World War II was different to the first World War; one there was an attack on Pearl Harbor, the first attack on American soil by a foreign nation, and two the United States held almost a half million German and Italian Prisoners of War starting in 1942. The plan regarding what to do with all of the POWs was still forming as they were being transported to and within the United States and evolved over time. Through all of this the United States War Department made the decision to follow the Geneva Convention as closely as possible though with many incidents of conditions not being up to the Geneva Convention articles. The focus of this paper is on German Prisoners of War due to there being more information and there being significantly more German POWs than any other enemy prisoner of war.