DATE: Sunday, October 26, 1997              TAG: 9710240253

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: THE COASTAL JOURNAL 

SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow 

                                            LENGTH:   87 lines

POWS ONCE LIVED AND WORKED IN OLD PRINCESS ANNE COUNTY

Few people have lived in Virginia Beach long enough to remember the unusual role we played as hosts to a German prisoner of war camp in the waning days of World War II.

I wasn't here at the time and when I think about a POW camp in old Princess Anne County, I can't get over what an odd contrast it must have been to the peaceful bucolic nature of the surrounding area.

Yet it was those very prisoners, who probably helped to preserve the rural character of the county by working as farm hands to replace local young men who had gone off to war.

At the time, Virginia Beach was still a tiny resort city, surrounded by rural Princess Anne County. The area certainly wasn't isolated from the military with busy installations at Oceana, Fort Story, Dam Neck, Little Creek and other smaller posts.

Even so, Camp Ashby, a POW camp right on Virginia Beach Boulevard where Willis Wayside Furniture Co. is today, just seems out of sync with old Princess Anne. Camp Ashby housed as many as 1,788 German prisoners in one peak period. Altogether more than 6,000 prisoners passed through the camp, making it the largest POW facility in Southeastern Hampton Roads.

You can hear about it firsthand when City Councilman Harold Heischober speaks to the Princess Anne County/Virginia Beach Historical Society next week. Heischober, an army captain at Fort Story during the war, supervised the prisoners who had been assigned to his unit to work.

The meeting, open to the public, will be at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 in the social hall of Thalia United Methodist Church, 4321 Virginia Beach Blvd. Thalia Church is an ideal location to put participants in the mood because it is just across the street from Willis Wayside.

Willis Wayside, initially built and operated by a private nonprofit group as a tuberculosis sanitarium, was turned over to the state in the early 1940s. As the war got under way, the state leased the handsome building and surrounding land to the federal government to quarter United States troops.

Barracks were hastily constructed around the main building, which was used as headquarters. When the American troops were called to other places, the installation was converted to a POW camp, which opened in March 1944. (In 1950 the main building was purchased by Willis Furniture Co. and reopened as Willis Wayside.)

With farm labor and labor in other areas of the economy in short supply, the POWS were screened for work in the community and those with anti-Nazi sentiments were sent out on work details. The late Kenneth Whitehurst was among the farmers who availed themselves of POW labor.

Whitehurst, who farmed on Muddy Creek Road down in old Princess Anne, recalled his encounters with the workers in an interview more than a decade ago. He used 10 to 12 POWS to help harvest his crops, particularly corn. He remembers the men as being industrious and polite. They were not considered dangerous and needed no guards.

``They didn't have any patience with Hitler,'' Whitehurst said. ``They were good workers. They were just as nice as they could be and they were mannerly.''

Whitehurst and other farmers would drive up from Pungo to Camp Ashby every morning to pick up the prisoners and return them to their barracks every afternoon. He remembered the plain wooden POW barracks that were located about 300 yards off the boulevard.

Heischober, too, went over from Fort Story most every morning to pick up six or so prisoners who worked in his unit. Hear him tell about his experiences with Virginia Beach's POW camp at the historical society meeting next week.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

A Close Encounters item in the Oct. 12 Coastal Journal column gave an incorrect e-mail address to contact Sue Bailey about the moonflower plant, moonflower vine and four o'clock seeds she has to give away. It should be bailey2(AT)pop.erols.com

Stephenie and Roy Peterson, who live in Carolanne Farm, have seen a river otter swimming in the Elizabeth River in their neighborhood. I've heard about river otters in Owls Creek and lakes Rudee and Holly. Where else have you seen these playful mammals nearby?

Sandy Hunter has five colonnade apple trees, 8 to 10 feet tall, that she will give to anyone who wants to come and get them. Call her between 6 and 7 p.m. at 497-6484.

When the sun came out on Monday, so did the monarch butterflies. Three and four at a time were flitting through my yard for most of the day and on Tuesday, too. A storm like last weekend's must really cause problems for the monarchs, which winter as far away as Mexico. ILLUSTRATION: File photo by CHARLIE MEADS

City Councilman Harold Heischober will speak to the Princess Anne

County/Virginia Beach Historical Society.

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