Camp Breckinridge, named in honor of John Cabell Breckinridge who was one of Kentucky’s outstanding statesmen of the nineteenth century, was situated in the extreme western part of Kentucky, twelve miles from the Ohio River. At age thirty-five, Breckinridge became the youngest vice president in the history of the United States, presiding over the Senate with conspicuous impartiality. Ironically, a few years later he was caught in the Civil War turmoil and eventually distinguished himself as a Confederate general.

This entirely modern Army camp, designed primarily for infantry training, covered about fifty-six square miles or approximately 36,000 acres of gently rolling brown clay terrain, most of which were in Union County and the remaining in Henderson and Webster counties. Plans for the camp were developed in Washington, D.C. in August 1941. Approximately 1,500 families were required to sell their land to the federal government for the construction of Camp Breckinridge to begin in early 1942. Selling their land for considerably less than they thought it was worth, many of the landowners had as little as ten days to relocate their family members, household goods, farm equipment, and livestock and possibly find a new form of income. The original plan was to keep the property for five years and then give the original owners a chance to buy their property back. Instead, the Korean War followed WWII and the camp was reactivated for training. The government ended up retaining the property for about twenty years.

Working on an around-the-clock schedule during the early months, all prime contracts had been filled within five-and-a-half months. On July 1, 1942, the camp was activated, and the cost of the new facility was $39,000,000. There was a total of 1,800 buildings which were meant to be temporary, having been built on pillars with no insulation. The buildings included a 2,000-bed hospital, barracks, mess halls, warehouses, office buildings, chapels, service clubs, theater, recreation halls, post exchanges, laundry facility, an incinerator, cold storage plant, motor repair shops, sewer treatment plant, restaurants, stores, and many more. The current museum building was one of four service clubs at Camp Breckinridge. There were two in the heart of the base, this building, and a “black club” in Tilden, Kentucky.

A service club was a place for the soldiers to relax, dance, dine, and drink. They wanted to enjoy themselves as much as they could before going off to war, for they did not know when, or if, they would be able to again. During WWII, the current building was an NCO club and during the Korean War became an Officer’s Club; perhaps the switch was to keep the drunken officers off the streets.

At its peak, the camp had 55,000 people living on the base. This was a problem because Union County did not have a high enough female population so each soldier could have a dance partner. To prevent fights among the soldiers, buses of females from Henderson and Evansville were brought in on dance nights, becoming known as “bus girls.” Many of the “bus girls” stated this was a time in their life that they will never forget, and they would even get into covered army trucks in their finest clothes to keep from missing a dance.

The dances were strictly chaperoned. If a girl came on a bus, she was not allowed to leave the building during the dance. And soldiers were not allowed to ask for a first dance. Soldiers lined one wall while the ladies were lined along the other and they were partnered based on who they walked up the stairs with.

The large hall was the dance floor. On one side is a sign above the door that reads ‘Bar’, the dining room was where the museum is currently, and the kitchen was in the far back. There was a sliding glass window used as a sell point for a liquor store to go, but that was in the 40’s where most people did not have cars and drunk driving was not as large of a concern. By the 50’s these stores were no longer in buildings due to the increase of vehicles, as told by Larry Strehle, President of the Historical Society.

The United States entered the Geneva Convention to house and set a standard of treatment for Prisoners of War (POWs). In May 1943, a trainload of well-guarded German prisoners of war arrived at Camp Breckinridge, making it the first Army base in the United States to house POWs. They were treated very well at Camp Breckinridge with housing, food, and medical treatment. In return, they performed many duties on the Army base and nearby farms. Of note, most POWs came to Camp Breckinridge with Malaria due to coming from combat in North Africa. Over 3,000 POWs would eventually be housed here until the camp’s deactivation in 1946.

One of the most astounding facts learned by museum members is the number of POW camps in North America. There were only four states at the time that did not house POWs. By June 1945, there were over 375,000 POWs in the United States. Most POWs at Camp Breckinridge were from the European Theater, meaning they were young men taken into the German Army as the Nazi’s took over their countries. Most of them surrendered to the United States. These POWs were kept apart from others as it cost less to guard them and there was less trouble in the camps.

When the POWs first arrived at the camp, they were sort of disgruntled because they liked to stay busy, and there wasn’t much to do in this part of Kentucky. The government intended for them to work while they were here and did not expect much time for them to get bored, especially with so many away at war. A baker in Henderson felt sorry for the POWs and purchased paints and carving tools after which they began to paint the walls of the mess halls and barracks.

When the work program began the soldiers asked Daniel Mayer to paint on the walls of the Non-Commissioned Officers Club. Mayer, a soldier in Czechoslovakia who was drafted into the German Army when Nazi’s took over his homeland, was twice wounded prior to being sent to the North American front. Here, he was again wounded and was in very poor health when arriving at Camp Breckinridge.

Daniel Mayer painted in the club for nearly three years. However, we cannot credit him entirely for the artwork as he had a younger helper in the building. It is said that Mayer would start a mural and let his assistant work on the painting, checking in on him from time to time.

Mayer wrote letters to his wife, Hermine, while at Camp Breckinridge and would often speak of his homesickness, stating “I read your letters again and again, and if another doesn’t arrive soon, I’ll read them all over again and again.” He even described his murals, the largest being the 20 by 30-foot mural of the Castle of Werneck located in Franconia, which took him 15 months to complete.

While painting the mural Mayer struggled due to his health. He was aware at that time that he would never step foot again in his homeland because he was so ill. He completed the mural in the summer of 1945, laying his brushes down for the very last time. He died shortly thereafter in September 1945. The real castle in Franconia still stands today and is used as a museum and a children’s hospital.

Unfortunately, his wife never saw his works. His daughter, Martha Bolg, and her husband came from Germany to attend the museum’s dedication ceremony in April 2000. She was only six when her father died and although she never knew him, she had been told all her life that her father painted pictures somewhere in Kentucky. Martha was overwhelmed by the size of the paintings as she was expecting pictures in frames, not murals on walls. She was able to see his passion and talents and says she can relate the murals to him.

One summer, Friedrich Fuchs, a former POW, and his son visited the museum from Germany. He first said, “I wanted to return here before I got too old to travel and say thank you to anybody and everybody I see.” He wanted to tell everything about his life at Camp Breckinridge, “We had plenty to eat, especially corn. The U.S. government gave us 10 cents a day to buy toiletry items and we were paid 10 cents an hour for working. Our wages could be held for us, and we could be paid when we were released. This would give us some money to start out when we returned home. We worshiped in the churches, ate in restaurants, played games in the field house, watched plays in the theater, and bowled in the bowling alley. We were treated well. I always tried to work for a farmer because many times the farmer’s wife would let us eat at the table with their families. Many times, they would have small children and it would remind me of being home, for I was the oldest of many children. The worst thing about being a POW was, of course, being homesick. But it was that you knew you were getting more to eat than your sisters and brothers.”

Between 1946 and 1954, Camp Breckinridge was activated for the Korean War. When Camp Breckinridge was declared surplus by the United States government, the bodies of the POWs buried in the cemetery on the Army base were relocated to Fort Knox, Kentucky. In 1963, Job Corps took over most of the grounds and the camp officially closed in 1966.

The Union County Fiscal Court bought the building, which was renovated in 1999. The purchase of the building was prompted when a gentleman from Canada wanted to purchase the murals from the walls. The building was in bad need of repair, but County Judge Jimmy Veatch saw the need to keep the building intact and knew the murals must be preserved. Also, the Union County Historical Society had a small museum that needed to be relocated. The museum was granted 1.3 million dollars from the Kentucky Historical Society. The murals still adorn the walls and are probably the biggest drawing attraction to the museum. The ballroom is rented for receptions, meetings, and parties to help generate funds for the facility.