The Black Horse Pub

Ruins of Checkendon Polish Resettlement Camp WW2

The few remains of this once bustling camp are shown in the video. The camp which had been an American base during the war was acquired for displaced Polish families in 1948. There was a church , meeting hall and school. The camp closed in 1961. My video shows 4 remaining nissen huts, the brick mortuary and an unknow brick structure. The nearby Black Horse Pub is still owned by the same family that served first US GIs and later Polish Settlers. There seem to be other nissen huts in the farm yard behind the pub.

Sorry: The video is shaky maining because the bracken kept tripping me up.

more info at

Many locals have memories of the camp in particular going to see films being shown in the camp 'cinema'. There also marriages. It seems harder to find information on the US occupation of the camp. Those GI's who 'mysteriously' disappeared in the early June 1944 never to return.

Many of the Poles settled here had been banished to Siberia by Stalin, rescued by Churchill who persuaded the Russian Leader that they would be very useful for the war effort.