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. Early on, however, that wasnt always the case. They made it 10 miles south to the Meramec River, but farmers saw them and called the Highway Patrol. With Short's defeat in the 1956 election, the fort lost its legislative patron and was deactivated again in 1958. 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: . First attempted escape by two German POWs on 5 November 1942. Consequently, the POWs had little concern about getting caught. Working POWs earned 80 cents per day, and sometimes could buy beer at prison canteens. 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. 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. 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. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fort_Crowder&oldid=1094391312, Col John Bartlett Murphy, May 46 Mar 48, This page was last edited on 22 June 2022, at 09:53. I dont want to imply that people just accepted what the government did, but the ordinary citizen did realize this was a unique time, Fiedler said. Camp was located in North Thibodaux along Coulon Road. To request a transcript for St. Louis on the Air, POWs in the US. *wh};yeErfRV8n#z 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. 1. 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. My mothers brother, Dwight Hafford Taylor, was raised in the community of Alton in southern Missouri, said McDowell. 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. 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.". 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. This movements became known as the "Tiger Death March," so called for the brutal treatment that the prisoners . The location of the former POW camp is a residential area now. The POW was then moved to a camp in the United Kingdom before being placed on a troopship bound for Canada in October the same year. From 1942 to 1945, more than 400,000 Axis prisoners were shipped to the United States and detained in camps across the nation. Where are they going to escape to?. 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. <> It was noted that many of the Italians were semi-emaciated when arriving in the United States because of a poor diet. In one incident, Black servicemen were barred from entering a restaurant at a Texas train station while POWs were invited inside to dine with their white captors. Thirty-three German POWs and two Italian POWs are now buried in the post cemetery. German and Italian POW Camp during 19421945 housing mostly Africa Corps Officers and Italians enlisted from the Torch Campaign. 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. This included 371,683 Germans, 50,273 Italians, and 3,915 Japanese. Residents were, Elliott See and Charles Bassett were the lead crew for Gemini IX, a mission scheduled for May 1966, all part of the learning curve in the race, On February 25, 1966, CBS premiered a TV documentary, "Sixteen in Webster Groves." The United States had officially entered World War II. With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. The Enemy Among Us: POW's in Missouri during World War II Hardcover - Illustrated, December 15, 2010 by David W. Fiedler (Author) 48 ratings See all formats and editions Hardcover $29.95 12 Used from $13.29 2 New from $25.00 During World War II, more than fifteen thousand German and Italian soldiers came to Missouri. 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 camp, located south of Neosho, Missouri, was established in 1941. Her family eventually found a prisoner of war using it in the middle of the night to go meet a beau in the moonlight. For his "crimes," they strangled him to death. Some even "started to enjoy the novelty.". Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. In Chesterfield Valley, Fiedler said, there are stories of farmers getting to know the prisoners of war and inviting them in for lunch. The Missouri National Guard retained 4,358 acres of Camp Crowder for use as a training site. Branch camps in Missouri were: And it was the Germans, Nazi and non-Nazi, who defined camp life more than any other group of captives. One of the first three designated camps for anti-Nazis, along with. In late October of 1950, over 800 POWs left Manpo for village camps closer to the Chinese border near Chungung, known as the Apex Camps. Most Americans regarded them as curiosities, but there was conflict. 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. 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? After the war was over, prisoners of war were not allowed to stay in the United States. June 16, 1945 The day German POWs escaped their camp near St. Louis. 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. About 100 POWs lived there and worked on area farms, replacing Americans who had gone to war. [7]:272. The POW camps adhered to the Geneva Conventions Missouri Digital Heritage 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. 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. Aware that POWs were actually eating better than many civilians, the War Department, sensitive to public perception, cut back severely on the POWs' rations. See the World War II POW camps near St. Louis. 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. in Newton and McDonald counties. During World War II, more than fifteen thousand German and Italian soldiers came to Missouri. "It was a beautiful day, all looked so peaceful. endobj Prisoner-of-war camps in the United States during World War II. Photo by Jack Gould of the Post-Dispatch, Two Italian POWs hang out their laundry at Camp Weingarten in June 1943. ", The Untold Truth Of America's WWII German POW Camps, History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army 1776 to 1945, American Reeducation of German POWs, 1943-1946, Icons of Insult: German and Italian Prisoners of War in African American Letters During World War II, Returning to America: German Prisoners of War and American Experience. 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. New Hampshire's only POW camp. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}. These camps held anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 prisoners. Today, it functions as a National Guard Training Center. 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. ", As a result of Truman's order, many POWs ended up in the "unfriendly hands" of France and England. Facilities now serve as an adjunct to the state's mental health program. The town was chosen for its relative isolation Waste material generated from the former Fort include aviation and vehicular fuels, oils, greases, metals, paints and solvents. The Factory's first step in the POW camps was the distribution of books banned by Hitler. Cartoonist Mort Walker was also stationed there and drew inspiration for Camp Swampy of his Beetle Bailey comic strip. As noted in American Reeducation of German POWs, 1943-1946, in discussions with their guards, prisoners would sometimes use America's discriminatory practices as a "what about" counter argument. Fort Crowder was a U.S. Army post located in Newton and McDonald counties in southwest Missouri, constructed and used during World War II. Photo by Buel White of the Post-Dispatch. 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. Prisoners of war did basic farm work such as harvesting corn or potatoes. 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. The camp buildings are preserved in. About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II.. Army Col. H.H. 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. 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. You may come to the Missouri Valley Room to view it or request a photocopy from the Library's Document Delivery service. Now Tampa International Airport and Drew Park. xZOHa List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in the United States. Most of these POWs were transferred from Camp Roswell, which was a base or main POW camp for New Mexico. Her research led her to Arnold Krammer, who ended up writing a tell-all book with Gaertner. A number of prisoners of war did later return as immigrants and about a dozen of those immigrants settled in St. Louis. 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. 600 German POWs were interned in the Schwartz Ballroom from October 1944 to January 1946. The camp was enlarged to the point that some 5,800 POW's . <> Black soldiers experienced institutionalized discrimination both at home and overseas, and their prejudicial treatment occurred at the hands of not only white Americans but white POWs as well. This book concentrates on the Missouri camps - main camps and satellite work camps - and their German and Italian captives. And it was the Germans, Nazi and non-Nazi, who defined camp life more than any other group of captives. 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. endobj 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 case was crafted by an Italian prisoner of war held at Camp Weingarten south of St. Louis. "He then took it back to camp with him and that's when he gave it to one of the Italian POWs.". oW5( As Fiedler put it: Who wanted to rush back into the war? endobj Back at camp, fellow POWs hailed them as heroes. Others were confined in small outposts such as Hellwig Brothers Farm, near U.S. Highway 40 on the Missouri River bottomland then known as Gumbo Flats. Germany's "Great Escape" was from a 200 feet (61m) tunnel by 25 prisoners on 24 December 1944. Pfc. Consider reading Fiedlers book, which you can find here. Here are some rare photos that show what living in the state of Missouri during this time looked like. The majority of escapees were captured quickly and without incident. About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II. Due to a labor shortage, Italian Service Units worked on Army depots, in arsenals and hospitals, and on farms. The Enemy Among Us: POWs in Missouri During World War II. Eventually, in the wake of the Nazis' six-month reign of terror, the War Department acknowledged the problem and began to enact reforms. 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. When labor shortages due to enlistment hit the American economy, however, the War Department rethought its strategy and greatly expanded POW labor. 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. The installation housed around 900 Germans, who worked as gardeners and maintenance men around the base and surrounding community. Pages . :_Z";co?0N1mx@a_ ES[0 Interested in learning more about the experiences of prisoners of war in the United States during World War II? 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. 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. 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.. Too old to participate in the company sports . Kelly Moffitt joined St. Louis Public Radio in 2015 as an online producer for St. Louis Public Radio's talk shows St. Louis on the Air. jmNR0|mD4wB6.B5 _7w!! 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. 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. The last German POWs didnt head home until 1946. It is a beautifully crafted cigarette case, but the irony of it all is that my father never smoked, she jokingly added. 4 0 obj President Harry Truman ordered them sent back to Europe "to whichever country wanted them. <> "I will someday donate the cigarette case to a museum for preservation and display, and I believe my brother, Harold McDowell, would agree. 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). 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. 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). Following World War II, the facilities became the. With Glidden is Lt. Lawrence Ponetretti, an Army interpreter. The camp was just east of the village of Weingarten, on Missouri Highway 32, west of Ste. Genevieve. The base's movie theatre was disassembled and reassembled on the campus of what is today the University of Missouri Kansas City where it was the University of Kansas City Playhouse until being torn down for a new theatre. German prisoners of war were held here during WWII. Housed German POWs from the Afrika Corps after defeat in North Africa. Post-Dispatch file photo, Three Italian POWs paint and draw during free time at Camp Weingarten in June 1943. Opened in 1943, a segregation camp from 1944. The elder Hennes was captured by Americans in Europe in the fall of 1944. 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. MVSC 940.5472 F45e. Originally, when the government agreed to bring them here, they were concerned about security, Fiedler said. This was a local story. endobj Transcripts for St. Louis Public Radio produced programming are available upon request for individuals with hearing impairments. All buildings but one have been demolished. A handpicked group of intellectual American officers joined forces with anti-Nazi POWs, and the democracy-promoting strategies of The Factory, as it became known, were devised. d3K/,diWAgCZ,7Y>&WqU(lt1iJ5cuy#}iv^L),ybY[Y="Ni' i~l + A walled patio and fireplace with masks of Comedy and Tragedy were built near the theater and are still landmarks on the university campus. 11 0 obj A 150 feet (46m) electrically lighted escape tunnel was discovered by authorities. Post-Dispatch photo, German POWs on a "boat camp" in the St. Louis area play chess and relax on the deck in 1945. 'P?W"=m!er\!qw%p`YU|CYPJ*,naMSanr,{3zpY6U,Av/ Post-Dispatch file photo. Despite their careful planning, 10 were captured within days, far from the border. Jean Shepherd featured many stories of his time at Camp Crowder in various monologues. "His hometown really wasn't all that far from Camp Weingarten.". 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. 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. (POW) camp in 1943. According to American Reeducation of German POWs, 1943-1946, as the war dragged on and U.S. casualties mounted, stories about cushy POW camp life and vicious crimes committed by Nazis prisoners enraged many Americans. Established at Weingarten, a sleepy little town on State Highway 32 between Ste. 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 level of instruction was so high that some German universities offered full credit to returning POWs. Camp Ritchie also served as a U.S. Army Training Camp from WWII until it was closed under BRAC during the 1990s to the early 2000s. 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. Leisure activities included Ping-Pong, chess, and card games. Post-Dispatch file photo, Three Italian POWs paint and draw during free time at Camp Weingarten in June 1943. A few continued into the early 1970s in Las Animas County where Trinidad is located. Originally it was to serve as an armor training center. 339-351. Later known as an anti-Nazi camp where many intellectuals, artist, writers were among the POWs. There were four main base camps, each holding between 2,000 and 5,000 prisoners of war. % <>/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>> Between 1861 and 1865, American Civil War prison camps were operated by the Union and the Confederacy to detain over 400,000 captured soldiers. Chesterfield Ex Satellite Pow Camp is a superfund site located at T 45 N, R 4 E, Sect. Approximately 1,000 Japanese Americans were kept there, under tight security, behind multiple layers of barbed wire fence. There was no 24-hour news cycle. According toHumanities Texas, many in America, especially farmers, were loathed to see them go. They worked at 8 local canneries until moving to other parts of Wisconsin in August, 1945. 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. Hollywood movies and cartoons were screened. 1942-1945: held Japanese-American internees, and then German and Italian POWs. According to theSociety for Military History, the last batch of them 1,500 German prisoners sailed from New Jersey on July 26, 1946. e-mail Around Geneseo. Post-Dispatch file photo, The front gate of the POW camp at Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, part of the Missouri River bottomland in St. Louis County. Genevieve County in June 1943. Other POWs were transported to work on farms and canneries in neighboring communities. Union leaders protested the use of POWs at a quarry near Pevely. The prisoners were given considerable freedom at these camps. Eventually, every state (with the exceptions of Nevada, North Dakota, and Vermont) had at least one POW camp. 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. The complex, serviced by a spur of the Kansas City Southern Railroad, included a main manufacturing facility, an engine testing area (ETA) for the live fire testing of rocket engines, a component testing area (CTA), and a former Camp Crowder warehouse, Building 900, as a warehouse and later engine overhaul and manufacturing. "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. 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. The Chicago Tribune reported on October 23, 1943, that the prisoners at Camp Weingarten soon put on weight by eating a daily menu superior to that of the average civilian.. Sunday, Dec. 11, marks 75 years since the United States declared war on Germany and Italy. Shelf Location . 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. 330 German POWs lived in a tent city around the Louis Glunz dance hall and worked on farms and in area canneries during the 1945 harvest. You have permission to edit this collection. Last chance! During the 1970sthe Rev. The front gate of the POW camp at Hellwig Brothers Farm on Gumbo Flats, part of the Missouri River bottomland in St. Louis County. 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. 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 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. ", "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. 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. However, I want to ensure it is recognized for the treasure that it is and it is not simply thrown away," McDowell said. There were also few wholesale escape attempts made by prisoners of war in Missouri. endobj Often, descendants of those POWs come for a visit to see where their relatives spent the war. 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. Blacks in the military expressed outrage that, after risking their lives fighting Nazis, they were considered beneath their white enemies back home. 1"\B^*:lr])BuHmdk[52`l5rJiBv* y'q$ag`CFrZs@[e|jB Life as a POW in the thirty camps scattered across Missouri was a surprisingly pleasant experience. The Italian and one German POW who committed suicide rather than be repatriated are buried just outside the post cemetery boundaries. Close to Fort Lincoln and held over 5,000 soldiers. 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. 1 0 obj To keep them from accumulating enough cash to bankroll an escape, prisoners were paid in canteen coupons. While still adhering to the Convention, the POW camps supplied local industries and businesses with laborers. There's a small museum north of Concordia near the guard tower. All enlisted men were required to work, and they were paid 80 cents a day, the same rate American privates received. About 2,600 German POWs were held there during World War II.. Gaertner stayed under the radar for years, and eventually the authorities stopped looking for him. Consequently, fanatical Nazis were thrown in with anti-Nazis. 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. However, not all towns and townspeople were happy hosts. This page was last edited on 25 December 2022, at 21:03. Prisoners worked on local farms. You can also listen to this Radiolab piece called Nazi Summer Camp, about prisoners of war in Idaho, or read this Smithsonian article about the nationwide POW movement. 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. 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. 6U z*&`873 hkg7*I|dx^EY?IF$zwUJH!/V>H>is&n /t;