Camp Maxey

Sometimes, history is just across the highway.

Camp Maxey Guard Tower

Growing up, I never knew what had happened on the other side of those railroad tracks.

Across the highway, just beyond those tracks, stood Camp Maxey. This photograph below shows the entrance to the camp.

Entrance into Camp Maxey

This is just off Highway 271.

I passed the camp almost every day and even attended Cub Scout meetings in one of the old barracks.

Some of these old barracks were still standing in the 1970s.

But to me, it was simply a National Guard training camp. But as you can see from the photo below, it was much more! My Dad used to drive for Continental Trailways and would drive these troops to Camp Maxey on occasion out of Dallas Texas. Others came in by rail.

Troops arriving to train at Camp Maxey!

Years later, watching Saving Private Ryan brought home the reality of the war—and just how young so many of those soldiers were. It sent me searching for more World War II history, especially as it related to my hometown.

That’s when I learned thousands of German POWs had once been held there, including prisoners captured during the fighting in North Africa.

I wish I had paid more attention—and asked more questions when there were still people around who remembered it.

As a kid, I thought history was something that happened somewhere else. Turns out, sometimes it’s right across the highway. You just had to know where to look.

What about you? Is there a place you grew up around that you later discovered had a story you never knew?