Page 14 - Newsletter Winter 2018

Photographs Offer New Insights into Houlton POW Camp
By Jen Lynds ’96, Bangor Daily News/Houlton Pioneer Times – Reprinted with permission

HOULTON, Maine — In 1944, the Army established a
prisoner-of-war camp in Houlton to house some 2,000
German soldiers captured during World War II.

Not all prisoners were allowed to leave the camp for security
reasons, but some were paid $1 per day to work on local
farms or in the woods. The POWs could then use the
money they earned to buy such items as chocolate, cigarettes
and even beer in the Army base store.

Because photographing the prisoners was not allowed, very
few photos of that time or of the German POWs remain.
But Henry Gartley ‘77, a board member of the Aroostook
County Historical and Art Museum in Houlton, recently
acquired pictures from that era. Gartley said that the family
of 2nd Lt. Louis Moloney sent the museum pictures of
Camp Houlton taken after the war ended. They show the During World War II in 1944, the Army established a prisoner-of-war
grounds, including fencing and buildings. camp in Houlton. Some of the captured German prisoners who weren’t
considered a security risk worked on local farms or in the woods. Henry
Gartley, a board member of the Aroostook County Historical and Art
“We are very lucky to have these pictures,” he said. “It gives Museum in Houlton, recently acquired pictures, like this one, of that time
us a bigger picture of what the camp looked like. It was very in the commmunity’s history. (2nd Lt Louis Maloney)
generous of the Moloney family.”

Today, parts of the foundations of the officers’ mess hall and infirmary can be found on the former site of Camp Houlton in an
undeveloped portion of the town’s industrial park near Houlton International Airport.

The photos of the camp and other items are on display at the museum located in the Historic White Memorial Building at 109 Main Street
in Houlton. The museum, however, is open by appointment only.

Gartley has been working with Jason Howe ‘96 , another
museum board member, to share the pictures of Camp
Houlton as well as other photos from Houlton’s past on the
museum’s Facebook page to attract a wider audience to the
page and generate more interest in the museum.

The Facebook page also features videos, including a
documentary about Camp Houlton titled “Don’t Fence
Me In,” which was made in 2004 by the video production
students in Brenda Jepson’s video production class from the
Caribou Regional Technology Center.

Gartley said the museum is always looking for more pictures,
videos and articles from Houlton’s past.

To view the pictures of Camp Houlton or learn more about
other exhibits, click on the museum’s Facebook page or visit German prisoners of war pick potatoes in Houlton circa 1945. Photo
online: acham.memory.net or http://houltonmuseum.wixsite. reprinted by permission of Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum
com/acham and Maine Memory Network. (2nd Lt. Louis Moloney)

To schedule a tour of the museum or make a donation, call (207) 532-4216.

www.houltonalumni.com PAGE 14