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re: Did you know German & Italian WW2 POWs were imprisoned in the US?
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:11 pm to LSUFreek
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:11 pm to LSUFreek
quote:
I recently watched a doc on Anniston, AL and it mentioned its Fort McClellan housing the POWs.
I had no idea about this until I was riding some of the roads of the fort after it closed and came upon a little memorial where some German and Italian POWs that died while imprisoned are buried. Small graveyard with about 30 soldiers buried there.
I looked it up and Ft McClellan was the intake place for POWs before they were sent to other places around the state.
0
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:17 pm to zeebo
My grandpa worked as a guard at the Hammond airport when they held Germans there.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:22 pm to reggierayreb
quote:
The Italian WOPs...oops... POWs, for the most part were.....how to put this.... lazy, shiftless and lacked intelligence as well as motivation and were far less efficient than their German counterparts
They kept the good ones in theatre to work for the US Army in noncombat roles.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:26 pm to LSUFreek
Camp Forrest is a few minutes from my home. I believe May of ‘42 it began keeping pow’s. One of the largest Army bases during its time. I remember seeing pics my father had of a German pow working our tobacco field, once they were released. Eventually Camp Forrest became AEDC and now Arnold Air Force base.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:37 pm to gungho
And in Acadia parish
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:42 pm to LSUFreek
Two of my great aunts (Grandmother's sisters), whose parents were from Sicily, met their husbands at the POW camps right after the war. When the war ended, the local Italians in New Orleans would host parties for the Italian POWs. My great aunts met my eventual great uncles (Italian POWs) at a POW party. The uncles were shipped back to the Italy before they were married. My Aunts, two years later, after writing letters every day to their boy friends back in Italy, jumped on a ship to Italy to marry my uncles. Eventually, they all moved back to NOLA and lived happily ever after.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:49 pm to OldCat55
quote:
My land was, for the most part, cleared by German POWs. Their prison camp was in the vicinity of the Hammond airport. My grandfather used to talk with them. He told my mother that they were so surprised to find intact American cities.
That’s the reason there were so many POW camps in Louisiana and throughout the region. The area needed able-bodied men to work.
In addition to the five main POW camps in Louisiana, there were satellite camps spread throughout the state so prisoners could be closer to their designated work details, mainly farm work. Some of these satellite camps were permanent, some seasonal or temporary.
Most of the prisoners were from the North African theater, both Italians and Germans. The Germans were part of Rommel’s Afrika Korps.
The first Japanese POW was originally sent to Camp Livingston. He was from a mini-sub on the attack at Pearl Harbor.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:51 pm to LSUFreek
German prisoners were bussed in to work the cotton fields on the north side of Monroe.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 2:53 pm to gungho
quote:
There was a German POW camp in Ruston, LA
There was one in West Monroe too, where the police station and city hall sit now.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:06 pm to Tortious
Yes.
Europe and parts of Africa were pretty wartorn, so little infrastructure existed to support holding prisoners.
Most of the supplies keeping everyone fed were coming from the USA so it was cheaper to have them here.
They also worked as labor for a lot of our agricultural needs.
Also, the proximity to combat zones were thought to provide too much temptation for rescue operations.
Finally, since most of our shipping was loaded on the way over there and empty for the return trip, having PWs (the correct term of that time) loaded aboard our ships cost very little but gave a bit of protection from U-boat attacks for that direction of travel. Nobody wants to kill their own troops.
Europe and parts of Africa were pretty wartorn, so little infrastructure existed to support holding prisoners.
Most of the supplies keeping everyone fed were coming from the USA so it was cheaper to have them here.
They also worked as labor for a lot of our agricultural needs.
Also, the proximity to combat zones were thought to provide too much temptation for rescue operations.
Finally, since most of our shipping was loaded on the way over there and empty for the return trip, having PWs (the correct term of that time) loaded aboard our ships cost very little but gave a bit of protection from U-boat attacks for that direction of travel. Nobody wants to kill their own troops.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:12 pm to LSUFreek
Those “Japanese” camps were not full of captured Japanese soldiers ala the German and Italian pow camps. Those were American citizens for the most part, born here or naturalized. The Japanese soldiers more or less fought to the death throughout the war. POWs from their ranks were few and very far between.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:12 pm to LSUFreek
How many of them stayed here after the war instead of returning home?
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:20 pm to OffTheRails
quote:
Many area residents are probably surprised when they get their DNA tested thinking they are mostly French.
My grandma would always say something about the German in him when my brother's temper got going. I had no idea where that came from until I was older because all of my ancestors post Acadia had French names.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:25 pm to Rabby
quote:
Yes
Thank you for that. Makes a ton of sense and I never thought of the U-boat angle. Appreciate it
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:26 pm to Rabby
quote:
Nobody wants to kill their own troops.
except for the Japs
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:27 pm to LSUFreek
The stories from the German/Italian POW perspective are entertaining. There lots of accounts of individuals realizing quickly the war was lost after seeing how vast, mechanized, and almost untouched by the war American citizens were compared to their home countries. Also how lightly guarded (in many cases not) and well-treated the prisoners were.
One funny account is of a group of Afrika Korps POWs sent west to a prison camp. The first day one of the guards brings in a big sack of food for the group (good food, a variety of meats, bread, dairy, etc.) and tells them they're free to determine amongst themselves when mealtimes are and how to allocate the food. So the Germans schedule out the week's meals and assign individuals to cook to allocate/stretch the food accordingly. The second day, the guard arrives with another delivery of the same size. The POWs were stunned to realize these were daily, not weekly, rations. Most left the camp after the war weighing far more than when they arrived.
One funny account is of a group of Afrika Korps POWs sent west to a prison camp. The first day one of the guards brings in a big sack of food for the group (good food, a variety of meats, bread, dairy, etc.) and tells them they're free to determine amongst themselves when mealtimes are and how to allocate the food. So the Germans schedule out the week's meals and assign individuals to cook to allocate/stretch the food accordingly. The second day, the guard arrives with another delivery of the same size. The POWs were stunned to realize these were daily, not weekly, rations. Most left the camp after the war weighing far more than when they arrived.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:37 pm to Tortious
for you nola folks, jackson barracks had a ton of italian pow there during the war and where the rouses is on franklin ave by the lake was another pow camp. think that one was called camp leroy johnson
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:38 pm to LSUFreek
yes - common knowledge
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:40 pm to LSUFreek
Yes, I think there was a POW camp in Port Allen, LA.
Posted on 8/6/25 at 3:40 pm to geauxtigers87
quote:
jackson barracks had a ton of italian pow t
I think there was a post or thread about this sometime ago, iirc, the poster was from Nola and Italian and apparently the Italian POWs could roam about town pretty freely and some of the posters ran into some of the POWs that were family members(bio, not mob, well, maybe that too
)
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