The Okie Legacy - WWII POW camps Barbed Wire & Nazilagers in Oklahoma [written by Richard S. Warner The Chronicles of Olahoma, Vol. LXIV, No. 1, Spring 1986]

World War II 1942-1945 Prisoner of War Camps in Oklahoma

Barbed Wire & Nazilagers

POW Camps in Oklahoma

[written by Richard S. Warner - The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. LXIV, No. 1, Spring 1986]

About the Writer... Richard B. Warner is a free lance writer in Tulsa who has been collecting information on POW camps for many years. The author would be interested in talking with anyone who might have additional information about the Oklahoma camps and PWs, especially from former PWs.

Alien Internment Camps --
Ft. Sill Alien Internment Camp | McAlester Alien Internment Camp |
Stringtown Alien Internment Camp

Other Camps -- End Notes -- Oklahoma Map of WWII Camps (Also Click Map Pic to View)

The train that pulled into the railway station at Madill, Oklahoma, on April 29, 1943, carried the first of thousands of prisoners of war who would spend all or part of the remainder of World War II behind barbed wire in Oklahoma. By 1945 the state would be home to more than thirty prisoner of war camps, from Caddo to Tonkawa, and each would have its own unique history.

The story of prisoner of war camps in Oklahoma actually predates the war, for as American leaders anticipated World War II, they developed plans for control of more than 100,000 enemy aliens living in the Untied States, all of whom would have to be interned in case of war. To prepare for that contingency, officials began a crash building program. permanent camps were put under construction or remodeling at Alva, McAlester, Stringtown, and Tonkawa. In addition, a temporary camp was set up at Fort Sill. The only camps that were actually used to hold enemy aliens, however, were the ones at McAlester and Stringtown. The other two would become PW camps from the start.

As the United States entered the war in North Africa, increasing numbers of German and Italian soldiers were captured by the Allies, and the British government asked the United States government to take over the internment of some of them. When the government agreed, another crash building program was started. Permanent PW camps at Camp Gruber and Ft. Reno were built, and most of the alien internment camps that had been built were converted. The alien internment camps at McAlester and Stringtown were emptied of aliens and refilled with PWs, while the camp at Ft. Sill was emptied and permanently closed. As additional PWs were sent to Oklahoma, many more camps would be established.

The maximum number of PWs in Oklahoma at any one time was about 22,000, while the total number of camps to hold them is difficult to determine. Thirty-one camps appear on lists submitted to the Provost Marshal General (PMG), but some small camps were apparently not considered separate and were not included on the lists. Newspapers and local citizens have identified four camps of this type. A graduate student at Oklahoma City University wrote a paper in 1967 in which he cited eighteen additional camps, but no confirmation of them can be found and their existence must be considered highly doubtful. At least five camps were planned but never built. Although not a PW camp, a few PWs were confined in the El Reno Reformatory for crimes they had committed in camp or while escaping.

The permanent PW camps which were to be used throughout the war were generally constructed from a standard design prepared by the Army Corps of Engineers. Such camps consisted of one or more compounds capable of holding about 1, 000 PWs divided into companies of about 250. The capacity of a camp could be increased by adding compounds. Each compound contained the barracks, mess halls, latrines and wash rooms, and any other buildings used by the PWs.

Each compound was surrounded by one or more fences and the use of guard towers was fairly standard. American personnel lived in similar buildings that were outside of the compound fences. With the fences and guard towers removed, a PW camp very much resembled a regular U.S. Army camp.

Two styles of barracks were used in the permanent camps. The most common style was a one-story wooden building, 100 feet long and 20 feet wide, that could hold fifty PWs. The other style was a square prefabricated pyramidal-shaped building that could hold thirty-five PWs. The pyramidal barrack building had a roof that came to a point, giving it an Asian appearance. Camps using that style of building were often called "Japanese" camps, but no Japanese PWs were confined in Oklahoma.

Besides the permanent PW camps, there were numerous temporary camps in Oklahoma. These were placed in pre-existing structures and little new construction was permitted. some of the temporary camps were not even fenced and few had guard towers. Armories, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps, and other unused government buildings were used when available, but some camps had to be placed in schools, municipal auditoriums, farm houses, and even in tents.

Only German PWs were confined in Oklahoma, although some Italian PWs were sent into the state as patients at the PW hospital at Okmulgee. Most PWs in Oklahoma worked in their own camps, at nearby military bases, or on farms and ranches, but a few operated an ice plant for the Santa Fe Railroad and some PWs with medical training worked at the Glennan General Hospital while it was being used to treat only PWs.

Although all the PWs in Oklahoma were from the German forces, this did not mean that all of them came from Germany. There are graves in this state of German PWs who were born in Russia, Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. A former PW who had been confined at Ft. Sill even remembers some PWs who could speak only Danish.

There was a continuous program to segregate the Nazi and Nazi sympathizers for the general camp populations and transfer them to special camps with higher security, but this program was never completely successful. Even the strong anti-Nazi PWs were transferred to separate camps.

The camp at Alva was for Nazis and Nazi sympathizers from the general PW populations, and many compounds were strongly affected by those individuals. Some hard line Nazis tried to keep the other PWs from wavering from the party line and used fear and actual physical punishment to do this. In some cases, they went even further. A number of PWs who committed suicide were thought to have done so under pressure. There were even some "executions" carried out by PWs. One such case occurred in the camp at Tonkawa, where Johannes Kunze was "tried" by a group of PWs and found "guilty of treason." His body was discovered in the compound the next morning. The five leaders of the group who had "tried" him were court martialed by the U. S. Army and executed.

A former German PW who had been in the camp at McAlester and who could speak and read English recalled that he had to be especially careful when reading an American newspaper or talking with any Americans. He said that he was never really sure who he could trust in the camp.

The Geneva Convention allowed a captor nation to put PWs to work in the war effort with certain restrictions. Enlisted men could be required to work; non-commissioned officers could be required to work, but only in supervisory positions; and officers could volunteer to work if suitable jobs commensurate with their ranks were available The Convention made no provision for paying these men, if they worked, but the U. S. government decided to pay them eighty cents per day, which was based on the pay of an American private at the beginning of the war. There were a few cases where PWs could work on a piece-work basis and make a little more.

The Geneva Convention stipulated that the pay of officers was to continue, even after they were captured. The captors had to pay the PW officers at the same rate as captor officers of equivalent rank just as long as it did not exceed the amount the PWs had been receiving prior to their capture. These funds were to be reimbursed to the captor nation after the war by the prisoner's home country. There was no mention of continuing the pay of enlisted men and non-commissioned officers in captivity, but the U. S. government decided to pay each of them ten cents per day; this amount would not be reimbursed after the war. All these amounts were paid in the form of credits to the prisoner's account or in canteen coupons that were good only in the camp where they were issued.

PWs who worked at about anything other than normal housekeeping duties in their compounds were paid eighty cents per day, although some jobs were compensated on an incentive basis and as much as $1.20 could be earned. The U. S. Government charged civilian employers who used PWs the prevailing wage in the area, but reduced it a little for the difference in efficiency between free and PW labor and for a "Nuisance factor." In Oklahoma the charge per day for a PW to work in agriculture seems to have been around $1.50. PWs could not be used in areas where there was a labor surplus, but there were few of these areas during the war and PWs were both needed and sought after.

The Geneva Convention required that captors provide PWs with the same quality and quantity of food as their own troops were fed. It was noticed that the PWs had particular likes and dislikes when it came to food. Items they did not like or were unfamiliar with were often discarded, so someone had the idea of designing menus that contained the familiar foods of the PW's country. Separate national menus were designed for German, Italian, and Japanese PWs, and they proved successful. Not only did they still meet the requirements of being of the same quality and quantity as the menus used for American troops and at no greater cost, but also the food wastage problem virtually disappeared.

The Geneva Convention permitted PWs to wear their own uniforms, badges, and insignia. Most of these items were missing or in bad condition by the time the men arrived in Oklahoma, and what did remain was carefully taken care of and worn only on special occasions. Obsolete and repaired American uniforms were issued to the PWs as well as any special clothing or safety equipment required by their job assignments. Although they were generally satisfied with the uniforms issued to them, the footwear was something else. German soldiers were accustomed to clicking their heels together when saluting, but the rubber or composition heels on American footwear did not give a satisfactory sound. Once the soft heels were replaced by hand-carved wooden ones by PW shoemakers, most were content.

The PWs looked forward to their after duty hours. Sports were always popular and some teams fielded near-professional quality soccer teams. Such a team at the camp at Tonkawa planned a match with some RAF cadets at Ponca City, but cooler heads prevailed and the game was called off. Gardening and handicrafts also were popular and many examples of their work can still be seen in Oklahoma.

Music was important for the German PWs, so most camps had bands, orchestras, and vocal groups. Theatrical performances often were staged complete with home-made costumes and scenery. Most of the larger camps had some religious services, but religion did not seem to be of much importance to most PWs. Prisoners with religious training often organized services, but American clergymen from outside the camps were usually eager to help.

The Geneva Convention required that the PWs have access to a canteen, which was similar to the PXs in the American camps that stocked toilet articles, candy, magazines, books, newspapers, tobacco items, and even at times, beer. The PWs did not especially like American beer, but it was better than none at all. The purchases were made with canteen coupons as PWs were not allowed to have American money.

A common complaint of the PWs, according to one former German PW, was the lack of privacy and homesickness. But as he said, it was much better being in the camp than where he had been. He was particularly happy to have been captured by the American troops in Normandy, because he was just about to be shot by a firing squad of the French underground.

Escaping or the thought of escaping was in the minds of many PWs, but not all of them. Escaping from a PW camp was not considered a serious crime under the Geneva Convention and the punishment was slight. There is no complete list of all the escapes from Oklahoma PW camps, but state newspapers report at least eight. None of these escapes were of the spectacular kind that we are accustomed to seeing on television or in the movies.

Most escapes were made by just walking away from a work detail. No escapee from an Oklahoma camp was successful in staying free and most were recaptured within a few miles of where they had escaped. There is a report that one escapee did succeed in getting back to Europe before being recaptured, but this cannot be confirmed. Many of the PWs who escaped actually turned themselves in to farmers, policemen, or even just returned to their camps.

Almost all escapees were hungry and exhausted when recaptured, which seems to indicate that their escapes had been made on the spur of the moment without any real planning. One former PW who said that he never even thought of escaping did say that curiosity about what was outside the camp and just the thrill of escaping were causes for most escapes. No incidents of harm to civilians or American military personnel by escapees form Oklahoma have been found. Only one PW was killed during an escape attempt from an Oklahoma PW camp.

When the PWs left Oklahoma after the war, all did not go directly back to Germany, but many were sent to England or France to work at cleaning up war damage. Those who were sent to France had a particularly difficult time. The French camps were primitive and the PWs were often put to work in hazardous jobs.

Interviews in Oklahoma, which have included talking with former guards and camp personnel, civilians who worked in the camps, individuals who used PW labor, and civilians who lived around the camps, give the general impression that the "German PWs, especially those who had been captured in North Africa, were hard-working, clean, well-mannered, and not trouble-makers. There were some unfavorable comments, but those mostly concern the PWs who were confined at the camp in Alva. It was surprising to hear so many people compare the German PWs favorably to young American soldiers.

Alien Internment Camps

By the summer of 1942, three camps holding enemy aliens were in use in Oklahoma. These camps were at Ft. Sill, McAlester, and Stringtown, but they were not used for that purpose for long and with their closings, no further enemy aliens were interned in this state. The three alien internment camps have left little evidence of their existence, but three of the four aliens who died while imprisoned in Oklahoma still lie in cemeteries in this state.

Ft. Sill Alien Internment Camp...
This camp was located northwest of the intersection of Ft. Sill Boulevard and Ringgold Road on the Ft. Sill Military Reservation. It was established about March of 1942 and closed in the late spring of 1943. Japanese aliens who had been picked up in midwestern and north central states, as well as in South and Central American, were confined there; it did not hold any of the Japanese-Americans who were relocated from the West Coast under Executive Order N. 9066. The capacity of the camp was 700, and no reports of any escapes have been located; two internees died at the camp and one of them is still buried at Ft. Sill.

McAlester Alien Internment Camp...
This camp was located north of Electric Street and west of 15th Street on the north side of McAlester in what would later become the McAlester PW Camp. It was opened on May 1, 1942, and closed on May 22, 1943. It held primarily Italian enemy aliens, but the Provost Marshal General (PMG) reports show that at least one German alien was confined there. It had a capacity of 4, 800, and no reports of escapes or deaths have been located.

Stringtown Alien Internment Camp...
This camp was located at the Stringtown Correctional Facility, four miles north of Stringtown on the west side of highway 69. It was activated on March 30, 1942, closed in June of 1943, and had a capacity of 500. It held primarily German aliens, but some Italian and Japanese aliens also were confined there. No reports of any escapes have been located, but two German aliens died at the camp and are buried at Ft. Reno.

Prisoner of War Camps

The two basic types of PW camps in Oklahoma were base camps and branch camps. Base camps usually were larger permanent establishments at or near military posts. Branch camps were smaller temporary establishments located near the work locations of tech PWs, and were dependent upon base camps for supplies and services. There were several specialized camps in Oklahoma, such as the mobile work camps that followed the harvests, the PW Hospital at Okmulgee, the Nazilager at Alva, and camp for PW officers at Pryor.

Alva PW Camp... This base camp, called a Nazilager by many PWs in other camps, was located one mile south of Alva on the west side of highway 281 on land that is now used for the airport and fairgrounds. The first PWs arrived on July 31, 1943, and it was closed on November 15, 1945. It had a capacity of about 6,000, but never held more than 4,850. The Alva camp was a special camp for holding Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, and there are accounts of twenty-one escapes. Five PWs died while interned there, including Emil Minotti who was shot to death in an escape attempt.

Ardmore Army Air Field PW Camp... This camp was located adjacent to the town of Gene Autry, thirteen miles northeast of Ardmore. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1945, and last appeared on November 1, 1945. It was a branch of the Camp Howze (Texas) PW Camp, and between 200 and 300 PWs were confined there.

Bixby PW Camp... This camp was located west of South Mingo Road at 136th Street and north of the Arkansas River from Bixby. It first appeared in the PMG reports on April 1, 1944, and last appeared on December 15, 1945. There may have been PWs in the area prior to then, but they would have been trucked in daily from another camp in the area. A branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp, it held about 210 PWs.

Borden General Hospital PW Camp... This camp, a branch of the Ft. Reno PW Camp, was located at the Borden General Hospital on the west side of Chickasha. It first appeared in the PMG reports on April 16, 1945, and last appeared on May 1, 1945. Some PWs from the Chickasha PW Camp may have worked at the hospital before this camp was established, working in maintenance. About 100 PWs were confined there.

Caddo PW Camp... This camp, located in the school gymnasium at Caddo, was a work camp sent out from the Stringtown PW Camp. Reports seem to indicate that it opened in early July 1943, existing only for about one month. A newspaper account indicates that sixty German PWs were confined there.

Camp Gruber PW Camp... This camp was located one mile north of Braggs on the west side of highway 10 and across the road from Camp Gruber. The first PWs were reported on May 29, 1943. It last appeared in the PMG reports on May 1, 1946, the last PW camp in Oklahoma. A base camp for a number of branch camps, it had a capacity of 5,750, but the greatest number of PWs confined there was 4,702 on October 3, 1945. Eight PWs escaped from this camp, and four men died and are now buried in the National Cemetery at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.

Chickasha PW Camp... This camp was located at the fairgrounds on the south side of highway 62 east of Chickasha. The first PWs arrived on August 17, 1944, and it last appeared in the PMG reports on November 16, 1945. Originally a branch of the Alva PW camp, it later became a branch of the Ft. Reno PW camp. From 250 to 400 PWs were confined there. Reports of nine escapes have been found.

Eufaula PW Camp... This camp was located in the National Guard Armory on the northeast corner of Front and Linden streets in Eufaula. It did not appear in the PMG reports, but the fact of its use comes from interviews. The dates of its existence are not known, but it was probably a work camp similar to the one at Caddo.

Ft Reno PW Camp... This camp was located one mile north of the El Reno Federal Reformatory and one mile east of Ft. Reno. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July 19, 1943, and last appeared on April 15, 1946. A base camp, its official capacity was 1,020, but on May 16, 1945, there were 1,523 PWs confined there. Reports of two escapes and one PW death have been found.

Ft. Sill PW Camp... This camp was located on the far west side of the Ft. Sill Military Reservation and south of Randolph Road. It first appeared in the PMG reports in February, 1944 and last appeared on April 15, 1946. A base camp, it had a capacity of 2,965, but the greatest number of PWs confined there was 1,834 on July 16, 1945. Reports of three escapes and one death have been located. Three separate internment camps were built at Ft. Sill. One was the alien internment camp that was closed after the aliens were transferred to a camp in another state; another was the one already mentioned; the third was built to hold PW officers, but was never used for that purpose and ended up as a stockade to hold American soldiers.

Glennan General Hospital PW Camp... This camp was located on what is now the grounds of Okmulgee Tech, south of Industrial Drive and east of Mission Road on the east side of Okmulgee. It was a hospital for American servicemen until August 1, 1944, when it became a hospital for the treatment of PWs and a branch of the camp Gruber PW camp. The staff consisted of PWs with medical training. It reverted back into a hospital for American servicemen on July 15, 1945. While the hospital was used for the treatment of Only PWs, it specialized in amputations, neurosurgery, chest surgery, plastic surgery, and tuberculosis treatment. Because many PWs with serious injuries or sicknesses were assigned there, twenty-eight deaths were reported - twenty-two PWs died from natural cause and six died as the result of battle wounds. Reports of three escapes have been located.

Haskell PW Camp... This camp was locatd in the National Guard Armory on the southwest corner of Creek and Spruce streets in Haskell. It opened on December 1, 1943, closed on December 11, 1945, and was a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. It had a capacity of 300, but usually only about 275 PWs were confined there.

Hickory PW Camp... This camp was located four miles east of Hickory at the Horseshoe Ranch. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1944, and last appeared on June 16, 1944, although it may have actually opened as early as May 1, 1944. It was a branch of the Camp Howze PW Camp. Thirteen PWs were confined there, and one man escaped.

Hobart PW Camp... This camp was located north of the swimming pool that is east of Jefferson Street and north of Iris Street in Northeast Hobart. It opened in October 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on May 16, 1945. A branch of the Ft. Sill PW Camp, it held as many as 286 PWs.

Konawa PW Camp... This camp, a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, was located in the National Guard Armory, three blocks north of Main Street on North State Street in Konawa. It opened on October 30, 1943, and closed in the fall of 1945. Seventy-five to eighty PWs were confined there.

Madill Provisional Internment Camp Headquarters... Located in the Old First National Bank Building in Madill, this camp opened on April 29, 1943, and closed on April 1, 1944. It was not an actual PW camp, but was the administrative headquarters for several camps in the area, including the ones at Powell and Tishomingo. There were no PWs confined there.

McAlester PW Camp... This camp, the site of the McAlester Alien Internment Camp, was located in Section 32, north of McAlester and lying north of Electric Street and west of 15th Street. Opening on June 3, 1943, it closed in October or November, 1945. A base camp, it had a capacity of 4,920, but never held more than 3,000 PWs. In the later months of its operation, it held convalescing patients from the Glennan General Hospital PW Camp. Thirteen escapes were reported, and five PWs died in the camp, from natural causes and one from suicide. Three of the men are still buried at McAlester.

Morris PW Camp... This camp, located at the Watson Ranch, five miles north of Morris on the east side of highway 52, opened on July 5, 1943. It last appeared in the PMG reports on august 1, 1944. Originally a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, it later became a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. Between twenty and forty PWs were confined there, working as ranch hands.

Okemah PW Camp... This camp, a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp, was located in the National Guard Armory on the northwest corner of 6th and West Columbia streets on the north side of Okemah. It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 1, 1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. About 130 PWs were confined there.

Okmulgee PW Camp... This camp was located at the old fairgrounds east of Okmulgee Avenue and north of Belmont Street on the north side of Okmulgee. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 1, 1944, and last appeared on January 15, 1946. Originally a branch of the Alva PW Camp, it later became a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. About 300 PWs were confined there.

Pauls Valley PW Camp... This camp, a mobile work camp from the Camp Chaffee (Arkansas) PW Camp, was located at North Chickasha Street north of the Community building in what is now Wacker Park in Pauls Valley. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July 16, 1944, and last appeared on October 16, 1944. About 270 PWs were confined there.

Porter PW Camp... Located in the Community Building in the center of Porter, this camp first appeared in the PMG reports on September 16, 1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. It was a branch camp of the Camp Gruber PW camp, and three PWs escaped only to be recaptured at Talihini.

Powell PW Camp... Located a short distance south of Powell, a small community about three miles east of Lebanon and about eight miles southwest of Madill, this camp was originally a branch of the Madill Provisional Internment Camp Headquarters, and later became a branch of the Camp Howze PW camp. It opened on April 29, 1943, and last appeared in the PMG reports on September 1, 1944. It had a capacity of 600 and was usually kept full. The PWs cleared trees and brush from the bed of Lake Texoma which was just being completed.

Pryor PW Camp... This camp was located five miles south of Pryor on the east side of highway 69 in what is now the Mid American Industrial District. It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 8, 1944, and last appeared on March 8, 1945. It was a base camp that housed only officer PWs with a few enlisted men and non-commissioned officers who served as their aides and maintained the camp. There were two escapes, probably the reason for the closing of the camp. Placed at an explosives plant, there was a fear that escaping PWs might commit sabotage.

Sallisaw PW Camp...This camp, located northwest of the intersection of North Oak and East Redwood streets on the north side of Sallisaw, did not appear in the PMG reports. The only word of its existence comes from one interview. The number of PWs confined there is unknown, but they lived in tents. This may have been the mobile work camp from the Camp Chaffee PW Camp that moved across Oklahoma and appeared at several locations.

Seminole PW Camp...This camp, a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, was located in the Municipal Building at the northeast corner of Main and Evans streets in Seminole. It opened on about November 1, 1943, and last appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1945. About fifty PWs were confined there.

Stilwell PW Camp...This work camp from the Camp Chaffee PW Camp was located at Candy Mink Springs about five miles southwest of Stilwell. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 16, 1944, and last appeared on July 8, 1944. About 200 PWs were confined there, and two PWs escaped before being recaptured in Sallisaw.

Stringtown PW Camp...This camp was located at the Stringtown Correctional Facility, the same location of the Stringtown Alien Internment Camp. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July 19, 1943, and last appeared on January 1, 1944. The camp had a capacity of 500 and was generally kept full.

Tipton PW Camp...This camp was located north of the railroad tracks between 2nd and 3rd streets on the southeast side of Tipton on a four acre tract that had been a Gulf Oil Company camp. It opened on October 20, 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on November 1, 1945. It was a branch camp of the Ft. Sill PW Camp and held 276 PWs. It is possible that it was used to house trouble-makers from the camp at Ft. Sill. Four men escaped.

Tishomingo PW Camp...This camp was located on old highway 99 north of the Washita River and south of Tishomingo where the airport now stands. it opened on April 29, 1943, and closed on June 13, 1944. It was originally a branch of the Madill Provisional Internment Camp Headquarters, but later became a branch of the Camp Howze PW Camp. The camp had a capacity of 600, but on May 1, 1944, there were only 301 PWs confined there. Two PWs escaped.

Tonkawa PW Camp...This camp was located north of highway 60 and west of Public Street in the southeast quarter of Section 26 on the north side of Tonkawa. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 30, 1943, and last appeared on September 1, 1945. It started as a base camp, but ended as a branch of the Alva PW Camp. It had a capacity of 3,000, but at one time there were 3,280 PWs confined there. Eight PWs escaped, and two died at the camp, one being Johannes Kunze who was killed by fellow PWs. The other died from natural causes.

Waynoka PW Camp...This camp was located one-half mile north of Waynoka in the Santa Fe Railroad yards at the ice plant. It opened prior to August 30, 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on September 1, 1945. A branch of the Alva PW Camp, it hosed about 100 PWs. One PW escaped.

Wetumka PW Camp...This camp was located at the old CCC Camp north of Wetumka along the south edge of Section 15. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 16, 1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. A branch of the Camp Gruber PWs Camp, it held as many as 401 PWs at one time.

Wewoka PW Camp...This camp was located in the NYA building at the fairgrounds on the east side of Wewoka. The first PWs arrived on October 11, 1943, but the closing date is unknown. About forty PWs were confined at the work camp from the McAlester PW Camp.

Will Rogers PW Camp...This camp was located at what is now Will Rogers World Airport at Oklahoma City. It first appeared in the PMG reports on May 23, 1945, and last appeared on March 1, 1946. It was a branch of the Ft. Reno PW Camp and about 225 PWs were confined there.

Other Camps

In 1967 Edward C. Corbett, now deceased, wrote a paper at Oklahoma City University in which he mentioned eighteen teams of German PWs who were sent from the Stringtown PW Camp to help out after a flood along the Arkansas River and its tributaries. Each of these teams, consisting of 150 German PWs and a few guards, were supposed to have been sent to Moffett, Sallisaw, Vian, Eufaula, Tahlequah, Nowata, Skiatook, Bixby, Wagoner (four teams), Keota (two teams), Spiro (two teams), and Hyde Park (two teams).

No date was given for when these teams were formed, but the largest flood during the war years was in May, 1943. U.S. soldiers were sent to Oklahoma from as far away as Mississippi, but no mention of the use of PWs has been found.

The first PWs were not reported at Stringtown until the middle of July so there is some question whether there would have been any PWs there to form these teams. No reports of these teams have been located, but this could have been due to the fact that no public announcement of PWs being in Oklahoma was made until about the first of June, 1943.

Interviews were made in most of the areas where these teams were supposed to have been sent and no one recalled any PWs being there after the flood. This was most noticeable at Hyde Park, a small residential community near the Port of Muskogee. No resident who could recall any PWs helping them out. Most were very proud to claim that their community had taken care of its own clean-up work without any outside assistance.

Although small PW camps did exist at Bixsby, Eufaula and Sallisaw, the interviews show that the PWs in those camps worked as farm workers and not a flood relief. There was a very slim reference to some German PWs being encamped southwest of Wagoner, but no definite confirmation could be found. This reference could have been concerning the PWs at Porter which is in that direction. The only mention of these eighteen teams of Germans was in Corbett's paper and his source of information is not known.

It is impossible to compile a list of all the PW camps that got into the planning stage but were never put into use. The shortage of farm workers was serious and Oklahoma farmers were happy to have the PWs to help them. It is reasonable to believe that many requests for camps were made to the 8th Army Service Command at Dallas and that some of these requests resulted in plans for a camp. Often these requests were not reported in the newspapers and information about only a few of them has been found. The PMG reports mention only one camp in Oklahoma that was authorized but never put into use.

In February, 1944, a camp was announced in the Wagoner newspaper. It was to hold 300 German PWs from the camp Gruber PW Camp and they were to be kept in the National Guard Armory. The thirty-five guards were to have been quartered in the Wagoner Community building. The negotiations dragged on and the plan was finally cancelled in June. In April, 1945, the 8th Army Service Command approved a new camp which would be located about three miles southwest of Coweta. The camp was to have been built around a pre-existing dairy barn which was to be renovated. The camp was cancelled the next month. There also were plans to place a camp at the Tulsa County Fairgrounds, but Tulsa County Commissioner Robert L. Kinkaid did not see the need and was successful in getting the project cancelled.

German PWs from the Camp Chaffee PW Camp, organized into a mobile work camp that followed the harvests were supposed to arrive in Lindsay on July 15, 1944, to help with the broom corn harvest. Two small buildings were to be built, but the PWs were to have lived in tents. The guards were to be quartered in the Lindsay High School auditorium. This camp was shown as being authorized in the PMG reports. At about the time PWs were to have arrived, however, the need for them disappeared and the camp did not open.

The county officials of Garvin County were so impressed with the work performed by the mobile work camp at Pauls Valley that they pressed for a permanent camp in the area. Arrangements were made to send PWs from the Ft. Sill PW Camp and quarter them at the State Training School at Pauls Valley. This plan went so far as to have the camp commander named, but the camp was never opened.

There are still seventy-five PWs or enemy aliens buried in Oklahoma. The greatest number of these are in the Post Cemetery at Ft. Reno, but three are buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery at McAlester and two more are buried at Ft. Sill.

Not all the seventy men buried at Ft. Reno were PWs who died in Oklahoma. Two of the burials are enemy aliens who died in Oklahoma and 29 are PWs, both German and Italian, who died in PW camps in other states. The Ft. Sill Cemetery holds one enemy alien and one German PW who died there. One other enemy alien who died at Ft. Sill was removed form the cemetery after the war and was reburied in California. The only PWs who died in Oklahoma and who are not buried in this state are the four men who died at the camp Gruber PW Camp and are buried in the National Cemetery at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.

None of the alien internment camps and PW camps in Oklahoma still exist, and the sites of most of them would not give any hints of their wartime use. Most of the pre-existing buildings that were used at some of the branch camps still stand, but it is difficult to imagine them as being used as a PW camp. A few of the buildings at the Tonkawa PW camp are still standing, but they have been remodeled over the years. Buildings at the sites of the PW camps at Alva, McAlester, and Tonkawa were being used up to a few years ago as VFW club houses. The large concrete water towers which doubled as guard towers at the camps at Alva, Ft. Reno, and Tonkawa are still standing at the sites of those camps. A few buildings at Okmulgee Tech were part of the Glennan General Hospital PW Camp. After the war many buildings were sold and removed from the camp sites and some of these are still in use around the state.

The only PW camp site where it is possible to visualize how a PW camp would have looked is near Braggs at the location of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. The fences and buildings have been removed, but the streets, sidewalks, foundations, gardens, and a vault that was in the headquarters building can still be seen. Some of the concrete and stone monuments that were built by the PWs are also still standing there.

Although the German PWs have long returned to their own country, every year a few of them return to Oklahoma to visit the locations where they spent some time as unwilling guests during the war. Most report that their stay in Oklahoma as PWs was not really that unpleasant, and the welcome they receive when they return as tourists overcomes any anxieties they might have had.

Warner's End Notes

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