Camp McCoy - Fort McCoy, WI, USA - WWII Prisoner of War Camps on Waymarking.com

In 1941 the former Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) discharge and reception center at then Camp McCoy was converted into a POW and enemy-alien prison camp. The site at the time had 35 buildings and was on a 20-acre enclosure. The first wave of prisoners were sent by the FBI as enemy aliens and included 5 Italians, 106 Germans and 182 Japanese. Camp McCoy was the only POW camp in America to mix both Pacific theater POW's and European theater POW's. They also housed Japanese-Americans from the West Coast who were identified as enemy-aliens. The camp was only one of three POW camps in America which housed Japanese POW's. The Japanese prisoners attempted 14 escapes and even smuggled in a rocket bomb which killed one and injured five Japanese. The estimates for total POW's during the war were nearly 3,000 Germans, 500 Koreans, and 2,700 Japanese. The POW camp was officially closed in 1946. The 2011 movie "Fort McCoy" portrays life during the POW camp as seen from an Army barber.

Today the only thing that remains of the memory of the site is the historic marker. The Highway 21 gate which is nearby marks the entrance to old post and it still stands today and is Northwest of the site on 13th Avenue/Ginger Road. Inside of the current fencing is post housing. This part of South Post is open to the public and can be visited by parking on the side of Quartermaster Avenue.

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