There is also the POW camp at Ft Hunt, VA. A short history can be found at
http://www.nps.gov/gwmp/fohu/forgotten.htm

Harris Kern

----- Original Message -----
From: "Deborah A. Lee" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 2:19 PM
Subject: Re: POW camps in Virginia - WWII


> There was a WWII camp for German POWs just south of
> Leesburg, Va. on Route 704 (Harmony Church Road) about a
> mile west of Route 7. The POWs worked on farms in the area,
> which compensated for the wartime labor shortage.
>
> Wilson Townsend, Jr., an African American man still living
> in Leesburg (and now 90 years old), worked on a farm with
> three of the prisoners. They were transported in a
> station-wagon for the day, or sometimes the farm workers
> picked them up and carried them back. The POWs were not
> allowed to work in the rain, presumably because it made
> escape easier. Each man carried a pasteboard lunchbox
> packed with a small loaf of bread and some bologna.
>
> Mr. Townsend enjoyed working with the Germans. They were
> congenial and worked hard. One of them was studying to
> become a priest and spoke some English; the others did not.
> The language barrier was not a problem, however, as they
> communicated easily through gestures.
>
> Mr. Townsend and other Virginians gave the Germans food
> such as sandwiches, ham, and eggs to supplement their
> meager rations. They also gave them cigarettes, which were
> forbidden in the camp. The Germans dismantled some of the
> cigarettes and tucked the tobacco in their socks. In the
> camp they re-rolled them using pieces of paper bag. Mr.
> Townsend had two brothers fighting overseas. He reasoned
> that, if they were captured, he would want them to be
> treated well.
>
> One of the POWs, Hans, returned to Virginia many years
> after the war. He still did not speak English. He visited
> the farm owner and tracked Mr. Townsend to his home in
> Leesburg and knocked on the door. The two men were
> delighted by the reunion.
>
> The tape and transcript of an interview on this topic with
> Mr. Townsend by AP History student Barry Dai are in the
> Black History Committee's Oral History Collection at Thomas
> Balch Library in Leesburg. Balch also has a photograph of
> the camp. Website:
> <http://www.leesburgva.gov/services/library/>
>
> Deborah Lee
>
> Deborah A Lee, PhD
> Research Fellow
> Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
>
> --On Wednesday, December 7, 2005 7:10 AM -0500 Randy Cabell
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Were there any such camps in Virginia, and did
>> the prisoners have a more or less free run like that?
>
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