Site of World War ll Prisoner of War Camp
China, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The reduction of the labor force in the United States during World War II prompted the use of prisoners of war as laborers for various agricultural interests. The responsibility of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service at Texas A&M University, the program in Jefferson County was supervised by J.M. Combs, county extension agent. Combs determined the farm labor needs of the county and analyzed the local labor supply to coordinate his efforts with those of the base P.O.W. camp in Hunstville. The camp at Huntsville, one of the largest base camps in Texas, opened early in 1943. Its first prisoners were members of Rommel's Afrika Korps who had been captured in north Africa. German prisoners came from the European theater of operations, as well. Temporary branch camps were established in areas such as China which were too distant from the base camp for daily round trips. The China branch camp opened in September 1944 on this site. The U.S. government leased the property from the Stanolind Oil & Gas Company. Local farmers and others wishing to use the day labor provided by prisoners picked them up at the camp in the morning and returned them each night. German soldiers performed general farm labor at twenty-five cents per hour and harvested rice for three dollars a day. They also worked as loggers. In January 1945 there were 148 prisoners at the China camp. At its peak in August 1945, the camp housed 403 prisoners. The China camp was open only 15 months. It closed in December 1945 and its 350 prisoners returned to Huntsville, then eventually to Germany. At the dawn of the 21st century the only remnant of the China base camp was the water well.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As World War II drained America's labor force, the government put prisoners of war to work on the home front. This site held a branch of the huge Huntsville base camp, opened in September 1944 on land leased from an oil company and coordinated through the Texas A&M extension service. German soldiers—many first captured from Rommel's Afrika Korps—were picked up each morning by local farmers to harvest rice, log, and do general farm labor for a few cents an hour; at its August 1945 peak the camp held 403 prisoners before closing that December.
Why it matters
The camp is a tangible reminder of the little-known network of POW labor camps that helped sustain American agriculture during the war, bringing the global conflict directly into rural Texas.
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Related people
- · J.M. Combs
Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
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