pow camps in missouri

Sub Camp of Camp Forrest - April 1944 to March 1946 - 331 German Prisoners. Camp Weingarten quickly grew into a sprawling facility to house Italian POWs brought to the United States and, explained Jefferson City resident Carolyn McDowell, was the site where one of her uncles spent his entire period of service with the U.S. Army in World War II. With that entry, few realize that the nation would open its borders to house prisoners of war from the Axis powers for the remainder of the war. Gaertner stayed under the radar for years, and eventually the authorities stopped looking for him. 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. Most of the POWs went to large camps, including one covering 960 acres near Weingarten in Ste. endobj There were originally four main camps in Missouri at Camp Clark, Camp Crowder, Camp Weingarten and Fort Leonard Wood. 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. 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 camps had printing presses that churned out newsletters penned by POWs. 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. 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. Early on, however, that wasnt always the case. Following World War II, the facilities were taken over by the Veterans Administration with both a hospital and large domiciliary complement. In the early 1950s, local congressman Dewey Jackson Short, (R-7th District of Missouri) senior member of the House Armed Services Committee secured authorization and initial funding to build two permanent barracks and a disciplinary barracks and reactivate the post as a permanent installation, Fort Crowder. After the war was over, prisoners of war were not allowed to stay in the United States. 300 POWs from Camp McCoy arrived at the Calumet County Fairgrounds in June, 1945. The front gate of the POW camp at Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, part of the Missouri River bottomland in St. Louis County. Educational programs were varied. Although her uncle passed away in 1970, records accessed through the National Archives and Records Administration indicate he was drafted into the U.S. Army and entered service at Jefferson Barracks on November 10, 1942. 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. Now called Dennis Whiles, Gaertner told Jean he had been raised in an orphanage, thus eliminating any questions about his family. Following World War II, the facilities became the. Coal mining was prominent in the late 1870s to the 1950s. It was noted that many of the Italians were semi-emaciated when arriving in the United States because of a poor diet. by 1"\B^*:lr])BuHmdk[52`l5rJiBv* y'q$ag`CFrZs@[e|jB The town was chosen for its relative isolation Originally it was to serve as an armor training center. Indirectly, though? As noted in New Georgia Encyclopedia, the hard-liners doled out harsh discipline and attacked fellow prisoners for their lack of patriotism, among other offenses. About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II.. oW5( After completing his initial training, he was designated as infantry and became a clerk with the 201st Infantry Regiment. Waste material generated from the former Fort include aviation and vehicular fuels, oils, greases, metals, paints and solvents. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch, One of two boats, known as "boat camps," moored in the St. Louis area to house prisoners of war who worked on levees and other river projects. 1942-1945: held Japanese-American internees, and then German and Italian POWs. Bucknor for rejecting handshake: Zero class, Man shot and killed after fight in downtown St. Louis, Liberty High student killed in St. Charles shooting could heal you with a smile, Fate of St. Louis Fox Theatre still undecided, Brothers who did everything together, fashionista among victims in fatal St. Louis crash, Centene expects to lose millions of Medicaid customers beginning in April, Arch Madness: 2023 MVC Basketball Tournament bracket, schedule, game times, TV info, St. Louis man charged in quadruple fatal crash; police say he ran off with his license plate, St. Louis prosecutors staff down by nearly half as caseloads jump. 7 0 obj 2011 - Dave Fiedler. Although her uncle died in 1970, records accessed through the National Archives and Records Administration indicate he was drafted into the U.S. Army and entered service Nov. 10, 1942, at Jefferson Barracks. They werent cooperative, they were defiant and intended to cause trouble any way they could, Fiedler said. There was such a labor shortage that pretty shortly the government moved these prisoners from the four main military bases to dozens of camps throughout the state. Not only did POWs dine well, they took college courses, set up libraries, and formed orchestras and soccer leagues. As chronicled by AP, on a September night in 1945, POW Georg Gaertner escaped from New Mexico's Camp Deming by slipping under a fence and hopping a train bound for San Pedro. Due to a labor shortage, Italian Service Units worked on Army depots, in arsenals and hospitals, and on farms. Eastern Germany had fallen under Russian control, and as a former Nazi, Gaertner feared he would be sent to a gulag. The result of the First Lady's initiative was the Prisoner of War Special Projects Division, led by Lt. Col. Edward Davison out of Camp Kearney in Rhode Island. Pages . Likewise, hundreds of thousands of American GIs were returning to the states and would need the jobs the prisoners of war would be filling so they were no longer needed for their labor efforts, Fiedler said. The main camps supported a number of branch camps, which were used to put POWs where their labor could be best utilized. 8 0 obj Today, it functions as a National Guard Training Center. As a result, their supervision relaxed, sometimes to the point of being unguarded and unwatched. Facilities now serve as an adjunct to the state's mental health program. No Japanese prisoners were interned in Missouri. The following October, the former POW camp was closed and many of the buildings were dismantled, shipped and reassembled as housing for student veterans at colleges and universities throughout the United States. In a memorable encounter, a little girl would leave her bicycle in a certain place every night only to find it moved in the morning. 2,000 German POWs were houses at seven locations on the. This page was last edited on 25 December 2022, at 21:03. 10 0 obj Held German POWs. Access Conditions . Prisoners wore rejected GI garb marked with PW.. *wh};yeErfRV8n#z 6 0 obj [1] As it was constructed, it was re-designated as a U.S. Army Signal Corps replacement training center, an Army Service Forces training center and an officer candidate preparatory school, the first of its kind at any military installation. <> Labor unions, however, regarded them as competition for returning U.S. forces and demanded their expulsion. 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. As documented in by theSociety for Military History, between September 1943 and April 1944, in camps across the country, "6 murders, 2 forced suicides, 43 'voluntary' suicides, a general camp riot, and hundreds of localized acts of violence occurred." As the NKPA retreated farther north, they were forced to evacuate their prisoners with them. With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. 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). As noted by Time, until 1948, the U.S. military was, like much of America, a segregated institution. And it was the Germans, Nazi and non-Nazi, who defined camp life more than any other group of captives. 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. The 3,600 prisoners planted tomatoes and took over cooking, attracting American guards with their spicy enhancements to GI fare. According toHumanities Texas, many in America, especially farmers, were loathed to see them go. 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 classes were taught by the POWs themselves, others were conducted as correspondence courses. This document is not available online. See the World War II POW camps near St. Louis. 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. Prisoners worked on local farms. The 1929 Geneva Convention, recognizing that it is the duty of prisoners to attempt escape, contains numerous regulations limiting the severity of punishments for escapees. Post-Dispatch file photo, Two German POWs watch the film of Nazi atrocities during a mandatory assembly at their camp at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. 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. With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. let us know the episode date and topic and contact Alex Heuer About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II.. The location of the former POW camp is a residential area now. Missouri had four POW camps,. Interestingly enough, no marriages were a direct result of the prisoners time in Missouri. He then took it back to camp with him and thats when he gave it to one of the Italian POWs.. 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. Straussberg added an apology to his keepers for causing the trouble of looking for us.. According to the Coloradoan, Gaertner had decided to escape because he knew that upon his release, he would be repatriated to eastern Germany, where his family lived. 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. | With Glidden is Lt. Lawrence Ponetretti, an Army interpreter. These camps housed more than 142,000 Germans, 15,000 Italians, and 500 Japanese. Area Camp with 9 Branch Camps. Unfortunately, while the U.S. generally honored the Convention, neither Japan, which never signed the agreement, nor Germany, which chose to ignore it, did. There are military artifacts from the Civil War onward, including uniforms, armament, letters, medals, and memorabilia of all types. Despite their careful planning, 10 were captured within days, far from the border. People didnt get in the car and drive 75 miles: it was a locally-focused world. They were even compensated at the same rate of a private, at 10 cents per hour, which could be saved for their release or spent at camp stores. The U.S. government initially did not separate what Fiedler referred to as dyed-in-the-wool Nazis, who were committed to the National Socialist movement under Adolf Hitler. By the war's end, the average reached 60,000 POWs per month. The U.S. government learned quickly to separate those elements, Fiedler said, and relationships improved. The remainder of the land was given to various public and private entities which uses now include a municipal airport, industrial parks, industrial waste treatment facility operations, regional landfill, underground fuel storage, burn pits and lagoons. Cartoonist Mort Walker was also stationed there and drew inspiration for Camp Swampy of his Beetle Bailey comic strip. Camp Crowder was a military installation named in honor of Major General Enoch H. Crowder, provost marshal of the United States during World War I and author of the 1917 Selective Service Act. POW Death Index in US. Camp Upton was also used to hold Japanese citizens who were in New York City at the time war broke out, including businessman with whom the governments of Japan and the United States negotiated an exchange. Sixteen of the men were killed or died as a result of an accident on 31 October 1945. <> JFIF C About 100 POWs lived there and worked on area farms, replacing Americans who had gone to war. Click here for a state map showing branch camp locations. About 15,000 German and Italian prisoners of war spent part of World War II under guard at 30 camps scattered across Missouri. Established at Weingarten, a sleepy little town on State Highway 32 between Ste. 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.'" POW Camps in the USA POW Camps in Missouri. 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. 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. 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. The Army selected the Neosho site for the post . 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.". As described in The Washington Post, the War Department, believing that a happy POW was a pliant POW, went above and beyond when it came to POW food, education, and entertainment. endobj As noted by Humanities Texas,methods of escape were as varied as reasons for trying and were occasionally quite inventive. 2 0 obj Photo by Jack Gould of the Post-Dispatch, Two Italian POWs hang out their laundry at Camp Weingarten in June 1943. June 16, 1945 The day German POWs escaped their camp near St. Louis. Army Col. H.H. Located between Olympia and Tacoma, Washington. In Southern POW camps, some facilities were segregated by race, and Black servicemen were given the worst jobs. 12 0 obj 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 craftsman by fashioning it into a cigarette case. St. Louis on the Airbrings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. ", When the first wave of POWs from Germany's elite Afrika Korps arrived in Mexia, Texas, the townspeople were dumbstruck, according toHumanities Texas. Also offered was circus and acrobatic instruction, including trampoline jumping, taught by professional circus performers. "Established at Weingarten, a sleepy little town on State Highway 32 between Ste. | 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. U.S. Army to establish a temporary side camp, under the ad-ministration of a larger main camp in Missouri, to house POWs at the old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp near Shen-andoah. However, from 1863 this broke down following the Confederacy's refusal to treat black and white Union prisoners equally . 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.. They were: Fort Leonard Wood Camp Weingarten near Ste. ", 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. Sub camps:Camp Pine, Camp Thornton and Camp Skokie Valley, each with 200 POWs. The level of instruction was so high that some German universities offered full credit to returning POWs. 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). endobj In his written account (via The Fallen Foe), POW Fritz Ensslin, for example, claimed that many transferred POWs died in France performing "forced labor. President Harry Truman ordered them sent back to Europe "to whichever country wanted them. 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 . Jeremy P. Amick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America. Sent to a camp in Colorado, he asked for and was granted a transfer to Crossville. Click here to learn more or join our conversation. 200 German POWs were interned at the Tri-City Airport (now known as South Wood County Airport) from July to November 1945. Originally, when the government agreed to bring them here, they were concerned about security, Fiedler said. A walled patio and fireplace with masks of Comedy and Tragedy were built near the theater and are still landmarks on the university campus. The farmer did not want to respond by letter but his daughter did, which would eventually result in a marriage. Aware that POWs were actually eating better than many civilians, the War Department, sensitive to public perception, cut back severely on the POWs' rations. #"8_Bh ?hpUZ) In Kansas, for example, some farmers invited their POW workers for meals and allowed them to go hunting or pony riding unattended. "I will someday donate the cigarette case to a museum for preservation and display, and I believe my brother, Harold McDowell, would agree. Around Geneseo. Because the branch camps were often short-lived, and some records have been lost or destroyed in the sixty years that have since gone by, it is likely that a couple have been omitted. Cole Camp: June 19, 1861 Benton County: American Civil War Benton County Home Guard-600, Missouri State Guard-300 43 KIA, 85 WIA, 25 POW United States vs. Missouri (Confederate) Confederate victory Carthage: July 5, 1861 Near Carthage: American Civil War Union-1,100, Missouri State Guard-6,000 244 United States vs. Missouri (Confederate) 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. While the core of the post was retained, many of the wood temporary barracks were declared surplus and sold. Glidden (left), commander of Camp Weingarten, looks across part of the 960-acre prisoner-of-war compound in Ste. Between then and mid-1944, an average of 20,000 POWs arrived each month, then after the Normandy invasion, the average rose to 30,000. Weingarten was the location of a large prisoner of war camp during WWII. Sited on the abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camp about 1.6 miles east of the Stark Covered Bridge in Stark, Coos County. 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. Five weeks after Germanys surrender, American security had become a bit haphazard. WWII POW Camp In ConranThere was a prisoner of war camp located in Conran just off of Highway 61. Weingarten is a small town in southern Missouri, outside of St. Genevieve. One of the first three designated camps for anti-Nazis, along with. Consequently, fanatical Nazis were thrown in with anti-Nazis. A few escapees eluded capture for many years. Once outside, they hopped trains or stole cars. The Army selected the Neosho site for the post due to its proximity to water, a cross roads to two major railroads (Kansas City Southern and the Frisco railroads), and two major U.S. highways (US 71 running north-south and US 60 and US 66, running east-west). <>/F 4/A<>>> Thousands of Axis POWs worked in the fields, replacing American farm boys gone to war. POW Camp, Co.1, Tooele (original postage). Camp was located in North Thibodaux along Coulon Road. When labor shortages due to enlistment hit the American economy, however, the War Department rethought its strategy and greatly expanded POW labor. The most elaborate escape attempt occurred in 1944, at one of the more spartan camps in Texas. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. d3K/,diWAgCZ,7Y>&WqU(lt1iJ5cuy#}iv^L),ybY[Y="Ni' i~l + Now a fraction of its WWII size, the camp currently has a full-time staff of 11 employees a sharp . There were also few wholesale escape attempts made by prisoners of war in Missouri. In Chesterfield Valley, Fiedler said, there are stories of farmers getting to know the prisoners of war and inviting them in for lunch. |-T'T5Z 9 0 obj stream The rules werent too lax in that regard, actually. Here are some rare photos that show what living in the state of Missouri during this time looked like. All Rights Reserved. Approximately 1,000 Japanese Americans were kept there, under tight security, behind multiple layers of barbed wire fence. The camp was named for General Harvey C Clark, Missouris adjutant general and commander of Missouris National Guard. 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. "It is a beautifully crafted cigarette case, but the irony of it all is that my father never smoked," she jokingly added. endobj Last chance! Where are they going to escape to?. The camp was named for General Harvey C Clark, Missouri's adjutant general and commander of Missouri's National Guard. Copyright 2017 Vernon County Historical Society - All Rights Reserved. 1 0 obj Other citizens wrote angry letters to the editor and staged protests. Post-Dispatch file photo, German POWs march into the mess hall at their small work camp on the Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, the Missouri River bottomland now called Chesterfield Valley, in March 1945. Later known as an anti-Nazi camp where many intellectuals, artist, writers were among the POWs. The author further explained, (T)he camp was enlarged to the point that some 5,800 POWs could be held there, and approximately 380 buildings of all types would be constructed on an expanded 950-acre site.. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch, The main avenue at Camp Weingarten lined by small barracks buildings in June 1943. 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. 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. At the same time, stories about Nazi violence and influence in the POW camps were beginning to circulate. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Genevieve County in June 1943. 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 Officers Club. Genevieve. Photo by Jack Gould of the Post-Dispatch, Two Italian POWs hang out their laundry at Camp Weingarten in June 1943. Camp Weingarten, Missouri 2: Camp Weingarten Italian POW Rosters in US: POWs in the US: POW Death Index in US: WWII: UT POW CD: POW Photos in US: POW and ISU Camps and Hospitals in US: Genealogical Research: ISU Units and Installations in US: . "My mother's brother, Dwight Hafford Taylor, was raised in the community of Alton in southern Missouri," McDowell said. The far-reaching 1929 Convention covered such things as camp location, punishments for escapes, and restrictions regarding POW labor. 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. 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. 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. Often, descendants of those POWs come for a visit to see where their relatives spent the war. His hometown really wasnt all that far from Camp Weingarten, she added. Jean Shepherd featured many stories of his time at Camp Crowder in various monologues. All enlisted men were required to work, and they were paid 80 cents a day, the same rate American privates received. 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. German and Italian POW Camp during 19421945 housing mostly Africa Corps Officers and Italians enlisted from the Torch Campaign. Two German POWs watch the film of Nazi atrocities during a mandatory assembly at their camp at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Formerly located on the south-east corner of East 120th St. and South Walnut Ave. 2.5 miles east of Grant.

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