Camp Chireno, World War II P.O.W. Camp
Chireno, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
During World War II, the Frost Lumber Co. (Nacogdoches) and the Angelina Lumber Co. (Lufkin) requested that the War Manpower Commission (WMC) establish Camp Chireno as a "permanent" branch of Camp Fannin (Smith County). The WMC leased private land and built the 30-acre compount west of here along Camp Road. Located in an area devastated by the January 1944 ice storm, this camp benefited from Chireno's established railroad facilities. The site first received Prisoners of War (POWs) in May 1944. The camp's 300 POWs spent their time cutting and salvaging timber and pulpwood. The camp closed in March 1945, near the end of the war. Texas in World War II-2008
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During World War II, with American men overseas and an East Texas timber industry short of labor, two lumber companies petitioned to open Camp Chireno as a branch of Camp Fannin. On leased private land the War Manpower Commission built a 30-acre compound in an area flattened by the devastating January 1944 ice storm, using Chireno's rail links to move men and timber. From May 1944 until the camp closed in March 1945, some 300 German prisoners of war cut and salvaged timber and pulpwood here.
Why it matters
POW camps like Chireno are a little-remembered home-front story—hundreds of thousands of Axis prisoners were held across rural America, their labor quietly filling the gap left by a nation at war.
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Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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