in 1964, he met his wife Jean. When returning to camp, one of the POWs with whom Taylor had established a friendship was given the pie pan and used it to demonstrate his abilities as an artist and a craftsman by fashioning it into a cigarette case. This report was prepared with help from our Public Insight Network. As noted by the Library of Congress, among the many protections and guarantees provided to POWs were adequate food, housing, and medical care, "protection from violence, intimidation, insults, and public curiosity," prohibition against medical experimentation, and reciprocal military rights and status. Readmore storiesfrom Tim O'Neil's Look Back series. Similar scenes played out across rural America, but over time, as noted in The Washington Post, many of these small communities adjusted to the POW presence. As the NKPA retreated farther north, they were forced to evacuate their prisoners with them. It held soldiers and officers of the Italian army captured in the Allied Mediterranean campaigns during World War II. 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. Korean War POW Camps - Missouri Korean War Veterans Memorial Italian Farmer Held as a POW in Missouri During WW2 - warhistoryonline The Factory also created Der Ruf, a German-language newsletter, "written by German POWs for German POWs." 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. "During one of my uncle's visits back to Alton, he asked his mother for an aluminum pie pan," McDowell said. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch, The main avenue at Camp Weingarten lined by small barracks buildings in June 1943. In Texas, according to Humanities Texas, some residents feared having Nazis nearby and, worried about escapes, locked their doors and cautioned their daughters. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of News Tribune Publishing. Prisoners of war did basic farm work such as harvesting corn or potatoes. Letters to newspapers complained of coddling prisoners with such things as swimming-pool time at Jefferson Barracks, where 400 Germans were housed. 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. War History online proudly presents this Guest Piece from Jeremy P. mick, who is a military historian and writes on behalf of theSilver Star Families of America. Although the POW camps opened and closed with little fanfare, their unique design and deployment in painful contrast to the Japanese internment camps have earned them their own notable place in the war's history. The Factory's first step in the POW camps was the distribution of books banned by Hitler. POWs in the US. However, from 1863 this broke down following the Confederacy's refusal to treat black and white Union prisoners equally . endobj Post-Dispatch photo, German POWs on a "boat camp" in the St. Louis area play chess and relax on the deck in 1945. Pfc. Capacity for 4800 at main camp. 2,000 German POWs were houses at seven locations on the. The camp was enlarged to the point that some 5,800 POW's . <> The Convention allowed the display of swastikas, and some POWs were buried in local military cemeteries with Nazi flags and with swastikas engraved on their headstones. Four years later, the government offered the buildings at auction to relieve the post-war shortage of housing. Little remains of the once sprawling POW camp located approximately 90 miles south of St. Louis, with the exception of a stone fireplace that was part of the Officer's Club. This book concentrates on the Missouri camps - main camps and satellite work camps - and their German and Italian captives. Too old to participate in the company sports . The last German POWs didnt head home until 1946. WACs in mess hall at Camp Crowder. History of former Missouri POW camp preserved in cigarette case A walled patio and fireplace with masks of Comedy and Tragedy were built near the theater and are still landmarks on the university campus. You may come to the Missouri Valley Room to view it or request a photocopy from the Library's Document Delivery service. {/[I:{ tBcn{ FG}{ The Enemy Among Us: POWs in Missouri During World War II. Taylor and his fellow soldiers, most of whom were assigned to military police companies, maintained a busy schedule of guarding the prisoners held in the camp, but also received opportunities to take leave from their duties and visit their loved ones back home. 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. ", "August 1943 description of the Camp Maxey", "World War II Camp Had Impact on CIty" by Michael Hawfield, The News-Sentinel 15 December 1990, Camp Thomas A. Scott - Fort Wayne, Indiana - WWII Prisoner of War Camps on Waymarking.com, https://web.archive.org/web/20220720230229/https://www.unionleader.com/nh/travel/historical_markers/roadside-history-camp-stark-nhs-wwii-german-pow-camp-housed-about-250-soldiers/article_9dd52830-ef9f-57d6-9ef3-ce2472704b70.html, "Waterloo Township officials say rundown prison camp is a hazard and should be razed", "Uboat.net - the Men - Prisoners of War - German POWs in North America", "Fomer [sic] Site of the Caven Point Army Depot - Jersey City, New Jersey", The German POW camps of Michigan during WWII, Map of WWII POW Camps in the US with links, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_World_War_II_prisoner-of-war_camps_in_the_United_States&oldid=1129515906, Originally an Army Airfield flight training facility. Fort Crowder - Wikipedia As all work done by POWs was forced labor, work regulations, including details like job locations and hours, hazards, and pay rates, were a major concern of the 1929 Geneva Convention. jmNR0|mD4wB6.B5 _7w!! 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. New Hampshire's only POW camp. When a group of female columnists informed Eleanor Roosevelt about the situation, she vowed to investigate and take action. Straussberg fled into the woods, but he didnt get far. Returning to Germany would just be going from a Nazi dictatorship to a Russian dictatorship, Levin wrote in German. 600 German POWs were interned in the Schwartz Ballroom from October 1944 to January 1946. Interestingly enough, no marriages were a direct result of the prisoners time in Missouri. The camps were located all over the US, but were mostly in the South, due to the higher expense of heating the barracks in colder areas. Indirectly, though? Less well known are the prisoner of war camps that sprang up in rural communities across the country to house combatants from Europe and Japan. Camps typically held between 50 and 250 POWs and the men were housed in any sort of structure that was available. 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 . The Army selected the Neosho site for the post . About 500 American soldiers were assigned to guard 3,600 Italians at the camp. "Life as a POW in the thirty camps scattered across Missouri was a surprisingly pleasant experience. Sunday, Dec. 11, marks 75 years since the United States declared war on Germany and Italy. Carl Reiner was stationed at Camp Crowder in the 1940s and when he created the 1960s-era The Dick Van Dyke Show, he made the post the setting where Rob and Laura Petrie, portrayed by actors Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, met; Rob was a sergeant in Special Services and Laura was a USO dancer. 1 0 obj "Established at Weingarten, a sleepy little town on State Highway 32 between Ste. Educational programs were varied. Genevieve. <>/Metadata 855 0 R/ViewerPreferences 856 0 R>> Some German prisoners of war were brought to Kansas during WWII - KMBC {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, 4 killed, 4 critically injured in crash at South Grand Boulevard and Forest Park Avenue, Parents push back on allegations against St. Louis transgender center. With Glidden is Lt. Lawrence Ponetretti, an Army interpreter. Post-Dispatch file photo, Three Italian POWs paint and draw during free time at Camp Weingarten in June 1943. They made it 10 miles south to the Meramec River, but farmers saw them and called the Highway Patrol. The case not only had a specially crafted latching mechanism, but was also etched with an emblem of an eagle on the cover with barracks buildings and a guard tower from the camp inscribed upon the inside. "That's why I want to tell the story of its creation its history, so that its association to Camp Weingarten is never forgotten.". As a result, their supervision relaxed, sometimes to the point of being unguarded and unwatched. People didnt get in the car and drive 75 miles: it was a locally-focused world. POW Death Index in US. A few concrete ammunition bunkers are the last remnants of the POW camp. The foundational objectives of the Convention were to "prevent indignities against enemy soldiers" and to ensure that, through the humanitarian treatment of enemy soldiers, American POWs would be equally protected when held by enemy nations. As McDowell went on to explain, her uncle remained at Camp Weingarten until his discharge from the U.S. Army in December 1944. Pike County Missouri - POW Camps People got in trouble for it: prisoners expressing affection through love notes were intercepted. Housed German POWs from the Afrika Corps after defeat in North Africa. American Civil War prison camps - Wikipedia MVSC 940.5472 F45e. It was noted that many of the Italians were semi-emaciated when arriving in the United States because of a poor diet. Where are they going to escape to?. A number of prisoners of war did later return as immigrants and about a dozen of those immigrants settled in St. Louis. Here are some rare photos that show what living in the state of Missouri during this time looked like. Army Col. H.H. Weingarten POW Camp | Weingarten Vineyard Prisoner-of-war camps in the United States during World War II. From this branch camp, the POWs did mostly farm labor, from 1943 to 1946. Following World War II, the facilities became the. In 1942, the camp was reopened as a prisoner-of-war camp to house Italian and German prisoners. To request a transcript for St. Louis on the Air, Camp Weingarten, MO 2 - GenTracer A fairly, easy cooperative relationship grew up over time to the point friendships existed, to be sure.. in Newton and McDonald counties. As author David Fiedler explained in his book "The Enemy Among Us: POWs in Missouri During World War II," the state was once home to more than 15,000 German and Italian prisoners of war (POW). "My mother's brother, Dwight Hafford Taylor, was raised in the community of Alton in southern Missouri," McDowell said. They worked as lumberjacks, mechanics, sign painters, tailors, and in hundreds of other positions, according to History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army 1776 to 1945. As noted in Humanities Texas, POWs were put to work right from the start, although their assignments were limited due to fears of escape, sabotage, and overseas exploitation. Genevieve County in June 1943. Transcripts for St. Louis Public Radio produced programming are available upon request for individuals with hearing impairments. Originally it was to serve as an armor training center. 6U z*&`873 hkg7*I|dx^EY?IF$zwUJH!/V>H>is&n /t; To ensure its success in the camps, the project was kept top secret. Using a secret 60-foot tunnel equipped with lighting and air bellows, 12 German officers slipped away from their barracks and, armed with tissue-paper maps, went separately toward Mexico. The most elaborate escape attempt occurred in 1944, at one of the more spartan camps in Texas. Each man had food and a change of clothing. Some escaped out of homesickness, some out of patriotism, some out of fear of being returned to their altered homeland. As Fiedler put it: Who wanted to rush back into the war? <> 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. American women fell in love with prisoners and a couple of times it turned into aiding escapes, which was considered a traitorous act and a criminal offense.. Pages . 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. 339-351. 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. From the start of the Civil War through to 1863 a parole exchange system saw most prisoners of war swapped relatively quickly. CHESTERFIELD Cpl. About 500 American soldiers were assigned to guard 3,600 Italians at the camp. Camps were built on military bases, like Fort Leonard Wood, and within the base there would be a prisoner-of-war compound. They worked at 8 local canneries until moving to other parts of Wisconsin in August, 1945. Located where the present day Cleburne Conference center is located in the 1500 block of West Henderson(business HWY 67), Housed German POWs from the Afrika Korps after their defeat in North Africa. The Enemy Among Us : POWs in Missouri During World War II POWs who were a part of the ISU received better housing, uniforms and pay. In March 1945, national radio commentator Walter Winchell claimed that Germans on Hellwig farm could sneak across the Missouri River into the explosives plant at Weldon Spring and blow the place up. Fort Crowder was a U.S. Army post located in Newton and McDonald counties in southwest Missouri, constructed and used during World War II. In Southern POW camps, some facilities were segregated by race, and Black servicemen were given the worst jobs. 9 0 obj Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch. German and Italian POW Camp during 19421945 housing mostly Africa Corps Officers and Italians enlisted from the Torch Campaign. There was no 24-hour news cycle. There were some instances where individuals took out personal attacks against the Germans and Italians, but on the whole, Americans accepted that the government was housing prisoners of war in their own backyards. endobj These branch camps held 50 to 250 prisoners and were placed in communities in which the prisoners could be of use to community businesses such as bakeries, farms, maintenance jobs, dock workers for the railroad and riverboats, and factories. Im baffled., Suspect charged in fatal shooting in downtown St. Louis, Former Sweetie Pies TV star Tim Norman gets two life sentences in nephews death, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol slams ump C.B. Around Geneseo. The caption information from 1945 does not identify the boat as the one on the Missouri River, near today's Chesterfield, or the one at the foot of Arsenal Street. Established at Weingarten, a sleepy little town on State Highway 32 between Ste. It held soldiers and officers of the Italian army captured in the Allied Mediterranean campaigns during World War II. endobj 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. Sixteen of the men were killed or died as a result of an accident on 31 October 1945. About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II. The camp was named for General Harvey C Clark, Missouri's adjutant general and commander of Missouri's National Guard. | 12 0 obj Some even "started to enjoy the novelty.". Originally CCC Camp Lakewood built in 1936, Housed 3,500 Italians and later 10,000 Germans, Formerly the county courthouse, is now the headquarters of the. In the United States at the end of World War II, there were prisoner-of-war camps, including 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war (mostly German). Even as conditions worsened for American POWs held in the European theater of World War II and word spread around the United States about Hitlers efforts to exterminate the Jews, the U.S. government remained firm that prisoners of war should be treated according to the Geneva Conventions. Thousands of Axis POWs worked in the fields, replacing American farm boys gone to war. Arcadia Publishing. Genevieve and Farmington, Missouri, (Camp Weingarten) had no pre-war existence," Fiedler wrote. 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. According toHumanities Texas, many in America, especially farmers, were loathed to see them go. Used a railroad box car. Two German POWs watch the film of Nazi atrocities during a mandatory assembly at their camp at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Relic of Camp Weingarten - History of former Missouri prisoner of war