The charmingly rendered murals painted directly on the celotex walls depict icons of the mythical American west: cowboys, Indians, wagon trains, cattle drives, a stockade fort, and even the famous Old Faithful geyser in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park.

The Douglas POW Camp exemplifies indirectly the strength and power the United States brought to the European war effort, especially the technological, mobilization, and organizational skills that were quickly marshaled for the war effort as evidenced by the rapid construction of various types of military facilities built in record time throughout the country.

The Officers Club is located on the site of the former Prisoner of War Camp and was one of the 180 buildings constructed during a 95-day period in the spring of 1943 for an estimated cost of $1.1 million.

Overcrowded POW compounds overseas led U. S. military authorities to come up with an American internment program by September of that year.

The immediate measures to accommodate over 50,000 POWS held by the British in North Africa included reactivating Civilian Conservation Corps camps; opening unused portions of several major military bases; utilizing such facilities as fairgrounds, race tracks, armories, and auditoriums; and setting up "tent cities' in remote areas of the country.

No camps could be built within 170 miles inland from the east and west coasts; nor within a 150-mile wide zone (240 km) along the Canadian and Mexican borders.

The ideal site, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, was an area of 350 acres (140 ha) of level and well-drained land located within five miles of a railroad and 500 feet (150 m) from any public road.

Construction of POW camps in the United States also abided by the international Geneva Convention agreements, signed by 47 world powers in 1929, which defined treatment of enemy prisoners.

These lobbying efforts resulted in the construction of a new air base at Casper, a large expansion at Cheyenne's Fort F. E. Warren, and the selection of a site on the outskirts of the small town of Douglas as the location for a POW camp.

Located in Converse County within one mile of a rail line that passed through downtown Douglas, the 687-acre site (278 ha) sat above the banks of the North Platte River.

Government surveyors and engineers arrived in Douglas in December, 1942, fueling rumors of the proposed POW camp although the official announcement did not come until January, 1943.

Peter Kiewit and Sons of Omaha, Nebraska came in with the low bid and the company set up operations in Douglas by February.

Beyond that, the prison complex was organized into three compounds, separated by wire electrified fencing, each with a capacity of approximately one thousand men.

The town leaders with the home front war effort quickly established a Service Men's Center in the downstairs room of the Moose Lodge.

The local newspaper focused on the anticipation and excitement of the arrival of the U. S. Army coming to their town, especially the officers, and downplayed any apprehension people may have felt about having an enemy population one mile away that outnumbered the townsfolk.

POWs provided a solution to the problem and performed many essential jobs related to agriculture, particularly harvesting crops whether it was cotton in the South or sugar beets and timber in Wyoming.

Over two thousand people from seventeen Wyoming counties visited the site during the two-hour open house and, according to local newspaper reports, were especially impressed by the 150-bed hospital.

A crowd gathered to watch the four hundred and twelve closely guarded captives from the Tunisian Campaign as they alighted from the train in Douglas and proceeded to march, in units of fifty, the one mile to the outlying camp.

As routine for all incoming POWs, the Italian prisoners were checked into the camp through the hospital where they were examined and treated for minor disorders.

By year end, the number of Italian POWs at the camp had reached 1900 men and included one major, four captains, and twenty two lieutenants.

They set up a small Catholic church in the camp theater where they also put on musical and theatrical productions with costumes made of flour sacks.

Three Italian prisoners left a remarkable artistic legacy with the sixteen murals they painted almost sixty years ago that can be seen today on the walls of the Officers Club, one of only a few camp buildings still standing.

The large murals, most are six feet high and some as long as fifteen feet, depict cowboys, bar shootouts, a Native American smoking a peace pipe, a wagon train, a frontier stockade fort, and most surprisingly, Yellowstone National Park's Old Faithful geyser erupting in front of a cowboy audience.

Although the POW camp was vacant and deactivated in July, 1944, it was quickly reactivated a month later to prepare for incoming Germans prisoners.

Artisans among the POWs sketched portraits and made such handcrafted items as shelves and decorative plaques which they glued together using dried cottage cheese from their meals.

Like the Italian prisoners before them, the German POWs also provided thousands of hours in agricultural labor for which they were paid daily wages of $4.00.

Guards always accompanied the internees although security might become lax on the job site as escape attempts appeared to be less of a threat away from the camp.

By August 1945, as the war wound down, the regional camp commander announced the end of POW labor and that prisoners would now be prepared for repatriation.