During World War II, Camp Clark near Nevada in Southwest Missouri was home to 3.000 to 5,000 prisoners of war from Italy and Germany. More than 60 years later, Camp Clark is in the hands of the Missouri National Guard, and the compound is just a memory. Archaeologists are at the camp resurrecting some of those memories. In a methodical approach, they have plotted out areas at the post most likely to hold artifacts from the prisoners, used metal detectors to narrow down where to dig, and have dug out one meter square holes. Some of the artifacts – a small hand-carved wooden dog, flowers planted back then that are now blooming again, and ink bottles for writing back home – seem to indicate that, relatively, the prisoners had good lives at the camp with a fair amount of free time. Plans are to compile the findings of the dig into a report to be given to the National Guard and eventually, the public.
;
