Camp Huntsville, World War II Prisoner of War Camp

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Camp Huntsville. Walker County, Texas.

World War II. And a story that most folks driving past this stretch of land never think to ask about. The camp was completed right here in 1942, and it was one of the first prisoner of war camps built anywhere in the United States during the war.

Think about that for a second. The fighting was still young, the outcome still very much unwritten, and already somebody in Washington had looked at this piece of East Texas and said, yes, this is where we'll put them. More than four hundred buildings went up.

Eight branch camps spread out from this one. The whole operation was designed to hold three thousand prisoners of war. Now, the first arrivals came in the spring of 1943, and they were no ordinary prisoners.

They were part of Germany's Afrika Corps. By the time fall rolled around that same year, the population at Camp Huntsville had climbed all the way to four thousand eight hundred and forty souls. Later in the war, things shifted.

The camp became a branch of Camp Hearne, over in Robertson County. Then came September of 1945, and with the war wound down, the German POWs were sent from Camp Huntsville to Camp Hearne, making room here for the arrival of Japanese prisoners of war. The camp drew its last breath on January 5th, 1946.

After that, the government transferred more than eight hundred acres, buildings and all, to Sam Houston State Teachers College, to be used as a country campus. Four hundred buildings, eight branch camps, nearly five thousand men at its peak, and then, just like that, a college campus. Texas has a way of quietly holding the biggest stories.

What the marker says

Camp Huntsville, completed here in 1942, was one of the first prisoner of war (POW) camps built in the U.S. during World War II. Designed to house 3,000 POWs, it had more than 400 buildings, as well as eight branch camps. The first POWs, part of Germany's Afrika Corps, arrived in spring 1943, and by fall the population peaked at 4840. Late in the war the camp became a branch of Camp Hearne (Robertson Co.). In Sept. 1945, Camp Huntsville sent its German POWs to Camp Hearne in preparation for the arrival of Japanese POWs at this site. The camp closed on Jan. 5, 1946, and the government transferred more than 800 acres, including buildings, to Sam Houston State Teachers College for use as a country campus. Texas in World War II - 2006