Prisoners of War in Iowa

by Linda Betsinger McCann

During World War II, there were German, Italian and Japanese soldiers captured by the Americans. About 435,000 of these enemy soldiers were sent to America as Prisoners of War, with approximately 25,000 house in Iowa.

140 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2018

About the author

Linda is a native Iowan and remains in Iowa by choice. When the family moved to her current location, she began researching her genealogy. She was shocked to discover she was descended from the founder of the town. Ten years ago she joined with others to start a Historical Society and was elected president. She began researching parts of the town's history, and wrote about it. A publisher approached her, and seven years later, The Iowan Books has published ten of her books. She loves discovering Iowa history that younger people don't know about. She has been shocked by how many people have told her they did not know that Iowa had prohibition. That is what keeps her writing.

Reviews

[Joy Kidney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thousands of German, Italian, and Japanese POWs were housed in camps in Iowa during WWII. Because Americans serving in the military, there were labor shortages at home. The POWs helped with harvesting and canning factories, and more. The POWs were surprised at how well they were treated. A fascinating chapter in WWII and Iowa history.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting information, anecdotes and recollections about POW camps in Iowa in 1943, '44 and '45. the main camps were in Clarinda and Algona with many ad hoc, satellite camps in Iowa and surrounding states. Most prisoners were German and Italian with a few Japanese. The prisoners were very helpful in planting and bringing in crops which would otherwise have rotted in the fields due to a great shortage of manual farm labor and mechanized farm machinery.

[Laura Duffield Biegger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the unknown(to me) happenings during WWII in the prisoner of war camps, of which there were many here in Iowa.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciate the information that has been placed on the back burner of war experiences. Did get redundant.