The Untold Story of Camp McCoy: Japanese Prisoners of War in the Heart of Wisconsin During the Second World War

Abstract

Located in the heart of Wisconsin between Tomah and Sparta, Camp McCoy was the prisoner of war base camp for the entire state of Wisconsin during the Second World War. McCoy headed a series of branch camps throughout the state and as such, it housed the greatest number of enemy prisoners of war. The most numerous POWs interned at Camp McCoy over the course of the Second World War were Germans. It would seem, through talking to Wisconsin residents that their knowledge of the Camp McCoy prisoner of war population ended there. It would then seem many forgot the United States was fighting a two front war.

Although Camp McCoy is well known for its German POW population, little is known about the Japanese prisoner of war population imprisoned there. It is the goal of this research paper to shed some light on the experience of Japanese POWs at Camp McCoy during the Second World War. The lives of Japanese prisoners are traced through the use of secondary resources coupled with abundant primary resources. This paper examines the day-to-day life of the Japanese prisoners at McCoy, the labor they provided, their thoughts on suicide and escape, and their transition back to Japan after the end of the Second World War.