History with ‘Hud’: Marking 80 years since German Prisoners of War began arriving to Wilmington
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington was named American’s first ‘World War Two Heritage City’ in September of 2020, commemorating the role it played in the overseas conflict. While most people are aware of the Wilmington Shipyard, which produced 243 war vessels over several years, fewer know about the prisoner of war camps which housed hundreds of Germans around the region, beginning 80 years ago in February of 1944.
In the final years of World War Two, more than 400,000 prisoners of war were relocated to camps on American soil, including 18 camps in North Carolina.
The first POW camp in Wilmington popped up on the abandoned 25-acre National Young Administration site near the present-day intersection of Shipyard Boulevard and Carolina Beach Road, where a CVS Pharmacy now stands. Not surprisingly, many American objected to the camp, worried having the enemy prisoners nearby was dangerous. But most became tolerant of them over time.
By September of 1944, just seven months after the first prisoners arrived, the original POW camp became full with around 280 people, ranging in age from late teens to early 40s. So officials began to search for a new location to house the prisoners.
They found their ideal four-block spot closer to downtown at the World War One Marine Hospital site, where Robert Strange Park is located today. At its peak, the new main camp would come to house 550 German prisoners of war, becoming the main camp in October, with people coming from all over the drive by and gawk at the prisoners.
But there was one benefit of having the prisoners. With so many American workers fighting overseas, farms and factories were struggling with a labor shortage and welcomed the POW help. Prisoners often worked side-by-side with North Carolina workers, shelling peanuts, cutting lumber or packing meat, among numerous jobs. Some prisoners spent time at a satellite POW camp at Bluethenthal Army Air Field, while others even had the task of helping on McCarleys’ Echo Farms, now home of the same-name New Hanover County neighborhood.
But as the war began to draw to a close in September of 1945, plans began to shift towards sending the German prisoners back home. The first round left for Europe in November. But with their homeland in disarray due to the war, some prisoners wanted to stay. The government overruled that idea, but allowed some to remain long enough to finish their farming duties around the area.
By April of 1946, prisoners of war were no longer a sight to see in Wilmington. Despite being thousands of miles away, some kept in touch with locals for long periods, sometimes requesting financial help and care packages. The city purchased the main camp in downtown for $10,000 in September of 1946.
It’s now been nearly eight decades since Wilmington housed any prisoners of war. But the legacy of the Port City’s role in the second World War will continue on forever.
