"Camp Hearne to Hold WWII Living History Even" by Jay Ermis

Camp Hearne to Hold WWII Living History Event Today

by Jay Ermis - Staff Writer

Temple Daily Telegram - October 27, 2012

HEARNE — Camp Hearne is bringing World War II history to life during its third annual

A Day in the Life … living history event 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at Camp Hearne.

Admission is free.

Camp Hearne, a World War II prisoner-of-war base camp on FM 485 northwest of Hearne,

has been touted as the best documented POW camp in the U.S.

It was one of more than 600 POW internment camps across America during World War II.

Texas had 69 POW camps throughout the state, including one in Huntsville.

The camp features a replica of a 1942 U.S. Army barrack. The concrete foundations of

the POW camp, camp theaters and mess hall remain. The camp covered 70 acres of the 720-

acre complex, which housed more than 250 buildings. A model of the camp is located in

the exhibit area.

“Many folks simply do not realize almost 432,000 German, Italian and Japanese prisoners

were housed in the U.S. during World War II,” said Cathy Lazarus, president of the

sponsoring Roll Call: Friends of Camp Hearne.

“Due to its flat terrain, distance from the coast, railroad access, sparse population

and local need for farm laborers. Hearne was chosen to house more than 4,800 mostly

German prisoners in the POW base camp, the perfect historic site to tell this story,”

Lazarus said.

At the time, Hearne had a population of 3,200.

Camp Hearne opened in early 1943 and by October 1943, Camp Hearne’s roster was 4,700

POWs, dropping to 3,600 in November 1945 and down to 2,100 when it closed in December

1945. It was decommissioned as a U.S. Army camp in January 1946.

“You will be able to visit our World War II POW Camp Exhibit, walk the trails to

prisoner-built remains, interact with World War II living historians as they ‘show and

tell’ their collections, watch weapons demonstrations and view WWII vintage vehicles,”

Lazarus said.

“Put on an olive drab shirt and helmet and hop aboard My Gal, a restored jeep,

providing a photo-op. To really get in the spirit of this day in the past, don your

parents’ or grandparents’ 1940s apparel and just make-believe.

“Our tribute is an acknowledgement of contributions made by all Americans during a most

difficult time: our fighting soldiers abroad, our service men and women protecting our

homeland, our citizens working in the factories and farms, our children gathering scrap

iron and rubber, and our families sacrificing their fathers, sons and brothers. All

contributed to win the war and protect our freedoms.”

Former Camp Hearne POW Heino Erichsen will be on hand to tell his story as a young man

growing up in Adolph Hitler’s Germany.

Lazarus said Erichsen was captured and brought to Camp Hearne, where he shared a

barrack with Hugo Strauss, a POW murdered at the facility for his failure to honor the

Reich.

Lazarus said Roll Call developed the camp when the Texas Historical Commission was

developing heritage tourism. “They were encouraging communities to look at what stories

they had to tell,” she said.

“A lot of towns in Texas have depots and Victorian homes, but not too many have a POW

camp,” she said. “I thought it was a unique story. It just made sense to turn this into

a destination. To let people come and hear the story. It’s like the saying, ‘Build it

and they will come.’ We built it and people do come.”

She said the buildings at the camp were constructed to last only 20 years. “They were

called mobilization buildings. Nobody expected it to be a permanent home or permanent

fixture. This was all over the country.”

Visit www.camphearne.com for more information or contact Lazarus or Melissa Freeman at

979-314-7012. The camp is open 11a.m. to 4p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

jermis@tdtnews.com

All articles from the Temple Daily Telegram are published with the permission of the
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Jay Ermis and the Temple Daily Telegram