# Help save bowmanville POW site from wrecking ball



## Marmite (30 Mar 2009)

Not sure if this is the right forum, or if I can even post a petition. MODS, feel free to relocate or if this does not meet the rules, regulations and or policies of this site, please feel free to remove or suggest an alternate forum where this can be discussed, and the link for the petition be posted.

Regards,

Marmite

"Last standing POW camp of its kind is on Canadian Soil" but it is going to be demolished unless we can mobilize enough people to petition the municipal, provincial and federal governments to step in with funding. The way I see it, if they can flush billions down the drain propping up a car maker that wastes money and produces a garbage product, they can at least send a few hundred thousand and preserve a piece of History. At least give me a say in where some of my tax dollars are spent.

Please sign the below petition and express your support.

Thanks.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-bowmanville-pow-camp-30-from-demolition
(edited to insert correct link)

Updated News Article from the Toronto Star...

http://www.thestar.com/article/610075

Blaze damages PoW camp

YVONNE BERG FOR THE TORONTO STAR

Clarington firefighters tend to hot spots inside the administration building at Camp 30 in Bowmanville, which served as a PoW camp for German officers.

Crime Stoppers

Gutted 'jewel' of a building at centre of bid to preserve WWII site from development
Mar 29, 2009 04:30 AM
Sunny Freeman
STAFF REPORTER

"It's a sad day for Canadian history," local historian Lynn Philip Hodgson lamented yesterday after learning that two suspicious fires gutted buildings at the historic Camp 30 facility, a World War II-era PoW facility in Bowmanville.

Camp 30, a collection of 18 buildings on 40 hectares of rural land about 45 minutes east of Toronto, was the only one used by the Allies to house captured high-ranking Nazi officers. It is the only known intact camp for German prisoners of war still left in the world.

Fire crews and police were called to the site at 2020 Lambs Rd. around 5:30 a.m. yesterday, said Clarington Fire Chief Gord Weir. A resident in a neighbouring subdivision saw flames and called 911.

One fire caused "major damage" to a vacant building known as the classroom or administration building, used as a general's quarters in World War II. Weir estimated the loss to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The roof of the two-storey classroom building collapsed, but the brick walls are still standing.

Fire crews and police discovered a second blaze during a precautionary check of surrounding buildings. Weir said officials believe the fires broke out independently.

The second fire caused minor damage to a building nearly 550 metres away, which housed a swimming pool and a gym.

"It's quite a large property, it's not that the embers flew over to the other building,'' said Weir. "We're treating it as suspicious, but I can't speculate further."

The Ontario Fire Marshal was called in to investigate, along with Durham police.

Weir said fire and police crews have received reports that kids frequent the abandoned property to play and vandalize the site, but he did not recall being called in for a nuisance fire in the past.

Hodgson, a councillor for nearby Scugog Township who has been working to preserve the site for 10 years and wrote a book on its history, visited the scene yesterday.

The administration building, built in 1925 to house the then school's headmaster, used to be "an absolute jewel," he said. "But it's now completely gutted ... It's a shell of brick out there."

"I can't imagine what human being would do that to our history and heritage ... I hope it's a wake-up call for anyone else interested in preserving Canada's history to step in and do something to preserve the remaining buildings."

Hodgson said the destroyed administration building was the cornerstone of his pitch to preserve the site. "Unfortunately, most of my ideas were built around the building destroyed today. The idea was to turn the building into a community centre, where youth could play basketball and floor hockey."

Bowmanville Mayor Jim Abernethy said town councillors and the complex's new owners feared the boarded-up buildings, which have been vacant since an Islamic school moved out last fall, would become "an attraction for kids."

"It's a disappointing tragedy," he said. "It was everybody's greatest fear that something like this would happen."

Fire officials contacted the property owners, The Kaitlin Group, which slated the buildings for demolition this spring to make way for homes.

The owners could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Last month, Clarington council put the site on its list of heritage properties, which gives them 60 days to do something once the owner applies for demolition.

"We're going to have meetings to resolve how to move forward. We certainly don't want something like this to happen again," Abernethy said.

His council appealed to provincial and federal heritage ministries to assist in the site's preservation, but so far they "haven't got any concrete response," he added.

"We need to come up with a plan in terms of saving the site, or a portion of the site. It's of extreme importance as a Canadian military heritage site."


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## PMedMoe (30 Mar 2009)

So let me get this straight.  They want to save this "piece of history" to use it as a "community centre, where youth could play basketball and floor hockey."??

Might as well build a soccer field at the Citadel in Halifax.  :


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## geo (30 Mar 2009)

IIRC, the fort on Ile St-Hélène outside Montreal was used as a POW facility during the last war...
If that is the case, Bowmanville camp no 30 is not the last remaining example of a POW detention facility.

I scratch my head & wonder "what is the true value" of maintaining another unused military base/facility?

I would venture to say that maintaining the old SOE training camp as being of greater value ... 

Today all that remains of Camp X is contained in a 17 acre park named after the British Security Coordination (Intrepid Park). A small memorial with a panoramic view of Lake Ontario marks the former location of the Camp.


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## George Wallace (30 Mar 2009)

Old Fort Henry in Kingston was a POW camp.  It is operated year round as a Tourist site.  It has the Fort Henry Guard and reenactors putting on performances every summer.


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## geo (30 Mar 2009)

Fort Ile St-Hélène has detachments from both, Fraser Highlanders & Compagnie Franche de la marine performing throughout the summer.


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## Michael OLeary (30 Mar 2009)

geo said:
			
		

> Fort Ile St-Hélène has detachments from both, Fraser Highlanders & Compagnie Franche de la marine performing throughout the summer.



Uh, how did we go from identifying POW camps to just listing re-enactment sites?


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## George Wallace (30 Mar 2009)

We didn't.  Both forts were POW camps.


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## geo (30 Mar 2009)

My post - reply 2 - identifies that "fort" as being used as a POW camp
George W identified Ft Henry as being another POW camp.....

The original article identifies camp 30 as being the last POW camp from that era - still standing.

So... instead of having a community centre where we can play basketball, we have still existing forts where reenactors can strut their stuff.


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## Bass ackwards (30 Mar 2009)

Wasn't Shilo also used as a POW camp? 

If memory serves (and admittedly, it seldom does) I recall being told that the H-huts we stayed in when going through the battleschool, had once been used to house German POWs.  

Are those buildings still standing?


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## George Wallace (30 Mar 2009)

Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> Wasn't Shilo also used as a POW camp?
> 
> If memory serves (and admittedly, it seldom does) I recall being told that the H-huts we stayed in when going through the battleschool, had once been used to house German POWs.
> 
> Are those buildings still standing?



And there was one in Wainwright by the buffalo paddocks.  And one in Petawawa out at Center Lake.  There were hundreds across Canada.


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## Trinity (30 Mar 2009)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> And there was one in Wainwright by the buffalo paddocks.



The tower burned down a few years ago (the last remaining structure) but a new one was built in its place to continue on the heritage.


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## Marmite (31 Mar 2009)

News Update...

http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/national/video/index.html


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## Marmite (3 Apr 2009)

Just wanted to thank everyone who has signed so far, we are getting there slowly but surely. I have emailed the Heritage Minister and the Prime Minister in the hopes that we can get federal interest in the site and help with getting in turned into a permanent historic site. It's only 45 acres, that is surrounded by millions of acres in farmland. Surely we can spare 45 acres....


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## chrisf (3 Apr 2009)

Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> Wasn't Shilo also used as a POW camp?
> 
> If memory serves (and admittedly, it seldom does) I recall being told that the H-huts we stayed in when going through the battleschool, had once been used to house German POWs.
> 
> Are those buildings still standing?



They are not.


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## 1feral1 (3 Apr 2009)

In the ONCO Mess at the South Alberta Light Horse (in Medicine Hat) Armouries, there is a small frame hanging on the wall which contains the label of a Red Cross parcel to a German soldier. It was found during renovations.

That buiding was used as a PW facility for Germans, and even the stage is still there, or it was in the early 1990s.

Interesting PoW heritage.

A friend of mine wrote a book back in the early 90s. Its called German Prisoners Of War In Canada, written by Bob Henderson and Chris Madsen. ISBN 0-9697888-0-0.

A very good reference. 

Bob also runs Home Front Archives in Regina, and is the PoW Camp in Canada guru.

About 10 yrs ago I had given Bob a piece of a building from Cowra Prison Camp (PoW Camp for Italian and Japanese) in New South Wales, where 100's of Japanese prisoners tried to escape one night, and the majoirty killed (Mr Vickers .303 MG got them, and many hung themselves or suicided in many ways rather than be re-captured. Google for more info. 

I also presented Bob in 2008, some razor wire from Saddam's compound where his trial was conducted in Karhk (Baghdad). Neatly framed with explantion and certification.

Regards,

Wes


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## geo (4 Apr 2009)

> Including those who killed themselves, 234 Japanese died and 108 were wounded. Thirty-one killed themselves and 12 were burnt to death in huts set on fire by Japanese. Sixteen of the wounded showed signs of attempted suicide. The 22nd Garrison Battalion lost 3 killed and 3 wounded.  http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/cowra/doc.asp




Interesting story Wes - thank you


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## mariomike (4 Apr 2009)

Overwatch Downunder said:
			
		

> About 10 yrs ago I had given Bob a piece of a building from Cowra Prison Camp (PoW Camp for Italian and Japanese) in New South Wales, where 100's of Japanese prisoners tried to escape one night, and the majoirty killed (Mr Vickers .303 MG got them, and many hung themselves or suicided in many ways rather than be re-captured. Google for more info.
> Regards,
> Wes



"Die like the Carp!", I think, is the book about this.


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## 1feral1 (5 Apr 2009)

Thats a good book. I have it in paperback. 

Well done Mario!

Wes


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## mariomike (7 May 2016)

Marmite said:
			
		

> Camp 30, a collection of 18 buildings on 40 hectares of rural land about 45 minutes east of Toronto, was the only one used by the Allies to house captured high-ranking Nazi officers. It is the only known intact camp for German prisoners of war still left in the world.



May 06, 2016

Historic POW camp in Ontario now littered with vandalism
CityNews videographer Audra Brown explores through the historic building that is now completely destroyed.
http://www.680news.com/2016/05/06/video-historic-pow-camp-in-ontario-now-littered-with-vandalism/

This is Camp 30 in Bowmanville.


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## Teager (8 May 2016)

My wife worked security there about 6 or 7 years ago and can't belive how bad the graffiti and condition of the buildings are now.


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