Tremonton was Once Home to WWII POWs

The property where Bear River Valley Hospital is now located has a fascinating history. According to Tamera Newman’s brief history, Tremonton was Once Home to WWII POWs, “Development began in the 1930s as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.  The barracks were filled again in the 1940s with World War II prisoners of war (POWs) who came to labor in the sugar beet fields.  Migrant farm workers occupied the camp in the summers of the 1950s and 1960s.  Some of the trees planted by the CCC boys were cleared to begin construction of the current health care facilities in the 1970s.”

“According to an article published in the Tremonton Leader, Civilian Conservation Camp Company 736 occupied three long, wooden buildings on Oct. 31. 1939, and hosted young men from Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi.  Other camps in the county were located in Park Valley and Mantua.”

Newman continues, “Under Roosevelt’s administration the CCC hired young men to work on construction and conservation projects to boost employment and revive the economy…The CCC boys stabilized road beds and built roads, trails, fences, cattle guards, telephone lines and comfort stations.  They also dug culinary water lines, fought forest fires, worked to control erosion and flooding and helped in the harvest.”

“The attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 brought a definite end to the Civilian Conservation Corps…However the barracks in Tremonton didn’t remain empty for long; during the war the old CCC camp became a prison camp to two separate groups who were forced to do farm labor: the Italians and the Germans.  A guard tower was added, reminding passers-by that this was no ordinary building complex.’

“Large groups of prisoners were transported to the work site in the backs of trucks… (Delbert Firth) recalled that some were reluctant workers, after all, they were helping the enemy.  Some did all the work while others just sat on the ditch bank.’

“Another area farmer who welcomed prisoner labor during the sugar beet harvest was George J. Nishiguchi.  Nishiguchi enjoyed retelling the story of how the guard helped the tired prisoners as they climbed in the back of the truck, first handing his rifle to a prisoner so his hands were free…Perhaps not every rifle was loaded.’

“Despite the precautions, German POWs and the locals learned to depend on and appreciate one another.  Years later, some returned with their families to visit the valley.  Max Anderson hosted some of these visitors and liked to tell a prisoner’s story.  ‘I wanted to bring my wife back to the place where we were treated like human beings,’ the former POW said.”

“At the end of the war, Tremonton’s POWs happily returned home, leaving a void in the farm labor work force that was filled when the next camp occupants, migrant workers moved in…over 350 Mexican migrant workers who came to the area to thin and hoe sugar beets, pick pole and bush beans, peas, tomatoes and fruit from local orchards as it came in season.’

“Toward the end of the 60’s Bear River farmers needed fewer and few field laborers…leaving the migrant labor camp, previously the POW camp and CCC camp an abandoned eyesore in the community.’

“Delbert Firth, president of Box Elder County’s Farm Labor Association, discussed possible uses of the land with his board.  They decided to donate the land to the community for the future home of a new health care facility.”  Eventually Bear River Valley Hospital was completed on this site at 985 N. 1000 W. in 1976, at a cost of $1.5 million.

Source:  Tamera Newman, from “Tremonton was Once Home to WWII POWs,” an article in Looking Back Tremonton City’s First 100 Years 1903-2003, a publication of the Tremonton Leader’s Garland Times, originally published in The Leader July 23, 2003 © Sun News Utah, 2003