Camp Lamont also called Lamont Prisoner of War Base Camp was a World War II German Prisoners of War camp in the City of Lamont, California, 12 miles southwest from Bakersfield in Kern County.[1] It was formed on December 2, 1944 by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) transferring 16 acres of land to the US War Department for the US Army. Built at the camp were housing, a mess hall, fencing, guard towers and flood lights. In 1944, Japanese and German prisoners came to Camp Lamont from Camp Cooke, northwest of Lompoc, California.[2] More came the next year from Camp McCoy in Wisconsin and Camp Clarinda in Iowa. Those not seen as a risk were given the option of volunteering to work crops in exchange for coupons they could spend in the camp exchange.[3] They worked on cotton farms, picking the crops.[4] Their labor was used to fill the labor shortage caused by the draft. Prisoners were taken each day by bus or truck to the fields to work. About 4494 German and Japanese POWs were housed at the camp.[5] A German POW committed suicide in camp in early February, 1945.[6] Camp Lamont ran two sub camps: Boswell Ranch, which opened in December 1944 in the city Corcoran, California in Kings County with 499 prisoners and closed October 5, 1945, and Camp Lakeland, also called the Corcoran Prisoner of War Branch Camp in Corcoran, with 631 prisoners, which opened May 14, 1945 and closed October 5, 1945. Camp Lamont itself closed on July 31, 1946. After the war the Camp Lamont land was returned to the USDA. The land is now private property, with only a few foundations marking the spot of the former camp.[7][8][9]
See also edit
External Reading edit
Geiger, Jeffrey. (1996) German prisoners of war at Camp Cooke, California. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co.
Barba, Ruth Leon; Durham, Mary Louise. (2019) Arvin, Lamont, and Weedpatch. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing.
References edit
- ^ "REPORT OF VISIT TO PRISONER OF WAR CAMP LAMONT, CALIFORNIA, November 20, 1945". The University of Wisconsin. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-24 – via Paul Mueckler research materials, 1941-1946, 1996.
- ^ "Germans Arrive to Aid Harvest". The Bakersfield Caliornian. December 11, 1944. p. 8. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
- ^ "Jap Prisoners of War Will Not Compete With Local Labor". The Hanford Sentinel. October 6, 1945. Page 2, column 2.
- ^ "3090 Japanese Prisoners Will Be Used To Harvest Cotton Crop In Valley". The Fresno Bee. September 27, 1945. p. 7. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024.
- ^ "Jap Prisoners To Be Used As Hawaii Labor Battalions". The Chico Record. December 30, 1945. Page 2, column 6.
- ^ "Nazi Hangs Self in California Camp". The Oakland Post Enquirer. February 10, 1945. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024.
- ^ "Lamont Prisoner of War Camp". www.militarymuseum.org. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
- ^ "Boswell Ranch Prisoner of War Branch Camp". www.militarymuseum.org. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
- ^ "Corcoran Prisoner of War Branch Camp". www.militarymuseum.org. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-24.