In last week’s column, I wrote about the significance of Camp Nelson, located in Jessamine County, and its intriguing involvement in the American Civil War. Doing further research about Kentucky in its times of war, I discovered proceedings in the state during World War II for which I was unaware. Kentucky directed fifteen prisoner-of-war camps, holding about 10,000 German and Italian POWs.

Sound crazy? The dynamics of such, I believe, are fascinating. It started on September 23, 1942, with the U.S. Army instituting two camps in the state. One was Camp Breckinridge (covering Union, Henderson, and Webster Counties.) The other was Camp Campbell (Christian and Trigg Counties and parts of Tennessee).