A Woman’s Family and Camp Butner: Tragedy on the WWII Home Front
By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina
What would you do if your family was forced from their land, losing the only life and livelihood they knew, during a national crisis? In the United States, we do not have as much experience with this compared with countries in Europe, Asia, South America, or Africa. In times of war, the federal government uses its power of eminent domain to acquire land for national defense purposes, such as the construction of military installations. During World War II, North Carolina saw the greatest expansion of military installations in its history, with the state having more fighting men trained here than in any other state. A great state of patriotism swept the state in the war, and many locals benefited from having the installations constructed — such as local restaurants or movie theaters getting service individuals’ money at a time when many local men and women were out of the area serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
However, not everyone benefited from the new bases. This was especially true with the construction of Camp Butner in 1942. Located on approximately 40,000 acres (or 63 square miles) in Granville, Person, and Durham Counties, Camp Butner was a combat infantry facility and site of training exercises for an estimated 30,000 soldiers. It would also house a large number of Italian and German prisoners of war. The camp opened on August 4, 1942. Camp Butner had had 1,800 buildings, 65 miles of paved streets, 111 miles of water and sewer mains, a water and filtration plant, and a sewer and disposal plant, all constructed in the span of four and a half months. Base civilian construction contractor Hal S. Crain of Durham, N.C., noted that at the height of construction of the base, the construction crews were completing one building every 15 minutes.
The rate of construction meant also that the land had to be acquired quickly, which displaced for years many families who farmed the area later to be covered by the camp. One of these was the family of Annie Lou Walker Andrews. Her parents were Roy and Viola Walker, who had a tobacco farm where the present-day Federal Correctional Complex, Butner, is in the town of Butner, N.C. (which covers part of Durham and Granville Counties). The federal government’s taking over of her family’s land drastically changed her family’s course, and took a terribly mental and physical toll on them.
Annie Walker was living in Durham when the government took over the land. What is interesting is that she would volunteer with the Durham USO, which took a number of the women to dance with the soldiers at Camp Butner around the very site of her parents’ former property. Below is a link to a short oral history interview conducted with Annie Andrews about her and her family’s experience with the construction of Camp Butner.
Annie Andrews would end up working in the 1950s as a clerk for the American Tobacco Company in Durham, and later became the second woman to work in a supervisory role at American Tobacco Company. Her story is an important reminder about the impact of war on the home front and the very citizens the government is trying to protect.
Resources
“Co-Ops Hear Hal S. Crain,” Durham Sun, January 21, 1947.
“Camp Butner” historical marker, G-105, North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program, text viewed on http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=G-105.
WUNC interview with Annie L. Andrews, 2014, https://www.wunc.org/post/listen-now-92-she-worked-american-tobacco-when-it-still-made-cigarettes
