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PRISONERS OF WARS
On May 19, 1943, Col.
Welton M. Modisette, post commander, announced that Italian prisoners of
war at the internment camp at Atterbury were available for agricultural
labor in the five counties within a 25-mile radius of the camp. Requests
were to be made for their labor through the county agricultural agents to
the internment camp commander, Lieut. Col. John L. Gammell. This
announcement was the first published reference about the internment camp,
al-though its presence was known earlier to some.
Many farmers availed themselves of this opportunity to get much-needed
help. The provision for use of prisoners only within a 25-mile radius was
lifted to permit their use on farms as far distant as Decatur County. The
farmer hiring prisoner labor had to provide transportation, equipment and
tools, toilet facilities, and safe drinking water. As a rule not less than
ten men were to be sent out on any one job. Contracts stipulated the type
and amount of work to be done, the location of the farm, number of working
hours, and amount of pay. Work of a dangerous nature was prohibited, and
prisoners were not to be employed except in cases where the demand could
not be filled by civilian labor. The working day was limited to ten hours,
including travel time to and from work. A guard accompanied each group of
prisoners to and from the camp and stayed with them while they worked.
Payment for the labor was made directly to the United States Government at
the prevailing wage rate of the vicinity after the cost of transportation
and food furnished the prisoners was deducted.
Each prisoner received from the government a flat allowance of ten cents a
day and an extra eighty cents for each full day's work outside the
stockade. He could receive up to $13 a month of this money in coupons
exchangeable at the canteens, but any amount earned over this sum was kept
in trust for him until such time as he should be repatriated.
On June 4, 1943, Army headquarters in Washington announced that Camp
Atterbury's prisoner of war camp would be one of the permanent internment
centers. Newspaper men were taken on a tour of the camp on June 5. They
found it located in a secluded valley at the west edge of Camp Atterbury,
well away from the training area. It was enclosed within a double barbed
wire fence, with guard towers covering a narrow alley between the fences.
The stockade was divided into three compounds, each containing hut
shelters, mess halls, toilet facilities, and other installations
sufficient to accommodate 3,000 prisoners.
The prison camp at this time required the services of approximately 500
Army officers and enlisted men, who were housed outside the stockade in
near-by barracks. The guard and administrative detachment was made up of 3
military police escort companies, 21 additional officers, and 3 attached
officers. The guard companies rotated; while one was on actual camp guard
manning the towers and gates, another company was on the alert, and the
third was engaged in tactical and other training exercises or in
supervising work details.
The unit in charge of the
internment camp was the 1537th Service Unit. It had been activated on
December 15, 1942, with 50 enlisted men; during the following six weeks
these men received specialized training for their job. Then on February 10
they moved to the internment area and spent the next two months in
converting it into a prison camp and making all the necessary preparations
for the arrival of the prisoners. There was no complete standard operating
procedure for prisoner of war camps at this time; as a result,
regulations, forms, and records had to be initiated and a fiscal system
set up.
Two MP Guard companies arrived from Fort Custer, Michigan, on April 18 to
take over the guard duties. On April 30 the first contingent of 767
prisoners arrived; the following day 400 more were checked in. By
September the number reached 3,000.
The camp was organized as a regiment of three battalions of five companies
each. Each battalion was composed of one escort guard company of American
soldiers and four companies of prisoners. The prisoners had one
regimental, three battalion, and twelve company leaders appointed from
their own ranks by the camp commander. The prisoners were given a basic
course which included common English words, recognition of the American
national an-them, bugle calls, Army insignia, various commands, etc. The
prisoners received the same rations as the American soldiers except that
at their own request the Italians received extra flour in lieu of meat.
This was in line with their normal diet. They baked their own bread, made
spaghetti, and prepared their own meals. They were permitted and expected
to organize and administer their own affairs as much as possible. There
were no commissioned officers among the Italian prisoners.
The sick and wounded among the prisoners were moved immediately to the
post hospital. Dispensaries within the stockade took care of temporary
illnesses. Many could not understand how they got to Indiana, believing
that it was a part of India. Others expressed wonder that New York City
could have been rebuilt so quickly. They had understood that it had been
destroyed by bombs. Almost all of them were Catholics. Maurice F. Imhoof,
an American Catholic priest, who had studied in Rome and spoke Italian
fluently, was chaplain for the internment camp. The prisoners showed their
artistic ability by erecting in their spare time a beautiful outdoor altar
of brick and stone.
The reporters were impressed most by the cheerfulness of the Italians and
the excellent condition of the camp. The newcomers, dumped suddenly into
an unknown land, thousands of miles from home, constantly grinned, talked
and joked, played a queer game with their fingers called "La Mora," and
sang in lusty voices as they marched to and from work assignments. They
had day rooms with radios, phonographs, games, and approved newspapers and
magazines in Italian; there was also a recreation area, with equipment for
volley ball, soccer, and other games. Most of these "extras" were
purchased with the profits realized from the operation of the can-teens in
the stockade. This money was also used to buy musical instruments for the
prisoners. On Sunday morning the prisoners were permitted to see movies at
the Camp Atterbury theaters.
Lawnmowers were one of the many American novelties to the Italians. They
asked to be allowed to cut grass so that they could operate the mowers.
They also worked in the post garden, the laundry, and at other tasks
around the grounds. Each prisoner was required to send a card home telling
of his safe arrival at the internment camp; after that he could send one
card and two letters each week. Both incoming and outgoing mail was
censored. Prisoners were permitted to have visitors twice a month. These
visits were under the supervision of military personnel and were limited
to two hours.
Meanwhile the war had not been going so well for the homeland of the
prisoners. On September 8 the Italian Government surrendered to the
Allies, but the war was continued in Italy by the Germans. In January,
1944, the first of the Italian prisoners at Camp Atterbury were
transferred to other camps prior to their return to their homeland. A few
of them joined newly formed volunteer non-combat units in the United
States Army. Their removal from Atterbury was completed by May 4. It was
during this period, in February, that the first and only death of an
Italian prisoner occurred.
The Italian prisoners
were replaced by German prisoners, the first ones arriving on May 8, four
days after the departure of the last group of Italians. There were 2,940
Germans in the internment camp by June 30 and 5,700 on September 19. This
was far beyond the original capacity of the camp. In the following months
some of these were transferred to other camps and new groups were received
at Atterbury. The maximum was reached on October 15 when there were 8,898
prisoners; 3,700 of these were in branch camps established at points
throughout the state, the remainder were at Atterbury. Army troops in
charge of the prisoners on this date numbered 746 enlisted men and 33
officers.
There was quite a difference between the German prisoners and the
Italians.
The Germans, particularly the thorough Nazis, were still definitely
enemies, although deprived of the power to do any-thing about it, while
most of the Italians had been lukewarm enemies before they were captured,
and enemies not at all as soon as they were taken. The German prisoners
were still essentially hostile, although so well disciplined and well
handled that they constituted no particular threat. Like the Italians,
they were hired out as agricultural laborers and as workers in the canning
factories. Earnings of these German prisoners in the month of October,
1944, reached $135,000. On some days there were as many as 750 different
work details. The average daily wage paid for a prisoner of war to the
government was $4.00, the labor being classified as unskilled on the
majority of projects. During the height of the canning season, branch
camps were established at Austin, Windfall, Vincennes, Eaton, and
Morristown so that workers would be available in those areas. These camps
continued to be maintained during the winter months in order to take care
of the large number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of the Atterbury
prison camp. In addition to the sums earned at outside labor, the
prisoners harvested crops valued at $15,000 from the area cultivated at
Camp Atterbury.
The administration of the internment camp was governed by Army regulations
and in addition had to meet the exacting rules set forth in the treaty
drawn up at Geneva in 1929 governing treatment of prisoners of war. The
United States, Germany, and Italy ratified this treaty but Japan did not.
The camp was visited by representatives of the International Red Cross,
the YMCA, representatives of neutral powers, members of the State
Department, the provost marshal general's office, the House military
affairs committee, and by two personal representatives of the President of
the United States. All of these, according to the Camp Crier, acclaimed
the ramp as one of the best prisoner of war installations in the country.
It was over a year after Germany surrendered before all the German
prisoners were removed from Atterbury. On July 10, 1946, it was announced
that the internment camp had been formally inactivated on June 27 and the
last of the prisoners sent back to their homeland or to other camps. The
last to be dispatched were five patients in the Wakeman hospital who were
sent to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on June 28, 1946.
In all, some 15,000 enemy soldiers had been received at the Atterbury
internment camp during the three years and two months of its existence.
During this period there were no escapes, no strikes, no labor troubles,
no murders; there were only six deaths. Col. John L. Gammell remained as
commanding officer during the entire period. In addition to its regular
functions, the camp conducted an intellectual diversion program which
included over 35 courses of academic instruction, emphasis being placed on
principles of democracy. The prisoners prepared and printed a textbook on
democracy. In addition, a number of the prisoners took extension courses
from American colleges.
Plans for dismantling the internment area and selling part of the
facilities, including buildings, fencing, and lighting fixtures, were
announced in August by the Louisville office of the U.S. Engineers.
Everything that could not be used at other Army installations was to be
sold to the highest bidder. Thus was ended another chapter in the history
of Camp Atterbury. The internment camp was operated in a way that brought
credit to the Army officials in charge. The prisoners, by their work on
near-by farms and in canning factories, were credited by the farmers as
being a big aid in helping to meet boosted wartime food goals.
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Page last revised
08/30/20222