709th MP BN WW II - POW Detachments 1943 (Page 1 of 2 Pages): Headquarters, 709th MP Battalion, located at Fort Custer, Michigan, 29 May 1944 undergoing Military Police training: Extracts from Battalion Historical Sketch., dated 29 May 1944. The Sketch was declassified per Executive Order 12356, Section 3.3, NND735017 with the initials rb and mb NARA, date 1- 25-95. The 709th Military Police Battalion was tasked in early 1943 to guard German POWs shipped from North Africa to US ports and to escort prisoners from those ports to internment facilities. Entries from the 709th MP BN Historical Sketch included the following entries and dates:** 9 April 1942 - The first entry on this sketch is dated 9 April 1942 which states the 709th MP Battalion (ZI) was Activated at Camp Mantic, Conn. pursuant to GO #22,MPC, dated 2 April 1942.** 19 June 1943.-This Battalion was assigned its first mission overseas. A detachment consisting of 1 officer, Lt William Hennessey and thirty two (32) EM departed for Camp Patrick Henry, VA to await further orders for preparation for overseas shipment. ** 29 July 1943 - The second POW detachment shipped from this org for this type of work oversees, known as POW Detachment #7 consisting of one (1) Officer (1st Lt Arthur L. Hart) and thirty-two (32) EM left for Camp Patrick Henry, VA to await further orders for overseas shipment. ** 14 July 1941 - A POW Escort Guard Detachment (No 2) consisting of there (3) officers and 187 EM departed for Camp Fornow, Willimintin, Conn. under the Command of Captain Robert L. Helvin, for a Port of Debarkation for the purpoe of receiving prisoner of war and transporting them by rail to internment camps within the continental United States. (Source of information was researched from the 709th MP BN historical sketches and historical reports from entries from 1943 and 1944 by Richard W. Burch, retired Military Police Senior NCO and former member of the 709th MP BN). "Securitas Copiarum" (Guardians of the Troops)