Paris Goes To War

War came Paris, Texas on December 7, 1941. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war of the Axis countries of Japan, Germany and Italy against The United States brought World War II literally to the doorsteps of Paris.

The U.S. response to war hit Paris like a tidal wave and the results were everlasting.

This small East Texas town responded as hundreds of small towns across America did. Its sons, daughters and citizens joined the war effort.

But Paris began to develop its own uniqueness with the opening of Camp Maxey just a few miles north of the city limits in 1942. Two major divisions, the 102d Infantry Division and the 99th Infantry Division, trained there. It is estimated that over 200,000 troops and civilians trained and worked at Camp Maxey during its short 4 years of existance.

Camp Maxey was also selected as a site, as were many other training camp sites in Texas, to house German prisoners-of-war. More than 6,000 Germans were hosted there until well after the last shots of anger were fired in Europe in 1945.

Paris, as was the whole country, was like a stirred pot. The young men and women who came to Camp Maxey to train spent their leaves in town. Many of them met, courted, and married local men and women. Likewise, Paris sons and daughters who left were meeting their future spouses. The long historic ties that had held Paris together as a tight community were stretched around the world.

To and from Paris the letters streamed in and out from friends and families: from the battle fronts, from far-away hometowns, from Washington D.C., to Europe, to The Pacific and literally all points of the globe.

Sad news of soldiers being killed, exciting news of the birth of a new baby, common news about town gossip all swirlled around this small town of Paris. Paris was making its contribution to march the country toward victory.

In 1941 Paris Goes To War.


How To Add A Story & Pictures To Paris Goes To War

If you have stories, pictures or items of interest to contribute to these web pages, please email them to steelyfamilias@yahoo.com. You can send written articles in doc or pdf formats and pictures are preferred in jpg format. Contributions will be posted according the their relevance to Paris, Lamar County, Camp Maxey and World War II. All contributions may be used on these blog web pages as well as any future publications that may appear on the subject.

Friday, April 6, 2018

German PWs Escape! The Paris News, March 8, 1944

Later new reports said these prisoners turned themselves in shortly after their escape.  After this report, Ernest Koslowski, 22, escaped from Camp Maxey, Texas, May 19.  According to a report in the Paris News, he was recaptured by Texas highway patrolmen a few days later on the edge of some woods between Greggton and Gladewaler. Texas.

The Camp Maxey Prisoner of War Camp was designed to hold up to 10,000 German prisoners.  Records indicate that there were just over 7,000 held their at its peak.  Most of the early prisoners were sent over from North Africa after the combined British and American forces defeated the German Afrika Korps.  These were joined by prisoners captured in Italy and later from France.
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Monday, April 2, 2018

1942 May 8, Article from The Paris News regarding cemeteries with Camp Maxey boundary.

Camp Maxey was big by any standards and the process moved quickly to acquire the land.  Besides families being displaced there came additional hurdles.  The land had belonged to family groups and small communities for more than a century.  One of these hurdles was what to do with the graves in within the camp.  Even today there exist old family graves within the boundary of the existing National Guard training camp.
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