World War II POW Camp

The same five acres imprisoned America's own citizens and then its enemies. In the summer of 1944 the first people housed here were about 200 Japanese-Americans — incarcerated at Topaz under the wartime removal order, and let out on work release to pick Orem's orchards amid open hostility. That fall, Italian and then German prisoners of war took their place, up to 340, working the same farms by day under guard at night. The war's uncomfortable arithmetic sat plainly here: enemy soldiers and imprisoned citizens, doing identical labor on identical ground. Farm-worker housing until about 1970, then gone.

What the plaque says

In December 1943, Governor Herbert B. Maw dedicated a five acre site at this location for the use of the war department during the latter part of World War II. The first occupants of the camp which was built here were approximately 200 Japanese-Americans, part of the thousands that were located to the intermountain west from the west coast during the war. The internees lived here during the summer and fall of 1944. Beginning in the fall of 1944, and continuing through July 1946. German and Italian prisoners of war were housed here, eventually reaching a total of 340. After the prisoners were released in 1946, the camp served as living quarters for farm workers until about 1970, when the buildings were torn down.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bridal Veil Falls — 4.6 mi
  A dramatic double waterfall cascading 607 feet into Provo Canyon
• Aspen Grove — 7.2 mi
  The mountain-base trailhead for Mount Timpanogos and Stewart Falls
• Alpine Loop Summit — 7.4 mi
  The 8,000-foot high point of the Alpine Loop, face to face with Mount Timpanogos
• Sundance Mountain Resort — 7.4 mi
  Robert Redford's intimate, arts-minded ski resort on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos, in the North Fork of Provo Canyon.

More markers nearby

• First Orem Chapel — 2.3 mi
• Utah's First Indian Battle — 3.6 mi
• Pioneer Cemetery — 3.9 mi
• Dan Jones, Missionary — 4.1 mi