P.O.W. Camp Site 1942-1946

During World War II, a branch of the Roswell prisoner of war camp was established on a site less than a mile from here. The Artesia branch camp help up to five hundred prisoners, mostly Germans from Rommel's Afrikakorps (Africa Corps), and some Italians. The prisoners picked cotton and did other farm work to help alleviate labor shortages until they were returned to Europe in early 1946.