World War II POW Camp

World War II POW Camp. . , Less than a mile west of this marker, a German Prisoner of War camp once stood. In 1942 guard towers and prison walls topped with barbed wire were constructed around a building which had been the hatchery of Leon and Harriette Miller's Desert Gold Turkey Farm., After completion of the camp, 600 captured troops from German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Fifth North Afrika Korps were moved in. Considered the fittest soldiers of Hitler's Army, the prisoners housed here in Liberty were contracted out to local farms and industry to satisfy the demand for labor made short by the number of men and women who were serving in the United States Armed Forces., The camp was built around a state-of-the art hatchery made up of fifty 12 X 20 rooms with running water and a large center room used as the camp's canteen and mess hall. A separate building housed sixty guards assigned here from nearby Fort Leavenworth., Every morning trucks left the camp with ten prisoners and one quard each for the day's work destination. Prisoners were paid eighty cents a day, per the War Labor Board. The men could use their money – usually paid in coupons – to purchase items from the camp canteen, which helped supplement the cost of their room and board., No escapes were ever attempted from the Desert Gold work camp, mostly due to the benevolent treatment of the prisoners, which adhered strictly to the Geneva Conventions. Each was given warm clothing, his own bed with clean bedding and enough food for three healthy meals a day. The men were responsible for cooking and housekeeping, and recreational activities such as gardening and listening to music were allowed. Soccer matches were held in the flat, green fields between what is today this Sports Complex and the camp., At the end of the war in 1945, the POW's were returned to Germany, and the camp closed. The buildings were torn down, and the Millers sold their farm. The Desert Gold Feed Company later owned the land.