POW CAMP # 21 McALESTER OKLAHOMA

There were 35 POW camps in Oklahoma which confined in excess of 25,000 prisoners.

It opened as a base camp June 3, 1943, with a capacity of 4,920. There were about 3,000 prisoners confined there. During the last months, it held convalescing patients from the Glennan General Hospital. It closed Oct. or Nov., 1945.

Below is pictures of a Castle that the German POW's made while interned in the camp. It can be seen one the West lawn of the McAlester Historical building.

MANY THANKS TO CAROL SCOTT

OF THE PITTSBURG COUNTY GENEALOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY  FOR HER ASSISTANCE IN OBTAINING THE FOLLOWING ARTICALS.

THE TOP PART OF THE FIRST PICTURE IS OF THE FIRST LOAD OF POW's BEING MARCHED FROM THE TRAIN STATION TO THE NEW COMPOUND. THE BOTTOM PICTURE IS A SKIT FROM A PLAY THE PRISONERS PUT ON FOR THEIR OWN ENTERTANMENT THE SECOND PICTURE IS. A DIGAGRAM OF THE WAY THE POW CAMP WAS LAID OUT.

THE FOLLOWING IS AN ARTICLE WRITTEN IN THE MCALESTER NEWS CAPITOL NOVEMBER 18 2005

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Published: November 18, 2005 10:45 am

P.O.W. camp history topic at luncheon

By James Beaty

Senior Editor

The prisoner of war camp in McAlester during World War II provided a purpose far beyond holding German POWs.

It showed people in the heartland that Americans were defeating the Axis powers at a time when many families had already lost loved ones in the fighting and were enduring forced rationing at home.

"It was tangible evidence we were winning the war," said Dr. Bill Corbett,

professor of history at Northeastern State University In Tahlequah.

Corbert served as the featured speaker during the annual Heritage Day Luncheon held at the Masonic Scottish Rite Center in McAlester.

Corbett spoke on "Stalag Sooner: World War II Prisoner of War Camps in Oklahoma." He focused on Camp McAlester, a camp for German POWs

which had been constructed In the northeast part of the city.

Oklahoma became a major destination for enemy POWs captured in World War II

During the war, 12 compounds were set up in the state to hold more than 20,000 enemy prisoners.

Camp McAlester came about after local business and political leaders began lobbying then-Congressman

Wilbur Cartwright for some type of facility related to the war effort.

The city got something - but not exactly what the city leaders had been expecting.

"Nobody here asked for a POW camp - that's what they got," Corbett said.

Once the government decided to put a POW camp in McAlester, however, the city leaders, along with many local and area residents, wanted

to see that it worked well.

"The development of this camp reflected how businessmen and community leaders can work together," Corbett said.

Thirteen German POWs escaped from Camp McAlester during the war, but all were apprehended, Corbett said. Most had simply walked away from work details.

"Most of the men who escaped during these walk-aways were just curious" and wanted to see the countryside, Corbett said.

The way the German POWs were treated had an impact on the future, according to Corbett.

"The German soldiers who came here were treated humanely," Corbett said. They were paid for some of the work they did as part of community project’s.

"One man went back to Germany with $600 in his pocket," Corbett said. That seemed a fortune in post-war Germany.

Because of the way they were treated here, one former German POW later said, "We could see America had a better way."

"We created an ally from our enemy," Corbett said.

Evans McBride, who is president of the McAlester Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture,

said the lessons of the past can help us today - especially the part about business and politcal leaders working together.