World War I & II

2 products
Cover image for Illinois POW Camps in World War II, isbn: 9781467171854
Illinois POW Camps in World War II
Cary O'Dell
$24.99
Cover image for Colorado’s World War II Home Front, isbn: 9781467163620
Colorado’s World War II Home Front
John F. Steinle
$24.99
Cary O'Dell

Illinois POW Camps in World War II

9781467171854

$24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%

Revisit a critical and little-known piece of WWII history that had a profound impact on Illinois and the nation.

During WWII, the United States was home to almost half a million POW's—German, Italian, and Japanese soldiers captured overseas and then brought to the United States. The POWs were housed in various large camps set up in forty-four of the nation's then forty-eight states. One of those states was Illinois. At its peak, Illinois housed three major base camps and twenty branch camps, stretching from the Rockford-Chicago area down to Camp Pomona, near Murphysboro. When not housed in these camps, POW's were put to work, on the state's farms and in its factories, to alleviate the country's serious wartime labor shortages. By the end of the war, there was no part of Illinois that was not touched by these prisoners of war.

Author Cary O'Dell sheds light on a largely forgotten element of home front WWII history. 

 

Cover image for Illinois POW Camps in World War II, isbn: 9781467171854
John F. Steinle

Colorado’s World War II Home Front

9781467163620

$24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%

World War II enthusiasts and Colorado history buffs alike will delight in this insightful photographic narrative of Colorado's contribution during the momentous global conflict. Beginning in 1940 as an inland state safe against enemy attack, Colorado became crucially important in supporting the worldwide struggle against Nazi Germany, fascism in Italy, Imperial Japan, and their allies. The Centennial State housed some of the largest ammunition factories, medical facilities, and training camps for both land and air forces in the nation. The unique 10th Mountain Division trained for winter warfare in the Colorado mountains. After the United States entered World War II, massive numbers of prisoners of war were interned or worked in Colorado fields and forests. Japanese Americans were unjustly held in the Camp Amache internment camp. The huge influx of war workers fueled the expansion of Colorado’s population, sparking the baby boom and creating today’s urban and suburban Colorado.

John Steinle, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, served as director at several Ohio museums before moving to Colorado in 1992. In 1994, Steinle became the administrator of the Hiwan Homestead Museum in Evergreen, Colorado, working for Jefferson County Open Space. He was later promoted to history education supervisor and region supervisor for the Bear Creek Region. He retired in 2016. 

Cover image for Colorado’s World War II Home Front, isbn: 9781467163620