Tuxachanie POW Camp is vandalized

For those who love the outdoors the Tuxachanie Hiking Trail inside the DeSoto National Forest is one of the hidden gems in Harrison County. Along the trail remains what’s left of an old POW camp from World War II and now those historic foundations are vandalized.
The old ammunition bunkers are all that’s left of a camp that used to house German and Italian prisoners during World War II. Stone County resident Mary Bond was a young child when her grandpa worked there as a prison guard. “I remember one time, we were at my grandparents’ house in the middle of the night and they said some of the prisoners had escaped.”
Remains of the camp can be found along the Tuxachanie Hiking Trail within the woods of the Desoto National Forest, the site is currently a Harrison County recreation area, but not all visitors have left the site clean and the historic foundation sits covered in graffiti. “It’s sad. It really is sad. I can remember when it was very neat and very well kept and mowed,” said Bond.
The site was a satellite branch off Camp Shelby where thousands of prisoners were held during World War II. Historian Charles Sullivan tells News 25 the camp probably held about 100 men. “Most of these German soldiers that we had here were just out of high school in Germany, put in uniform and told to shoot Americans. They weren’t really Nazis.”
Sullivan says most of the German prisoners were treated well with some of them even settling in Mississippi after the war was over. “They really enjoyed being here, really they did. Except for the really die hard Nazis, they were kept off by themselves.”
Now, this is all that remains of the camp. “Surely they should leave it alone. It’s a reminder of a time we need to remember. People without a past have no future,” said Sullivan.
News 25 did reach out to the U.S. Forest Service about the damage and they tell us they’ll have somebody out there to take a look at it this week. “It should be a place to say something important happened here. This is part of history,” said Bond.