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.

Thursday, April 18, 2019

1945 - The Last Issue of the Camp Maxey Times -30-

When newspaper reporters used typewriters and teletypes to create their articles they used -30- to indicate the end of the story.  These 16 pages were the last ever printed of the Camp Maxey Times.  The first one printed was on April 9, 1943.  The tabloid format paper was written and laidout by camp personnel and composed and printed at The Paris News.  During that period hundreds of thousands of soldiers, their families, politicians, civilians, and German PWs each had a small thread of the camp added to the fabric of their life.

This last issue is a very short but informative collection of articles about the camp, the war, Paris, and the people that got to know at least a small part of the camp.  It highlights the arrivals of both the 102d and 99th Infantry Divisions as well as the Infantry Advanced Replacement Training Center (IARTC).  Appropriately the editors liberally used -30- to mark the end.

 For historians it has an excellent list of the dozens of different types of units there were trained there.

















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