The Camp Butner Society has been working to preserve not only the story of the over 40,000 US soldiers who passed through the gates of Camp Butner NC on their way to Europe, but the untold story of the numerous German and Italians who were prisoners of war here.

 

Recently, it was brought to my attention that one of these prisoners decided to make their mark while on a work detail in 1945. A cement and stone culvert was built near some large warehouses (which still stand today) and the wet cement must have been too tempting to leave untouched.

 

Now, almost seventy years later, that unknown soldier's mark is still here. It has survived many North Carolina freezes and thaws, hurricanes and exposure to the elements but we know that someday it will crack and disappear forever.

 

Since this great part of history is so unique, I knew I had to find a way to preserve it forever so I turned to making an exact copy of it. After searching the web for the best material to make molds, I was directed to a company that specializes in mold and cast materials. Luckily they had a distributer in town so I bought some.

 

The copy will be painted to more closely match the actual cement and when finished I will be sure to post a picture here.

 

Mike

 

Here is the current copy

Very interesting "relic". Thank you for posting!

 

Mike

Thats so cool - I gotta get down there and check this place out!!

Very cool. I have the good fortune to go to Camp Butner range now and again for the CMP Eastern Games, etc. Is this site open to the public? Or are any others?

Here's another shot of the original grafitti I took that morning. It was really kinda wierd looking at this, thinking about the German PoW had done this so long ago. Makes me wonder just how many other things like this are hidden around the town.

 

The casting has been dropped off with a friend who has volunteered to do the painting. He is incredibly talented and works as a graphic designer and artist for Red Storm Entertainment, the game company who does the Tom Clancy games (I.e. Ghost Recon) as well as the Assassins Creed game.

 

I told him there is no rush, but I am so excited to see how it turns out.

 

Mike

It has been a long time coming. The original cast I made was not mixed well and never set up completely in a couple spots so painting was not an option. It sat in my garage abandoned for awhile when I was informed by the friend who was going to do the painting it he knew of someone at his work that was casting as a hobby and wanted to re-pour this for us.

 

The replacement was perfect with no issues so it was returned to my friend for painting a few weeks ago. I just picked it up and It is really amazing. After looking at it, it is hard to tell it is just made of resin.

 

I'm glad this amazing piece of history will be preserved long after the original disappears.

 

Mike

looks nice! That's a great way to preserve history.