A recent history study has been completed on the World War II (1941-1946) prisoner-of-war (POW) camp and alien internment camp that once was present near what is now South Family housing at Fort McCoy.
The study sheds new light on the history of then Camp McCoy as it served a rather unique role in the Army’s fighting of World War II. The camp held German, Polish, and Italian service personnel, and was the largest Japanese POW camp in the United States during the war with nearly 3,000 people at its height.
“I think most people familiar with the history of Fort McCoy are aware there was a World War II POW camp on base, but few likely know much about it and even fewer likely know about the story of the detention of U.S citizens of Japanese, German, and Italian ancestry at Camp McCoy in 1942-1943,” said Ryan Howell, garrison archaeologist with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.
“Like it always has historically, Fort McCoy was on hand with ready facilities to respond to an unforeseen need of the U.S Army and the United States people,” said Howell. “Camp McCoy (as it was known during World War II) rapidly altered an abandoned Civil Conservation Corps camp to house up to 500 prisoners within a few months, and later expanded to have room for up to 5,000 prisoners.”
The nearly 300-page history study includes nearly 165 historic photos of the POW camp, its prisoners, guards, and buildings. The study was completed by historians from the Corps of Engineers with support from the Fort McCoy Cultural Resource Management Office, Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office, as well as local historians from the Monroe County History Room, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, and academics and graduate students from universities across Wisconsin.
“It was definitely a “history team effort,” Howell said. “We basically got everyone who had an interest in this history, regardless of institution or position on board, and everyone made valuable contributions … from veterans’ families to high school history teachers to doctorate professors.”
The study was needed, Howell said, so that the historical physical remains of the POW camp could be better managed under the National Historic Preservation Act and so that his program as well as the civilians, service personnel, and veterans working and visiting Fort McCoy would have a better understanding of this part of Fort McCoy’s story of service.
The document details not only the history of the camp, its layout, and buildings (all of which are no longer standing) but goes into detail on the camp life of the POW and internees who lived at the camp from 1942-1946. The study covers everything from the security and guarding procedures at the camp, medicine, and POW deaths due to wounds, the work life of the POWs (who worked for wages that could be spent at a POW camp store/canteen), and the recreation and off-work hours of the prisoners.
When asked about what the study had revealed that surprised him, Howell said it was the disunity and in-fighting amongst the Axis prisoners.
“It’s clear from the records that one of the biggest weaknesses of the enemies of the U.S Army during World War II was their ‘culture of non-cooperation’ and ‘tribalism,’” Howell said. “The Japanese and the German POWs refused to work together or associate, the pro-Nazi Germans bullied and beat up the non-Nazi Germans, everyone hated the Italians, and the Japanese Army and Japanese Navy were constantly trying to subvert and undermine each other to gain control of what was essential a handful of chore rosters.
“It’s clear from the history that they considered their own allies and partner services nearly as much of an enemy as the Americans, if not more so,” Howell said. “I think there is a real lesson to draw from that history.”
Howell also noted there also never was a successful escape from the Camp McCoy POW camp.
See a related Fort McCoy ArtiFACT at https://www.dvidshub.net/news/397740/fort-mccoy-artifact-internment-pow-camp-map.
All archaeological work conducted at Fort McCoy is coordinated by the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.
Visitors and employees are reminded they should not collect artifacts on Fort McCoy or other government lands and leave the digging to the professionals. Any person who excavates, removes, damages, or otherwise alters or defaces any historic or prehistoric site, artifact, or object of antiquity on Fort McCoy is in violation of federal law.
The discovery of any archaeological artifact should be reported to the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch at 608-388-8214.
(Article prepared by the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.)
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