Milford's forgotten B-17 Training Area (Pre Visit) Part 2 of 2 : Phantom POW Camp?

In my last post I discussed the abandoned airfield up in Milford and how that since it was built in 1942, and the Memphis Belle was delivered to its crew in the same year at Dow AFB, and the Milford site was the only precision bombing range near the Dow AFB (until 1948) -- that it's possible (but unfortunately, unverifiable) that that the Memphis Belle could have touched down in the middle of mud-run country.

Another neat piece of lore surrounding the 70 year old strip of pavement in the middle of nowhere is that the site was used as overflow for Camp Houlton.

Camp Houlton, for those unfamiliar with Maine's military history, was

"...a prisoner-of-war camp for captured German soldiers ...in Houlton with other satellite sites around the region. Many of the prisoners elected to work on local farms planting and harvesting potatoes, working in the woods and in a local food processing plant. Working for about a dollar a day, the same pay as a private in the German army, the POWs worked hard and were appreciated by the local residents."

-The Aroostook Historical and Art Museum

Satellite sites. What strikes me as curious, and why I'm willing to call this site "Milford's Phantom POW camp" is because of the following statement from one Gus LeBlanc

“My uncle John was stationed at Dow AFB (now Bangor International) as a SAC commander.I was also told by my uncle John that the field was used during WW2 to train medium bomber pilots on short field landings & take offs. He also indicated that the site was used briefly towards the end of the war to temporarily house some German POWs due to the camp in Aroostook County being full.”

-Airfields-Freeman.com

Now, the Milford airfield had fallen out of heavy use as time progressed and flying fortresses gave way to much heavier flying superfortresses, it's possible that Mr LeBlanc was correct. Several references are found in local media to an 'overflow' camp in Bangor. Having spent a fair amount of time trying to find any records of a POW camp in Bangor with no results, is it possible that the Milford air strip is the overflow site incorrectly attributed as in 'Bangor?'

It's also possible that I'm completely wrong and that the city has omitted this bit of its history, whether accidentally or intentionally. Bangor is the type of city that, in the past, has been willing to demolish grandeur in favor of "modernization", so it's possible that we'll never know.

It's one of those historical mysteries that, unfortunately, require some word of mouth to solve with any sense of conclusion.