Prisoners of War at Camp Bowie

Camp Bowie was the first major defense construction project in Texas in World War II. The War Department first allotted $1.65 million for a camp to train 18,000 soldiers, a figure that grew past $10 million, and workers raised more than 8,000 buildings on land that eventually reached 120,000 acres. The prisoner compound stood about three miles west of today's camp boundary. At its peak, the Handbook of Texas says, it held more than 1,300 German prisoners, mostly from Rommel's Afrika Korps. They took courses through Howard Payne College and produced two newspapers, Die Brücke and Der Lagerspiegel.

What the plaque says

During World War II, Camp Bowie housed several thousand German prisoners of war. The first arrivals, many of whom were troops from General Rommel's division in North Africa, came in 1943. The U.S. Army allowed the prisoners to write and receive letters and to take classes in the morning, including English, forestry, metal work, radio, bookkeeping and law. They listened to lectures and music at night. The prisoners also worked on a farm outside the compound, and many remained in contact with local farmers after the war, some even later returning to visit. The U.S. government closed Camp Bowie in 1945, but it was not until June 1946 that all German prisoners were returned home. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Brownwood State Park — 14 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• Site of World War II Camp Bowie — 1.7 mi
• Robert E. Howard — 3.4 mi
• Charlie Webb and John Wesley Hardin — 3.6 mi
• Daniel Baker College — 3.6 mi