Mark your calendars for Saturday, Nov. 5, 10am to 4pm. Admission is FREE! Parking is $5. Visit camphearne.com for more information or contact Cathy Lazarus or Melissa Freeman at 979-314-7012.
[Hearne, Texas] – 
Veterans Day, November 11, 2016, less than a month away from December 7, Pearl Harbor Day, a month and seventy-five years, that is. This year marks the 75th Anniversary of American’s entry into World War II. We at Camp Hearne not only want to honor all veterans during this year’s Camp Hearne Living History Day event, but we also remember one of the most cataclysmic events in human history—the one that created Camp Hearne.
For many of us, World War II is a not so distance history lesson. We grew up watching black and white movies where the heroes were American GIs fighting in far off places for all the right reasons. For us Baby-Boomers, it was our parents who served and sacrificed during this most extraordinary time in our Nation’s past.
It has now been 75 years since the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, propelled the United States into a global conflict that had already been raging for more than two years. What happen then in this country was astonishing. The military industrial complex was put into full gear, men enlisted in droves, women earned their place in the workforce and military service, and families rationed and built a home front citizenry that supported all facets of our war effort. America emerged the protector of Democracy and the new Leader in world affairs.
It achieved a unity of purpose and action that US had not seen before or has seen since.
Although Camp Hearne existed for a very short time, it is still a story worth telling as an integral part of this unified struggle. This Historic Site is a heritage tourism destination that conveys the story of a small rural town’s wartime contribution–hosting a WWII POW internment camp that housed over 4800 German prisoners-of-war from 1942-1946. Each fall, we invite folks to participate in a living history day that brings this period to life with re-enactors from both the Allied and Axis Armies displaying their respective uniforms, gear, and weapons. You will be able to visit our WWII POW Camp Exhibit, walk the trails to prisoner-built remains, interact with WWII living historians as they “show and tell” their collections, watch weapons demonstrations and view WWII era military vintage vehicles.
If you have been to Camp Hearne and think you have seen it all, come back and traverse our new trails and see additions to the Camp Hearne exhibit.