Ceiling - April 1981

Ceiling - October 1998

Right Front - April 1981

Right Front - October 1998

Right Rear - April 1981

Right Rear - October 1998

Left Front - April 1981

Left Front - October 1998

Left Rear - April 1981

Left Rear - October 1998

The Chapel - April 1981

The Chapel - October 1998

POW Chapel Will Be Restored
by Kevin P. Kilbane - Republic Staff Writer
January 19, 1985

It has borne years of damage inflicted by weather and vandals with silent acceptance, much like the Italian and German prisoners of war it once offered solace.

Now it seems prayers for the "Chapel in the Meadow" will be answered. The Indiana Army National Guard plans this spring to beautify the chapel site at the Department of Natural Resources Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area and possibly restore some of the chapel's fresco paintings.

"What we want to do is to rebuild, preserve and beautify and open it back up," said retired Col. Richard King, Atterbury Reserve Forces Training Area maintenance supervisor and a former Camp Atterbury Post Commander.

The chapel was built in the mid-1940s by Italian and German prisoners of war at the west edge of what was Camp Atterbury POW compound, said Howard Stinson, assistant fire chief for the U.S. Army at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis. "The compound was torn down long ago but building foundations, fire hydrants and other remnants still serve as reminders of those days, said Stinson, a camp security officer in the 1960s.

The chapel's west wall bears the pock marks of two shotgun blasts. Standing at the open south end, a visitor faces the stone altar built against the north wall, its features cracked and damaged by vandals. Painting behind the altar have all but disappeared and parts of other frescos on the two other walls also have peeled and flaked off. A dove signifying peace or the Holy Spirit gazes down from the wood ceiling, its presence fading with the weathering of the timbers.