Imagine it's wartime and you're being held in a foreign country, far from home, with only bits and pieces of news filtering in about how the war is going. You are surrounded by armed guards and confined in a place with barbed wire fences and spotlights at night to prevent you from attempting escape. We've all seen countless Hollywood movies about the way our boys were treated in the POW camps of WW 2. But this camp was full of German prisoners, on American soil. I'm referring to Camp Ellis, Illinois.
Named for Sergeant Michael Ellis of St. Louis, a WW 1 vet and winner of the Medal of Honor, construction began in 1942 for what would be come not just a POW camp but also a training camp to prepare young but enthused men into trained professionals armed with the tools and knowledge of what it took to be a Soldier. In the span of a few months time empty farmland was transformed into a modern military post with paved roads, sidewalks, one story barracks buildings, a modern hospital, warehouses, rifle ranges, recreational facilities in addition to the prison camp.
July the 4th, 1943 was the official dedication day for the camp and the public was invited to take a tour. Over 50,000 people streamed thru the gates to witness demonstrations of pontoon bridging & first aid rendered atop a light pole. They saw bread being baked in field ovens, saw field hospitals & gas mask drills. They visited the '5 and 10' store, the theater, the chapel, the mess halls, and more. A local girl from Peoria, miss Esther Ready, was even crowned Dedication Day queen.
In late 1943 the war was starting to turn in our favor and prisoners began arriving at Ellis. Primarily German and Austrian men who can been forced to join the army were the detainee's. Under the provisions of the Geneva Convention the prisoners had to be well fed, given proper medical treatment and provided with physical and mental activities to keep them busy and healthy. The prisoners received an 'allowance' of ten cents a day and whenever they did what was termed Class 2 labor got eighty cents a day. The prisoners cut brush, worked in the fields, laid bricks, and maintained the railroad tracks.
In early March of 1944 'Side camps' were put into operation outside the confines of Camp Ellis. Prisoners worked in warehouses, loading & unloading and repairing shoes and clothing. Some worked at the camp motor pool, repairing and maintaining automobile engines and machinery. They were allowed to work no more than twelve hours a day, including travel times to and from the camp, six days a week.
After the war was over, Camp Ellis survived a bit longer as a training facility for the Illinois National guard, but in 1949 that too ended and the camp was sold off as army surplus. The buildings were torn down or moved and today there's only scattered remnants remaining of the place. The only surviving building still on the original site is a farmhouse which had belonged to the property owner and was used by the commanding officer as his personal quarters. Several other buildings survived to become houses in nearby towns and one guards barracks is now at the Logan county airport housing a museum.
If you're ever down that way it's a pleasant drive and well worth the time and energy to stop and take a moment to remember an earlier age when the march of thousands of feet would drum the ground and the crackle of gunfire would sound, preparing a generation of young men to go to War.
