Atterbury Prisoner of War Camp
The Atterbury File - Cindy Morris - Grade 8

The prisoner of war compound at Camp Atterbury covered 45 acres in the extreme western edge of Camp Atterbury, about one mile from the regular troop quarters. The compound, built to house 3,000 prisoners at one time, was enclosed with guard towers on all four corners in the alley between the fences. The prisoner compound, which functioned from May, 1943 to June, 1946, was equipped very similarly to the American soldier facilities.

The first public announcement about the internment camp and the prisoners of war at Camp Atterbury was made by Colonel Welton M. Modisette, Post Commander, on May 19th, 1943. The announcement stated that the prisoners of war at Camp Atterbury were available for agricultural labor in the surrounding five counties within a 25 mile radius of the Camp. Requests for prisoners of war for labor were made through the county agriculture agents to Lt. Col. John Gammell, the internment camp commander.

Lt. Col. John L. Gammell, the commanding officer of the prisoner of war compound at Camp Atterbury, was also in charge of the 1537th unit that was in charge of the camp. Gammell graduated from Brown State University and attended Oxford University in England. At Ohio State University he was on the ROTC Staff as a professor of military science. Gammell was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action during World War I. He was a veteran field artillery officer in the regular army, and fought in four major battles in WW1, one while he was serving with the French Army.

Colonel Gammell has been described as a humane and sympathetic man who tried to give the prisoners as much as he could without disobeying regulations. He ran a very tight military operation and had frequent conferences with inmate commanders. Although he was on a personal basis with many of the prisoners, there was never any question about who was the commanding officer. Colonel Gammell remained the commanding officer the entire time the prisoner of war compound functioned.

The first shipment of prisoners arrived 30 April 1943. They were Italians and had been captured in the African Campaign before a western front had been established. Before a train carrying a shipment of prisoners arrived at Camp Atterbury, it was boarded by a staff officer that lined up the prisoners with their luggage. After the train had stopped, the prisoners filed out between rows of armed guards. All the sick or wounded prisoners went to the post hospital. A high percentage of the prisoners needed medical care. Some suffered from sand colic and many had malaria. After they had been counted, they were marched to the prisoner compound. There they were stripped and given a medical examination. They took a shower, received an issuance of clothing, and ate their meal.

Processing began the next day so the prisoners would have time to rest after their long journey. Each prisoner had an interview concerning his name, age, rank in the army, army occupation, civilian occupation, serial number and name and address of his nearest living relative.

On the arrival of a prisoner a from was opened concerning any hours he had worked, how much he had been paid, what kind of work he had done, and the nature of the job. Each prisoner had to send a card to his family or next relative immediately, telling them of his situation, safety, and well-being. After that, one card and two letters a week could be sent home. All mail was censored. Next the prisoners were issued a barracks bag, a hat, two coats, two blankets, a toiletry set, a razor, two pairs of shoes, a belt, two pairs of pants, two sets of underwear, four pair of socks, and two shirts.

After processing, the prisoners took a basic course that included instruction in the English language and military courtesies. This course taught recognition of the National Anthem, "To the Colors", bugle calls, insignia of rank, and several asic commands. The commands taught were: halt, attention, forward march, and at ease. There was a great language barrier between the American soldiers and the prisoners. To break down this barrier, the prisoners were taught to understand the words "same thing". When a soldier wanted to give an order to a prisoner he would say the words "same thing" and then provide an example.

The prisoners at Camp Atterbury had the same military discipline as any American soldier. They were to salute American Officers and the salutes would be returned. The times for getting up in the morning and going to bed were the same as the rest of the post. Regular inspections and occasional shakedown inspections were made. The rules at Camp Atterbury also required the prisoners to have proper health and a good appearance. They were expected to practice god hygiene.

The disciplining of the prisoners was apparently not very harsh. A prisoner being disciplined was usually restricted to his quarters. The prisoners had their own brig and a building in the compound where a prisoner could be incarcerated.

All prisoners had to follow all common military regulations and codes. In addition to these codes and regulations, prisoners were not allowed to have any item they could use as a weapon. Women were kept away from the prisoner compound. Pets were not allowed, although the adoption of a rabbit or rat was sometimes ignored. The prisoners could move freely inside the compound, but could not go outside the gates unguarded. All pictures of the prisoners that were going to be published or printed had to have the faces blotted out. Visitors were allowed twice a moth for two hours each visit.

The unit in charge of the prisoner compound was the 1537th Service Unit. This unit was formed on December 15th, 1942. At that time, the unit contained fifty enlisted men. These men then received specialized training for a job in the internment cmp during the next six weeks. On February 10, they moved to the prisoner compound to prepare for the arrival of the prisoners. Since there was no standard operating procedure for operating prisoner of war camps at this time, regulations, forms and records had to be made and a fiscal system set up.

Although the camp's security was not as tight as the nearby American stockade, it did require the services of approximately five hundred army officers and enlisted men in mid-1943. These officers stayed outside the compound in nearby barracks.

The Germans got special treatment at Camp Atterbury. According to the rules of the Geneva Convention, the American Army had to get orderlies for the German Officers. These orderlies were German enlisted men. A German Officer could not be made to work outside the compound or on civilian projects. They specifically requested remunerative occupations and could not be assigned to supervisory work unless it could not be done by any other prisoner. These German Officers were paid their allowances according to their rank in the army. For warrant officers and first and second lieutenants, their allowance was the equivalent of twenty dollars a month, for captains it was thirty dollars, and for anyone in the rank of major and above it was forty dollars. These officers were reluctant to work at first, but after seeing other men earning money, they soon changed their minds.

The prisoners were treated very well, and some did not want to be sent home after the war. One prisoner, a German, tried to escape when he found out he was going to be sent home. This prisoner did not object to the prisoner camp and was soon caught by the military police.

The prisoners of war at Atterbury were involved in a work detail program while they were there. Work inside the compound included keeping the grounds, working in the kitchens and laundries, decorative construction, maintenance and farming a 220 acre farm inside Camp Atterbury. In 1944 the yields of this small farm were: 40 tons of tomatoes, 20 tons of squash, 86,700 ears of corn, 15,600 pounds of cucumbers, 8,830 pounds of turnips, 7,610 pounds of cabbage, 6,969 pounds of string beans, egg plants, green peppers, onions, radishes and watermelons.

For this work the prisoners received ten cents a day. They could earn as much as three dollars of flat allowance a month.

On May 19th, 1943, Colonel Modisette announced that prisoners of war at Camp Atterbury were available for civilian work projects outside the camp. The prisoners could not be forced to work on these project, but most did. At first they could not work outside a 25 mile radius of the camp, but this was soon lifted so the prisoners could work as far away as Decatur County.

Many tomato farmers used German prisoners to plant tomato plants, care for the plants as they matured and help harvest the plants once they ripened. At times the mortality rate of the newly planted seedlings would be higher than normal. It was later found that the cause of this as that some German prisoners would pinch the plants as they put them in the ground.

The first group pf prisoners arrived on April 30th, 1943. There were 767 and all were Italians. On May 1st, 1943, 400 more arrived and by September, 1943, approximately 3,000 Italian prisoners were at Camp Atterbury. When the Italians first arrived, they could not understand where they were. They thought Indiana was part of India. They also could not understand how New York had been rebuilt so fast. Mussolini had told them that New York had been completely destroyed by bombs.

Most of the Italians were skilled artisans in masonry, painting, wood carving and stone carving. These prisoners carved the words, "Camp Atterbury - 1942" on a large stone that sits at the inner east entrance to the camp. There were unveiling ceremonies at Camp Atterbury to commemorate the stone. When the stone was unveiled, many of the American officials were surprised to see that an Italian dagger was carved into the stone.

There is also a stone on which "Atterbury Internment Camp, 1537th S. U., 12-15-42" is carved. This stone is in the former compound area. The prisoners also made a fifteen foot American flag on the side of a hill in the compound area. They made the flag out of small pieces of stone.

On September 8th, 1943 the Italian prisoners were told of Italy's surrender. By January of 1944 the Italians were leaving Camp Atterbury to go to other camps before going home. All of the Italian prisoners were gone by May 4th, 1944.

May 8th, 1944, four days after the Italians left, the first group of Germans arrived. By June 30th there were 2,940 Germans at Atterbury and by September 19th there were 5,700. In October there was a maximum of 8,898 German Prisoners of war at Camp Atterbury. Even though most of the new prisoners were German, there were also Belgians, French, Hungarians, Mongols, Italians, Poles, Rumanians and Slovenes. This created language problems and required many interpreters.

It was not until more than a year after Germany surrendered in 1945 that the German prisoners began leaving Camp Atterbury. Some of the prisoners did not want to go back because they knew they would be returning to a divided and destroyed homeland. The last prisoner left Camp Atterbury, June 27th, 1946. The prisoner of war compound was then closed permanently.

The compound was inspected several times by representatives of the YMCA, protecting neutral powers, the Swiss legation, the International Red Cross, the State Department, the House Military Affair's Committee, the Provost Marshal General's Office, an apostolic delegate of the Vatican at Washington, D. C. and two personal representatives of the President. All of these groups said the prisoner compound at Camp Atterbury was one of the best in the country.

Page last revised 08/30/2022
James D. West
www.IndianaMilitary.org

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