Camp Tonkawa - World War II German POW Camp ~ Tonkawa, OK
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 36° 41.741 W 097° 18.153
14S E 651638 N 4062456
Standing where the main gate to camp once stood.
Waymark Code: WM6J0E
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 06/08/2009
Views: 19
Marker Text:
SITE OF GERMAN PRISONER OF WAR CAMP KNOWN AS
CAMP TONKAWA - WORLD WAR II - JAN. 1943 - SEPT 1945
Between October and December 1942 more than 900 construction workers labored 24 hours a day to build Camp Tonkawa on the quarter section immediately north of this marker. SE1/4 Sec 28-26n-1w. the 160 acre site contained more than 180 wooden structures for 3,000 German P.O.W.'s as well as 500 U.S. Army guard troops, service personnel and civilian employees. Activated in January 1943, the post received its first prisoners in August, German Troops of Afrika Corps captured in North Africa.
The facility operated at or near capacity throughout its existence. Prisoners worked on area farms and ranches as well as at an alfalfa dryer plant in Tonkawa. In November 1943, a disturbance among the prisoners resulted in the death of a German soldier. Eight P.O.W.'s escaped from the camp but all were re-captured. Camp Tonkawa closed in September 1945 and the P.O.W.'s were returned to Europe.
Plaque Text:
POW marker committee
Evelyn Scoles Coyle
Rex D. Ackerson
Helen Furber Cathey
Roy C. Fath
Nancy Borst Hutchison
Marilee Helton
Terry A. White
Related artifacts displayed at
McCarter Museum of Tonkawa History.
Original base for the
entrance gate post.