POW's at Camp Swift

Visit also:
German Prisoners of World War 2

The prisoner of war facilities at Camp Swift were state-of-the-art for their time. Built originally to house 3,000 prisoners, the stockade contained wooden buildings housing 16 prisoners each. Eventually, the camp would house 4,500 German and 300 Russian prisoners, who were captured while fighting on the German side.

POWs attending a funeral for one of their own
The first prisoners of war were received at Camp Swift on July 14, 1943. They were captured in Tunisia, and all belonged to the Afrika Corps. Upon arriving at the camp, they were given new clothes consisting of heavy, woolen uniforms with heavy, brogan-type shoes that made a lot of noise when they would walk on any hard surface.

A special Christmas dinner was served during the holidays and the POWs were allowed to decorate the cafeteria, as seen below.

In total, POWs performed more than 90,629,233 days of labor between mid-1943 and the end of December, 1945. This, of course, proved invaluable to the farmers and to the United States.

Camp discipline was maintained by the prisoners themselves. They were guarded by the Prisoner of War Guard Company foot patrols using two Irish setters. However, the prisoners so infrequently tried to escape that the guards were very casual in their watches. Only 16 escape attempts were made. None were successful. When the POWs were caught trying to escape, they were put in solitary confinement and fed only bread and water. They remained there for three to five days, depending upon the offense. At the end of their punishment, they were fed a large meal.

The prisoners had their own cemetery on the grounds. Only eleven men died while being held as prisoners at the camp.

Conditions for the prisoners of war were very good at Camp Swift, so good, in fact, that after the war, many German prisoners tried to stay in the United States, even going so far as to volunteer to join the U.S army in order to be able to remain.

One German prisoner, who did typing at Camp Headquarters, left the following on his typewriter when he was shipped back to Germany:

Goodby, big country, rich country, after 1,000 days I'm leaving you forever. Goodby you level farm land, you cotton raising state, you proudest soil under the sun: "My Texas." Goodby especially to you, Fortress Swift with your barracks and training grounds; you took it from me, finally, this consciousness of mine to belong to mankind. Goodby busy office at the post, Goodby dear desks and copies and typewriters. Goodby folks, all you clerk-typists and levelly [lovely] stenographers, with silk stockings, powdered faces and rouged lips. I was amazed seeing you sitting leisurely at hard work with "Coks" at hand. Goodby America: I'm going to England now as a young slave and then to Russia as an old one. Goodby - You swell life.

Visit also:
German Prisoners of World War 2