Camp Alto, World War II Prisoner of War Camp
Alto, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The U.S. Army built stateside camps by early 1942 to house prisoners of war (POWs). Camp Alto south of this site was a small branch operation of the Camp Fannin base facility in Tyler. The military set up branch camps to address local labor needs brought about by wartime shortages. With approximately 100 German POWs living in tents, Camp Alto began operating in the fall of 1944. The majority of POWs cut pulpwood for the East Texas ice storm salvage project. With the end of the war imminent, branch camps sent POWs to larger base camps as a step toward eventual repatriation. Its mission accomplished, Camp Alto closed in the spring of 1945 under direction of the War Assets Administration. Texas in World War II - 2006
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As the U.S. Army scrambled to house prisoners of war during World War II, it opened small branch camps to meet local labor shortages. Camp Alto, a tent facility for roughly 100 German POWs, operated as a satellite of the larger Camp Fannin near Tyler beginning in the fall of 1944. The prisoners cut pulpwood for an East Texas ice-storm salvage project until the camp closed in the spring of 1945 as the war wound down.
Why it matters
Camp Alto is a reminder that the global war reached deep into rural Texas, where enemy prisoners worked the pine woods to fill wartime labor gaps.
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Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
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