POW Interrogation Camp

A First Sergeant's Memories of Camp Michaux: The Lost Collection of The Pine Grove Furnace Prisoner of War Camp

I have never forgotten my first solitary walk through Camp Michaux. The sun was setting and visitors had gone. I explored in silence, hearing only a gentle breeze create an eerie creaking in the trees that made me strain my ear as if listening for voices of the past.

“My War” by Yoshikuni Masuyama as retold by his daughter, Miyuki Hegg

Toward the end of WWII, the Pine Grove Furnace POW Interrogation Camp was used to house Japanese prisoners.  One of those prisoners, Yoshikuni Masuyama, wrote a memoir of of his war time experiences after the war.  This was later transcribed by his wife, Fumie Masuyama.  Subsequently, the memoir was retold in English by his daughter Miyuki Hegg.

The Origin and History of Camp Michaux’s Prisoner of War Photographs: A New Discovery

The photographs in the collection at the Cumberland County Historical Society (CCHS) that document the history of the Pine Grove Furnace Prisoner of War Camp at Camp Michaux during the Second World War come from several sources. The primary source is from a collection originally owned by Major Laurence Thomas, the camp’s commander that were taken by the Army Signal Corp. This collection contains pictures of German and Japanese POWs, usually working around the camp or in candid poses and photos of the camp during various seasons of the year.