New Book Unearths The History Behind Douglas, Wyoming’s Prisoner Of War Camp

During WWII many prisoners of war were brought to Wyoming.

The small town of Douglas had one of those prison camps.

Camp Douglas was an internment camp between January 1943 and February 1946  housing Italian and then German prisoners of war in the United States.

Today, few structures remain of the old camp.

The story of this POW camp is an important part of the history of the town of Douglas.

New from High Planes Press in Wyoming, comes a new book bringing to life a story from this camp.

Camp Douglas: Wyoming’s World War II Prisoner of War Base Camp
By Lee Ann Siebken

As prisoners of war from Italy, and later from Germany, marched off trains and into Camp Douglas, the camp population soon exceeded the population of the nearby small Wyoming town.

But before long, the citizens of the town and the surrounding rural area welcomed the World War II prisoners because the battle-weary soldiers could provide the labor they needed to save the crops.

Historian and author Lee Ann Siebken began researching Camp Douglas over 20 years ago by interviewing people who were present when the town hosted over 500 U.S. soldiers and 3,000 prisoners of war at a time.

She searched dusty basements, read archived newspapers, uncovered first-hand accounts and family photographs, and located men and women who had lived through it all.

Now she has put her research together into a book that will leave you wondering why you didn’t know this before.

Lee Ann Siebken is an avid history buff and a native of Wyoming who lives in Douglas, Wyoming, where she and her husband, Duane, raised their four children.

Now retired, she operated a preschool for many years while her husband ran a small business.

They promote literacy in their community and are involved in local and state historical societies, libraries, and writers’ organizations.

Her writing focuses on poetry and nonfiction.

Her poetry has been published in many publications and received recognition and awards.

Her local histories include In Our Midst: Christ Church, Douglas, 1890-1986, and Talk of the Town: Douglas, Wyoming—A Frontier Town’s True Story. Her essay “The Storm” appears in the collection Woven on the Wind: Women Write About Friendship in the Sagebrush West (Houghton Mifflin).