[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 118 (Friday, July 31, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HEREFORD WWII POW CHAPEL

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                         HON. RANDY NEUGEBAUER

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 30, 2009

  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 
rededication of a Texas Historical Landmark, Camp Hereford Italian 
Prisoner of War Camp memorial chapel. This World War II monument has 
survived more than 64 years as a symbol of the shared history that 
binds Texas, the United States, and Italy together.
  During World War II, the Hereford POW camp stretched across 800 acres 
in Castro and Deaf Smith counties in West Texas. It was the second 
largest United States POW camp built during World War II. An estimated 
5,000 Italian POWs were held at the site between February 1943 and June 
1946, when the last of the POWs were repatriated.
  In 1945, the Italian POWs received permission from the U.S. military 
to pay for and build a chapel within the camp to serve as a marker for 
the burial site of their fallen soldiers. In honor of their five 
comrades who died while interned, skilled artisan Italian prisoners 
constructed the thirteen-foot-square chapel. After the war, the 
deceased were exhumed and returned to Italy, leaving the chapel 
abandoned and vulnerable to deterioration.
  n 1988, former POWs donated money, original sketches, and photographs 
for the first major restoration of the chapel. The project was 
completed in time for a reunion held in Hereford in June, 1989. In 
1992, the Texas Historical Commission declared the chapel a Recorded 
Texas Historical Landmark.
  In spite of its historical significance, the chapel was severely 
vandalized in 2008. Thanks to financial support from the Committee for 
Italians Living Abroad and the volunteer effort of Castro and Deaf 
Smith county residents, the chapel has once again been restored to its 
original beauty. The Castro County Historical Commission and Committee 
for Italians Living Abroad will co-host a rededication ceremony 
Saturday, August 8, 2009.
  The restoration of this monument stands to preserve the history of 
the mutual regard that developed between the prisoners and their 
captors in rural Texas, and I congratulate the community for preserving 
this piece of history.

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