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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