Learning from Facebook: Camp Crossville

A former professor at the university where I worked is now employed by a larger state university. He recently shared the following Q & A as his status:

Q: Why are there so many German and Italian surnames in Crossville, TN?

A: Because during WWII, captured German and Italian officers were held at the POW camp there. Some "trusties" were released to work on local farms. Locals came to the fence and bartered with them. The folks of Crossville were so kind that when the war was over, many of the prisoners went back to Europe, got their families, and moved to Crossville.

I found this interesting from a genealogical standpoint.

I learned through comments on the blog post that the camp is now a 4-H camp.

The professor also linked to an interesting and well-documented article entitled "'To Win Our War with Butter and Beefsteaks': Camp Crossville and the Treatment of Axis Prisoners of War" written by Gregory Kupsky.

The most interesting comment of all was by the daughter of one of the Germans held there who returned to Germany and moved to the United States after taking five years to convince his wife about how kind Americans were.

Forced to Leave

"Forced to Leave: The Removal of the Unangax̂ of Unalaska, 22 July 1942," Aleutian Voices, vol. 2, no. 1 (2015).

One of the perks of my day job is seeing many of the U.S. government publications arrive in the library. While most are somewhat routine publications that report legislation, Supreme Court cases, and the like, occasionally a really interesting one appears. Such is the case of this second issue of Aleutian Voices. It's a special thematic issue devoted to the forced removal of the Unangax̂ from the city of Unalaska. The issue explores their culture, provides photographs from the time period, and details their removal. It's a short read and does not appear to be available online yet, although the first issue which was dedicated to the S.S. Northwestern is. If you can't make it to a government depository library to peruse the print issue, be sure to keep checking the link to see when this one becomes available.

A Different Point of View

Most of the time when I have read fictional books about the Japanese-American internment experience during World War II, it has been from the point of view of one of those interned. Jamie Ford offers us a different perspective in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The hotel is the Panama Hotel in Seattle, Washington where restorers discover belongings left behind by some of the Japanese-Americans who were evacuated. Henry Lee, a Chinese-American, sees someone bringing out a parasol that he is certain belonged to Keiko Okabe, his very special Japanese friend from school. Back in 1942 he and Keiko had been very special friends even though his father, a Chinese businessman, had a very strong dislike for the Japanese. Henry goes into the hotel where he locates, with the help of his son, Keiko's sketchbook and a record that had meant a lot to Keiko and himself. This is Henry and Keiko's story, told from Henry's perspective. It shows the reader that the Japanese were not the only ones affected by this dark chapter in American history. After a stay at a temporary camp, Keiko's family was relocated to Minidoka in Idaho. Although this book was fictitious, the Minidoka War Relocation Center was a real place. The site is now part of the National Park System. Chapter 9 of Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites tells about Minidoka in great detail. Although it is named Minidoka, it was actually nearer Jerome. Friends of Minidoka also has some interesting historical information on this facility. Their further reading page lists several resources that would be useful for persons researching ancestors who were relocated to Minidoka. I located a map on this site of war relocation facilities. I know that I have read books set in Manzanar in California and Topaz in Utah. I think the thing that surprised me most is that two were located in Arkansas. This might be an interesting topic to pursue when I'm in Little Rock for FGS if I have time.

World War II

There's a new government document out entitled Finding Personal Participation in World War II. It looks like it will be a very helpful resource in determining the types of sources held by NARA.

Gulf Ordnance Plant

The theme for the mid-September edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is to tell any story about a wartime event or soldier in your family. I've blogged extensively recently about soldiers and the military, so I thought I'd do something a little different. I thought I'd go with the "wartime event" category and discuss what was going on back in the states while the servicemen were in Europe and in the Pacific.



In the little town of Prairie, Monroe County, Mississippi was a plant called the Gulf Ordnance Plant during World War II. Basically, they made bombs which were used in the war. I had several relatives that worked there during the war. It was good employment for the area, and the company transported its employees from all over the area to the plant via bus. My grandfather was among those who rode the bus from Amory to the plant where he maintained the refrigeration. I have a copy of a pay stub of one living person who worked for the plant. The check came from the Proctor & Gamble Corporation.






What really makes my grandfather's service, even in this manner, interesting is that his father, having been a member of the Amish sect, was exempted from Civil War service. His father later married "outside the faith". While my grandfather was certainly old enough to serve during World War I and did in fact register for the draft (at age 32), he was not called upon to serve then. Many of the men who did not go to the war in the Monroe County, Mississippi area served their country by manufacturing the munitions that were used in the war. Many women were also involved in the making of bombs.

Brent Coleman, former police chief of Aberdeen, Mississippi, has written extensively on the Gulf Ordnance Plant. Much of his research was published in a special issue of TomBigbee Country Magazine. (Sorry , I would provide contact information, but their web site's pricing information is outdated, so I'm pretty sure they aren't currently maintaining this site which is full of popups because it is housed on a free site.) [The full citation for this is: Coleman, Brent. The Gulf Ordnance Plant at Prairie (MS), 1942-1945, The Gulf Ordnance Story: A Special edition of TomBigbee Country Magazine. Aberdeen, MS: TomBigbee Country, 2002. ]