List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in the United States

Prisoner-of-war camps in the United States during World War II.

In the United States, at the end of World War II, there were 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war (mostly German). The camps were located all over the US but were mostly in the South because of the higher expense of heating the barracks in other areas. Eventually, every state (with the exceptions of Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, North Dakota, and Vermont) had POW camps. Some of the camps had to be designated "segregation camps" and used to separate the Nazi "true believers" from the rest of the prisoners, whom they terrorized and even killed for being friendly with their American captors.^[1]

Camp	State	City or County	Notes
Camp Skokie Valley	Illinois	Glenview, Illinois
Newton D Baker	West Virginia	Martinsburg
Camp Belle Mead	New Jersey	Belle Mead, New Jersey
Fort Dix (Known officially as "Camp Dix" until 1939, a name that carried over unofficially through WWII)	New Jersey	New Hanover Township, Pemberton Township, and Springfield Township
Jersey City Quartermaster Supply Depot	New Jersey	Caven Point, Jersey City	[2]
Boston Port of Embarkation	Massachusetts	Boston
Camp Allegan	Michigan	Allegan County
Camp Antigo	Wisconsin	Antigo
Bradley Field	Connecticut	Windsor Locks	Now Bradley International Airport
Camp Adair	Oregon	Benton County
Camp Albuquerque	New Mexico	Albuquerque
Camp Algoma	Idaho	Algoma
Camp Algona	Iowa	Algona
Camp Aliceville	Alabama	Aliceville	Opened in 1943, a segregation camp from 1944.[1]
Camp Allen	Virginia	Norfolk
Camp Alva	Oklahoma	Alva	One of the first segregation camps.[1]
Fort Andrews	Massachusetts	Boston Harbor
Camp Angel Island	California	San Francisco
Camp Ashby	Virginia	Princess Anne County
Camp Ashford	West Virginia	Ashford	Ashford is an unincorporated community therefore, Camp Ashford was officially located in Boone County.
Camp Atlanta	Nebraska	Atlanta
Camp Atterbury	Indiana	Edinburgh	Housed 3,500 Italians and later 10,000 Germans
Camp AuTrain	Michigan	AuTrain
Camp Barkeley	Texas	Abilene	Was located near what is now Dyess Air Force Base.
Camp Barron	Wisconsin	Barron County
Camp Bassett	Arkansas	Bassett
Camp Bastrop	Louisiana		Kurt Richard Westphal escaped in August 1945 and was recaptured in Hamburg, Germany, in 1954.
Camp Bayfield	Wisconsin
Camp Beale	California
Camp Beaver Dam	Wisconsin
Camp Billy Mitchell	Wisconsin
Camp Blanding	Florida
Camp Bowie	Texas		See: "News from the Bowie Camp 1943," a written account from Joseph Lehman to a friend.
Camp Brady	Texas
Camp Breckinridge	Kentucky
Camp Briner	North Carolina
Camp Bullis	Texas	San Antonio
Camp Butner	North Carolina		Kurt Rossmeisl escaped on 4 August 1945 and surrendered in 1959.
Camp Cambria	Wisconsin
Camp Campbell	Kentucky		One of the first three designated camps for anti-Nazis, along with Fort Devens, Massachusetts and Camp McCain.[3]
Camp Carson	Colorado
Camp Chaffee	Arkansas	Sebastian County
Camp Chase	Ohio
Camp Chickasha	Oklahoma	Grady County
Camp Chilton	Wisconsin
Camp Claiborne	Louisiana
Camp Clarinda	Iowa
Camp Clark	Missouri
Camp Clinton	Mississippi		Housed German POW's from the Afrika Korps after their defeat in North Africa
Camp Cobb	Wisconsin
Camp Columbus	Wisconsin
Camp Como	Mississippi
Camp Concordia	Kansas
Camp Cooke	California	Santa Barbara County
Camp Croft	South Carolina
Camp Crossville	Tennessee
Camp Crowder	Missouri
Camp David	Maryland
Camp Dawson	West Virginia
Camp Deming	New Mexico		Georg Gärtner escaped on 21 September 1945, and finally surrendered in 1985. He was the last escapee, having remained at large for 40 years.
Camp Dermott	Arkansas
Camp Douglas	Wyoming
Camp Dundee	Michigan		Two escaped. Used a railroad box car. Recaptured: Roanoke, Va.[4]
Camp Eau Claire	Wisconsin
Camp Edwards	Massachusetts	Falmouth
Camp Ellis	Illinois
Thibodaux, Louisiana	Louisiana	Thibodaux	Housed German POW's from the Afrika Corps after defeat in North Africa. Camp was located in North Thibodaux along Coulon Road.
Camp Eunice	Louisiana
Camp Evelyn	Michigan	Alger County
Camp Faribault	Minnesota
Camp Fannin	Texas	Tyler	Located on the campus of the now University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.
Camp Florence	Arizona	Florence	Largest all-new prisoner of war compound ever constructed on American soil.[5]
Camp Fond du Lac	Wisconsin
Camp Forrest	Tennessee	Tullahoma	First attempted escape by two German POWs on 5 November 1942.
Camp Fox Lake	Wisconsin
Camp Fredonia	Wisconsin
Camp Freeland	Michigan	Freeland	The current site of the TriCity Airport (MBS)
Camp Galesville	Wisconsin
Camp Gene Autry	Oklahoma	Ardmore Army Air Field
Camp Genessee	Wisconsin
Camp Germfask	Michigan	Germfask
Camp Grant	Illinois	Rockford
Camp Grant	Michigan	Newaygo	Formerly located on the south-east corner of East 120th St. and South Walnut Ave. 2.5 miles east of Grant, MI. Prisoners worked on local farms.
Camp Greeley	Colorado	Greeley
Camp Green Lake	Wisconsin
Camp Gruber	Oklahoma	Muskogee
Camp Hale	Colorado	Pando-Leadville	[6]
Camp Gueydan	Louisiana
Camp Hartford	Wisconsin
Camp Hearne	Texas	Hearne	[7]
Camp Hereford	Texas	Deaf Smith County	Only for Italians[8]
Camp Hobart	Oklahoma
Camp Hoffman	Maryland		Close to Fort Lincoln and held over 5,000 confederate soldiers
Camp Hood	Texas
Camp Horseshoe Ranch	Oklahoma	Hickory
Camp Hortonville	Wisconsin
Camp Houlton	Maine
Camp Howze	Texas		[9]
Camp Hulen	Texas	Palacios
Camp Huntsdale	Pennsylvania
Camp Huntsville	Texas		One of the first segregation camps.[1]
Camp Indianola	Nebraska
Camp Janesville	Wisconsin
Camp Jefferson	Wisconsin
Camp Jerome	Arkansas
Camp Kaplan	Louisiana
Camp Lake Keesus	Wisconsin
Camp Las Cruces	New Mexico	Las Cruses	Werner Paul Lueck escaped in November 1945 and was recaptured in Mexico City in 1954.
Camp Lee	Virginia
Camp Livingston	Louisiana
Camp Lockett	California
Camp Lodi	Wisconsin
Camp Lordsburg	New Mexico	Lordsburg	1942-1945: held Japanese-American internees, and then German and Italian POWs.
Camp Mackall	North Carolina	Hoffman
Camp Marion	Ohio	Marion, Ohio	http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=29115
Camp Markesan	Wisconsin
Camp Marshfield	Wisconsin
Camp McAlester	Oklahoma	McAlester,Piteburg	http://worldandmilitarynotes.com/pow/camp-mcalester-ok-usa-pow-camp/
Camp McCain	Mississippi		One of the first three designated camps for anti-Nazis, along with Camp Campbell and Fort Devens, Massachusetts.[3]
Camp McCoy	Wisconsin	Monroe	Japanese and German POWs, Japanese, Italian, and German Internees; now Fort McCoy
Camp McKay	Massachusetts		Constructed for prisoners, later reused for housing after the war
Camp McLean	Texas
Camp Mackan	North Carolina
Camp Maxey	Texas		[10]
Camp Mexia	Texas
Camp Milltown	Wisconsin
Fort Missoula	Montana	Missoula	1941-1944: Italian POWs.
Camp Myles Standish	Massachusetts	Taunton
Camp Monticello	Arkansas	Monticello, Arkansas
Camp Montgomery	Minnesota
Camp Natural Bridge	New York	West Point	(German)
Camp New Cumberland	Pennsylvania
Camp New Ulm	Minnesota	New Ulm	Fortuitously located outside a city where many locals still spoke German. The camp buildings are preserved in Flandrau State Park and are available for rent as a group center.[11]
Camp Oakfield	Wisconsin
Camp Ogden	Utah
Camp Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	Oklahoma City	On site of Will Rogers World Airport, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Camp Ono	California	San Bernardino	(Italian)
Camp Opelika	Alabama
Camp Owosso	Michigan	Shlawassee County
Camp Owatonna	Minnesota
Camp Patrick Henry	Virginia
Camp Papago Park	Arizona		Germany's "Great Escape" was from a 200-foot (61 m) tunnel by 25 prisoners on 24 December 1944.
Camp Pauls Valley	Oklahoma
Camp Peary	Virginia
Camp Perry	Ohio
Camp Philips	Kansas
Camp Pickett	Virginia
Camp Pima	Arizona		One of the first segregation camps.[1]
Camp Pine	New York	Green Lakes State Park
Camp Michaux	Pennsylvania	Cumberland County	Located near Pine Grove Furnace State Park. Same commander as Gettysburg Battlefield camp.
Camp Plymouth	Wisconsin
Camp Polk	Louisiana
Camp Pomona	California
Camp Popolopen	New York
Camp Pori	Michigan	Upper Peninsula
Camp Pryor	Oklahoma
Camp Raco	Michigan	Sault Ste. Marie
Camp Reedsburg	Wisconsin
Camp Reynolds	Pennsylvania
Camp Rhinelander	Wisconsin
Camp Ripon	Wisconsin
Camp Jos. T. Robinson	Arkansas
Camp Rockfield	Wisconsin
Camp Roswell	New Mexico		Located 14 miles SE of Roswell, NM. 1942-1946: German POWs.
Camp Rucker	Alabama
Camp Rupert	Idaho	Paul
Camp Ruston	Louisiana
Camp San Luis Obispo	California		Held Italian POWs
Camp Salina	Utah	Salina, Utah	This camp had a guard fire on and kill several German prisoners. See Utah prisoner of war massacre
Camp Santa Fe	New Mexico
Camp Thomas A. Scott	Indiana	Fort Wayne	Camp Scott held more than 600 German POWs from the Afrika Korps from late 1944 until the camp closed in November 1945.[12][13]
Camp Scottsbluff	Nebraska
Camp Shanks	New York
camp in McMillan Woods	Pennsylvania	Gettysburg Battlefield	Same commander as Camp Michaux camp.
Camp Sheboygan	Wisconsin
Camp Shelby	Mississippi
Camp Sibert	Alabama
Camp Sidnaw	Michigan	Sidnaw
Camp Somerset	Maryland
Camp Stark	New Hampshire
Camp Stewart	Georgia
Camp Stockton	California
Fort Strong	Massachusetts	Boston
Stringtown POW Camp	Oklahoma	Atoka
Camp Sturgeon Bay	Wisconsin
Camp Sturtevant	Wisconsin
Camp Sutton	North Carolina
Camp Swift	Texas	Bastrop	Camp Thomasville, Georgia. Large German pow camp 2 miles outside of Thomasville. Following WWII, the facilities were taken over by the Veterans Administration with both a hospital and large domiciliary complement. Facilities now serve as an adjunct to the state's mental health program.
Camp Thornton	Illinois
Camp Tipton	Oklahoma
Camp Tishomingo	Oklahoma
Camp Tonkawa	Oklahoma		Site of murder of Johannes Kunze by five fellow German POWs, who were subsequently tried, found guilty, hanged, and buried in the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery.
Camp Tooele	Utah		POW Camp, Co.1, Tooele (original postage)
Camp Trinidad	Colorado		A 150-foot (46 m) electrically-lighted escape tunnel was discovered by authorities. This was probably a coal mining tunnel in that Engleville was coal mining camp where this POW camp is purported to be located. Coal mining was prominent in the late 1870s to the 1950s. A few continued into the early 1970s in Las Animas county where Trinidad is located.
Camp Van Dorn	Mississippi
Camp Wallace	Texas	Galveston County
Camp Warner	Oregon
Camp Washington	Illinois	Washington	Reinhold Pabel escaped on 9 September 1945 and was recaptured in Chicago in March 1953
Camp Waterloo	Michigan		Heinz Eschweiler, a 27-year-old German POW, escaped and gave himself up 3 miles north of camp. Capt. Bruce Beiber, commandant at Waterloo, said the prisoner surrendered to Ernest Riemenschneider, who turned him over to state police. The camp housed German Prisoners of War in 1944 and 1945.[14]
Camp Waterloo	Wisconsin
Camp Waupun	Wisconsin
Camp Waynoka	Oklahoma
Camp Weeping Water	Nebraska
Camp Wells	Minnesota
Camp Weingarten	Missouri		Located between Farmington and Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
Camp Wharton	Texas	Wharton
Camp Wheeler	Georgia
Camp White	Oregon
Camp White Rock	Texas	Dallas	A former CCC camp it was used for POWs who were with Rommel's Afrika Corps. After the war it became a men's dormitory for Southern Methodist University for the influx of students after the war and now is a Dallas park called Winfrey Point by White Rock Lake.
Camp Wisconsin Rapids	Wisconsin
Cushing General Hospital	Massachusetts
Camp Wolters	Texas
Corpus Christi Naval Air Station	Texas	Corpus Christi
Drew Field	Florida		Now Tampa International Airport and Drew Park.
Edgewood Arsenal	Maryland
Eglin Army Air Field	Florida
Fort Andrews	Massachusetts		For Italian prisoners
Fort Benjamin Harrison	Indiana
Fort Benning	Georgia
Fort Bliss	Texas
Fort Bragg	North Carolina
Fort Campbell	Kentucky
Fort Crockett	Texas	Galveston
Fort Curtis	Virginia
Fort Custer	Michigan		In Section B of Fort Custer National Cemetery, there are 26 German graves. Sixteen of the men were killed or died as a result of an accident on October 31, 1945.
Fort Devens	Massachusetts	Devens	One of the first three designated camps for anti-Nazis, along with Camp Campbell and Camp McCain, Mississippi.[3]
Fort Dix	New Jersey		Harry Girth escaped in June 1946 and surrendered to authorities in New York City in 1953.
Fort Drum	New York
Fort DuPont	Delaware
Fort Eustis	Virginia
Fort Getty	Rhode Island
Fort Gordon	Georgia
Fort Greble	Rhode Island
Fort Jackson	South Carolina
Fort Kearny	Rhode Island		Had program to instill democratic values in Germans based on newspaper Der Ruf (The Call)
Fort Knox	Kentucky
Fort Lawton	Washington		A riot by Negro soldiers took place over preferential treatment given to Italian and German POWs. One Italian POW was lynched, and Leon Jaworski was the military prosecutor. The Italian and one German POW who committed suicide rather than be repatriated are buried just outside the post cemetery boundaries.
Fort Leavenworth	Kansas
Fort Leonard Wood	Missouri
Fort Lewis	Washington		Located between Olympia and Tacoma, Washington.
Fort McClellan	Alabama
Fort Meade	Maryland		Fort Meade housed about 4,000 German and Italian POWs during World War II. Thirty-three German POWs and two Italian POWs are now buried in the post cemetery. The most famous of those buried on the installation is German submariner Werner Henke, who was shot while trying to escape from a secret interrogation center at Fort Hunt, Virginia.
Fort Niagara	New York		Fort Niagara, along with Camp Drum (currently Fort Drum) maintained several sub- or branch camps in other NY locations, including Geneseo, NY.[15]
Fort Oglethorpe	Georgia
Fort Omaha	Nebraska	Omaha
Fort Ord	California		A 120-foot (37 m) nearly-completed escape tunnel was discovered by authorities.[16]
Fort Patrick Henry	Virginia
Fort Reno	Oklahoma
Fort Riley	Kansas
Fort Robinson	Nebraska
Fort Rucker	Alabama
Fort D.A. Russell	Texas
Fort Sam Houston	Texas
Fort Saulsbury	Delaware
Fort Sheridan	Illinois
Fort Sill	Oklahoma	Lawton
Fort Sumner	New Mexico
Fort F.E. Warren	Wyoming
Glennan General Hospital	Oklahoma
Grider Field	Arkansas	Pine Bluff
Halloran General Hospital	New York
Hammond Northshore Regional Airport	Louisiana
Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation	Virginia
Indiantown Gap Military Reservation	Pennsylvania
Holabird Signal Depot	Maryland
Jefferson Barracks	Missouri	St. Louis
Lovell General Hospital	Massachusetts
McCloskey General Hospital	Texas
Memphis General Depot	Tennessee
Naval Air Station Whiting Field	Florida	Milton
New Orleans Port of Embarkation	Louisiana
Olmstead Field	Pennsylvania
Patterson Field	Ohio
Port Johnson	New Jersey		[17]
Pine Bluff Arsenal	Arkansas
Richmond ASF Depot	Virginia
Tobyhanna Military Reservation	Pennsylvania
Valley Forge General Hospital	Pennsylvania
Waltham Memorial Hospital	Massachusetts	Waltham
Westover Field	Massachusetts
Windfall Indiana World War II POW Camp	Indiana
Camp Haan	California	Riverside
Camp Tyson POW Camp	Tennessee	Paris
Rose Hill	Colorado	Rocky Mountain Arsenal

Footnotes

1. Chip Walker (1985). "German Creative Activities in Camp Aliceville, 1943-1946". The Alabama Review 38: 19–37.
2. http://wikimapia.org/12374348/Fomer-Site-of-the-Caven-Point-Army-Depot
3. Krammer, Arnold (1 January 1996). Nazi Prisoners of War in America. Scarborough House. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-8128-8561-3.
4. Father's memories of POWs spur teacher's research of central Michigan camps
5. Jack Hamann, "On American Soil: Camp Florence, Arizona."
6. Camp Hale Prisoners of War
8. "Account from the Hereford Camp" for more see reference therein.
9. Camp Howze 1944 1945 " from a long term resident at the camp written to his girlfriend"
10. "August 1943 description of the Camp Maxey" Letters from Camp Maxey
11. Buck, Anita Albrecht (1998). Behind Barbed Wire: German Prisoners of War in Minnesota During World War II. St. Cloud, Minn.: North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc. ISBN 0-87839-113-4.
12. "World War II Camp Had Impact on CIty" by Michael Hawfield, The News-Sentinel 15 December 1990
13. Camp Thomas A. Scott - Fort Wayne, Indiana - WWII Prisoner of War Camps on Waymarking.com
14. http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/10/waterloo_township_officials_sa.html
15. Cook, William R.; Daniel J. Schultz (2004). Around Geneseo. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3496-X.
17. Colorado History.org

External links

• A nearly complete list of all camps
• Camp Rucker (Fort Rucker), Alabama
• The German POW camps of Michigan during WWII
• Map of WWII POW Camps in the US with links