Wartime Labor Shortage Prompts Formation of Camp Continental
POW Labor Supported Pima County Economy From 1944-1946 

As much of the nation’s male workforce was drafted into the armed forces during World War II, labor shortages impacted many industries. Cotton farming in Southern Arizona was no exception.

Establishing Camp Continental
In October 1944, local farmers James B. Bull and Fred E. Jones, in cooperation with Pima County Agricultural Agent, Glenn E. Blackledge, petitioned for the Army Prisoner of War Program to approve a branch POW camp to be established in the Continental-Sahuarita territory.  

Less than one month later, a skilled detachment of twenty war prisoners from Camp Florence arrived at Bull’s Farm to upgrade an existing farm worker camp to include sanitary facilities, heated water, a mess hall, and an infirmary. James B. Bull’s daughter, Gladys Bull Klingenberg remembered that Camp Continental consisted of barrack-style buildings to house the prisoners. A ten-foot-tall, barbed wire fence lined the property, with a twenty-foot guard tower on each corner. The compound also had a second ten-foot barbed-wire fence lining the outer perimeter.

Staff Sgt. Jose F. “Joe” Martinez was a military policeman in the 1982nd Service Command Unit who was stationed at Camp Florence at the time. The lifelong Santa Cruz Valley resident was assigned to a convoy of trucks tasked with transporting German prisoners to the new satellite camp. During the week of November 13, 1944, 280 German POWs arrived at the newly established camp.

Prisoners and Conditions

Staff Sgt. Martinez stayed at Camp Continental to supervise 40 soldiers who worked as camp guards. His recollection of that first group of prisoners was not favorable. The group comprised mostly U-boat crew members, many of whom were fanatical Hitler Youth, often prone to fighting. While on duty, the guards carried weapons, including clubs, to break up fights throughout the day and night in the housing areas. The constant unruly behavior of the submariners resulted in these prisoners spending much of their time on bread and water rations.  

The next group of POWs – mostly infantry troops including Normandy defenders and members of the Afrika Korps – were cooperative with good work ethic. Martinez became well acquainted with some of the prisoners. He remembers when he married Socorro M. “Cora” Gastelum in December 1944, several of the prisoners baked a wedding cake for the couple as a gift, using ingredients they had collected.  

Robert Lee “Bob” Elam worked for O’Dell Massey, supervising prisoners while they worked on Lee Moor Ranch. He recalled, “I learned that they were a very loyal race of people. A commanding officer would get out of the truck and yell, ‘Aktion! Sieg heil.’  They would fall in line at attention, click their heels together, throw their right arm up, say, ‘Heil Hitler,’ grab their cotton sacks, and go out to pick cotton. Each one had a quota to pick – 150 pounds. If one soldier did not meet it, those that went over their quota would give some to him so he would not get in trouble.”

Klingenburg recalled hearing the workers singing while marching to the fields on Bull Farms. After the war ended and the camp was disbanded, several of the workers wanted to stay in Continental, but they were forced to return to their homeland. Many years later, a few of them returned to live in the Santa Cruz Valley.

During favorable weather in that first season, an average of 201 men worked six days a week, picking 80-90 pounds of cotton per day. Prisoners received a small portion of their 80-cent per day pay – the remainder went to the U.S. Army for housing, transportation, and providing the necessities of life. Per the program agreement, the Army handled discipline, while the local farmers provided foremen to supervise workers in over 3,000 acres of cotton fields.

Production and Harvest
The Santa Cruz Valley Producers Association was a non-profit cooperative organization formed in Spring 1945 to represent local farmers in negotiations that would ensure the availability of agricultural labor needed from the Prisoner of War Program for planting and processing crops. Members of this initiative include William H. Lane, O’Dell Massey (Lee Moor Ranch Manager), James B. Bull (Bull Farms Owner), George P. Butts (Intercontinental Rubber Co. Manager and President of the Pima County Farm Bureau) and Curtis C. Cooper, Jr. (Rancho Oro Verde Manager).

Through spring and summer months, 80-120 POWs worked with “truck crops” on six local farms. Laborers were responsible for cleaning and burning irrigation ditches; cutting, planting, and hauling potatoes; hoeing and thinning lettuce; and caring for and harvesting a wide variety of other garden vegetables. When cotton picking started on Lee Moor Ranch in September of 1945, approximately 160 men, including those held over from vegetable crops, began working on the harvest, and by late November, over 225 prisoners were working in area fields.

German Prisoners of War living at Camp Continental picked a total of 1,860,863 pounds of cotton between October 1945 and February 1946. Their contribution was an extremely important factor in the survival of Pima County's wartime economy. Ultimately, 43.6% of the cotton planted in Pima County for the 1945-1946 season was harvested by Prisoner of War Labor.  

With Gratitude
This historical marker, looking southward over the land that was once the site of Camp Continental, was placed as a permanent tribute to all who walked these fields before us.  We wish to recognize, honor and never forget the military service members, farm workers, landowners, community leaders, and also those who provided the labor necessary to keep the economy of our community productive and healthy through those difficult years while our country was at war.

If you know of other families who lived here or who have stories related to the life and events of Camp Continental, please reach out and take the time to share.  SantaCruzValleyHistory.org