![]() ![]() Rita of Cascia' with his first and last names-enough of a clue to learn a lot more about him. Enzo’s story also illustrates how events and experiences that seem so far away have impacted the Cowboy State, reminding us of how local histories are so often tied up with larger, global events.Įnzo Tarquinio signed his paintings 'Venetian scene,' left, and 'St. Understanding the life history of one of the Camp Douglas POW-muralists helps us make sense of how the officers’ club decorative murals came to exist and gives deeper meaning to the preservation and restoration work that has been and continues to be done in Douglas. While no Japanese POWs were detained in Wyoming, the state did hold as many as 10,000 Japanese Americans at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center between Cody and Powell, Wyo., through the duration of the war. ![]() By early 1946 all remaining POWs were repatriated and the camp closed. ![]() The Italians were gone by late spring 1944 Germans began arriving that summer, after the Allied invasion of Normandy. army personnel at different times nearly 2,000 Italians and 3,000 Germans were detained. The camp could house at least 3,000 prisoners and 500 U.S. Camp Douglas, about a mile square, was built just east of the town of Douglas in late spring of 1943 and received its first POWs in August of that year. Warren, as well as over a dozen branch camps where men were sent to work. Along with the aid of other research, I have pieced together a brief history of one of the muralists at Camp Douglas.ĭuring World War II, Wyoming housed German and Italian prisoners of war (POWs) in two main base camps, Camp Douglas and Fort Francis E. His words, with my translations, are quoted throughout this essay. 21 and 29, 2020, I spoke by telephone with 95-year-old Sergio. With a first and last name I was able to locate members of the Tarquinio family in Italy, including Enzo Tarquinio’s younger brother, Sergio Tarquinio, and a nephew, Marco Tarquinio. Tom Rea photo.Īmong the material in the museum’s archive are two small paintings, one seemingly of Venice, signed “Enzo Tarquinio, 1943, S.U.A” (S.U.A., the Italian acronym for U.S.A., Stati Uniti d’America), the other of Saint Rita of Cascia, signed “.1943.” And there it is: a full name, Enzo Tarquinio. The World War II murals at the officers’ club at Camp Douglas, Wyo., bear signatures of three artists-but only with their first initials, no first names. Today the Camp Douglas Officers’ Club State Historic Site is under the care of the nearby Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum in Douglas, which also holds a collection of artifacts from the camp. The club was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. Very little is known about the murals and until now the identities of the artists have never been uncovered. These are the three signatures on 10 panels out of 17 murals at the former officers’ club of the World War II prisoner of war camp in Douglas, Wyo. ![]()
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