World War Ii Pow Camp

(Front) German prisoners of war were held in a camp on this site from September 1943 to the spring of 1946. This camp, one of 21 in S.C., was a sub-camp of Fort Jackson, in Columbia. 250 prisoners captured in North Africa were the first held here; later arrivals were captured in Italy and France. The camp averaged about 250 prisoners at any time.

POWs lived in tents with wooden floors or in wooden barracks. (Reverse) The Hampton Armory across Hoover Street was headquarters for the U.S. Army officers in charge. POWs worked 8-10 hours a day, harvesting peanuts, cutting pulpwood or lumber, or at the Plywoods-Plastics Corporation. They were paid 25 to 80 cents a day in scrip, which they spent at the camp store.

When not working prisoners often tended small flower or vegetable gardens, or put on Sunday concerts. Erected by the Hampton Museum & Visitors’ Center, 2010