Goleta's Prisoner of War Camp

By Tom Modugno of Goleta History
We knocked out another video for those history buffs that are too lazy to read ;)
Just kidding, video is a fun medium to share history with. This one's about the POW Camp in western Goleta.
If you’re driving on the 101, just south of El Capitan, look towards the ocean and you may see this old wooden structure. Believe it or not, it is the remains of a water tower from a prisoner of war camp! To learn more local history go to http://goletahistory.com/
19 Comments
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May 26, 2020 01:13 PMQuite a contrast to the Civilian Internment Camp the Japanese incarcerated my family in for 4 years in Indonesia. Killed my civilian grandfather, starved, rape and hard labor for my grandmother and her 3 kids were hunting rats and insects for food.
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May 26, 2020 10:17 AMThank you! - fascinating.
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May 26, 2020 01:23 AMIs it at 34.457121, -119.988659 to the left of 101 just before it goes along the beach approaching El Capitan?
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May 25, 2020 08:35 PMInteresting, that’s very close to where the Japanese landed a bomb. Thanks for sharing.
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May 25, 2020 05:42 PMGreat information !! Thank you so much for sharing.
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May 25, 2020 03:35 PMI've been looking for more information on this forever! Thanks Tom!
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May 25, 2020 02:44 PMThank you so much for posting. I really enjoyed the video. I will pass the link a long to a WWII vet.
He is 99! My Dad was a WWII vet and went to live in Germany after the war. My sister and I were born there.
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May 25, 2020 01:06 PMFine video, what an asset to the locals to be able to learn these things! I once talked with Mom of Mom's Italian Village and she told me she had considered it wrong that the Italians held up in Lompoc were prisoners, they were Italian boys! So she organized locals to drive up and pick groups of them up to come down for a good meal at her restaurant and a dance, for which she recruited local girls in a sort of USO. She said fondly than many of them returned to Santa Barbara after the war, married girls they had flirted with at those dances, and she was able to tell me specific walls around town, especially in Montecito, that were the handicraft of Italian stonemasons. Together with Arnoldi's Cafe next door those restaurants were an important gathering area for local Italians.
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May 25, 2020 11:24 AMThat is a fantastic story. Thank you for sharing, Tom.
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May 25, 2020 10:52 AMThis former POW camp should be registered as a historical landmark. Image that these POW German soldiers were taken to Mom's Italian Village for a meal every once in a while . I sure miss Mom's. Last time I was there it was in the early 90's. My mom and I really enjoyed going there in the 60's when I was a kid. I even remember Mom.
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May 25, 2020 09:14 AMFabulous. Thank you for sharing on edhat!
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May 25, 2020 07:39 AMThis would be a great way to detain gang members and petty crooks without costing the moon and with time served not sitting around idle or working out to develop more threatening physiques. It would offer an opportunity for classes in life skills and language and not be a expensive waste of time all around.
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May 26, 2020 01:10 PMThe ACLU would NEVER allow it...
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May 25, 2020 07:36 AMSuch interesting history in our own back yard. Thank you again, Tom!
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May 24, 2020 11:01 PMMarvelous history! Wow.
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May 24, 2020 07:46 PMSuper WOW.... really interesting video. I hadn't known about that camp, but I was aware of that look-out platform, that you could see, in the hills, before the tunnel near Gaviota.... Not sure if that's still there anymore.
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May 24, 2020 06:31 PMAgree with the first 2 comments. This was outstanding and informative and can you imagine we had They escaped?!
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May 24, 2020 06:26 PMWow. I had no idea. What a great video. Thank you.
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May 24, 2020 02:14 PMGreat video, a must watch!