Camp Alto historical marker dedicated
BY LELAND ACKER

Alto Mayor Carey Palmer (left) presents a plaque to Bob Bowman, member of the Texas Historical Commission, designating Sept. 26 as "Camp Alto Day." The designation was made by the Alto city council.

Members of the Texas Historical Commission, Cherokee County Historical Commission, Alto city government and Cherokee County government gathered Wednesday to unveil a new historical marker for Camp Alto, a World War II POW camp located on Hwy 294 just beyond the Alto city limits.

The camp housed German POWs who were captured by British forces in North Africa in 1942. According to a report by Kevin Stingley, the POWs housed at Camp Alto came from Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, which engaged allied forces in several major tank and artillery battles.

Mr. Stingley reported many of those POWs were sent to East Texas, with Camp Fannin being the base camp and Camp Alto being one of many branch camps.

The POWs were used by the American military for labor as specific needs arose. Regulations required that POWs worked for 10 hours per day, including travel time. Thus, Mr. Stingley said, prisoners were transported to Camp Alto to be closer to their job sites. POWs at Camp Alto helped harvest pulpwood, transport it to the depot in Rusk and even helped harvest crops for local farmers.

Alto Mayor Carey Palmer, Cherokee County Historical Commission President Terry Guinn, County Judge Chris Davis, and Texas Historical Commission member Bob Bowman unveil the Camp Alto historical marker. The ceremony was held Wednesday, Sept. 26.

The reaction to having German POWs in Alto was minimal, Mr. Stingley said. Reactions in other places were more extreme.

"In Chireno, some citizens started having armed patrols," he said. "After a while, it dissipated as citizens realized the prisoners weren't going to escape."

Mr. Stingley said POWs did escape from time to time, but were usually found walking down a nearby road.

"One POW tried to escape across a field, but he was treed by a cow," Mr. Stingley said. "He probably had never seen a cow before. They found him in that tree the next morning."

Members of the Cherokee County Historical Commission pose with Alto Mayor Carey Palmer and County Judge Chris Davis after the unveiling of the Camp Alto marker. The historical marker is located on Hwy 294, approximately one-half mile west of Alto.

Mr. Stingley's research portrays a festive atmosphere at Camp Alto.

"(Camp Alto) had a canteen where locals could get cold drinks and dance to a juke box," he said. "Some of the German prisoners were excellent bakers and often served cakes and pastries to visitors."

The camp ceased operations in 1945, and most of the German POWs were sent back to Germany. Mr. Stingley said some relocated back to East Texas.

The Texas Historical Commission marked Camp Alto as part of their "Vignettes of Wartime Texas" series, which is part of the commission's "Texas in World War II" initiative.

The marker is located just outside of Alto on Hwy 294.