Before it was Arnold AF Base, it was Camp Peay, later named
Camp Forrest. It was one of the Army's largest training bases during World War II. It was an active Army post between 1941 and 1946. It officially became a
prisoner of war camp May 12, 1942. The camp housed Italian and German POWs. Prisoners became laborers at Camp Forrest in the hospitals and on farms in the local community. Some of the prisoners worked on the farm where we live. They liked it because Hubby’s grandparents were Germans and they loved his grandmother’s German cooking. :-)
In the second link, there are a few images of the camp. The second one shows the hutments the prisoners lived in. One of those hutments is on the farm now, just behind the house. When Camp Forrest closed, they sold many of the buildings to whoever wanted them and my F-I-L bought the hutment and two other buildings.
