POWs in America

[Marc Chevalier]

... only one POW escaped. He made it about 400 miles, then walked into a bar and proceeded to order a beer - in German.

What do you expect? The poor guy was thirsty!

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

An interesting read is "Hitler's Last Soldier in America" which is the story of Georg Gaertner, who was a German POW who escaped from a camp in New Mexico and was uncaptured for 40 years until he turned himself in. During that time he worked as a ski instructor, tennis pro and coach, as well as working in construction and real estate often playing with a lot of celebrities on the tennis circuit who had no clue he was an escaped POW.

 

[KAT]

What do you expect? The poor guy was thirsty!

he walked the 400 miles and was back in Germany already...so it was okay he spoke Deutsch again

 

[MelissaAnne]

Vladimir - I did use that book for my thesis. Wish I could have read more of it, but the library wanted it back! I did find it in a used bookstore. Unfortunately, I was out of cash that day. But I would like to have it on my reference shelf.

 

[priestyboy]

Some in Oklahoma

My mother-in-law talks about how the guards at the camp near her Sapulpa, OK home would bring the German POWs into town once a month (sometimes more) to go to the local cinema.

Also, outside Gainsville, TX, just NNW of the outlet mall, you can see the fireplaces, chimneys and pillars of the German POW barracks dotting the landscape for a couple of miles.

 

[RAAF]

More in New Hampshire

Camp Stark (Stark, NH) held about 300 German PoWs -- mostly those captured in North Africa.

 

[Phil_in_CS]

one in Hearn Texas...

http://www.texasescapes.com/WorldWarII/Camp-Hearne-Texas-POW-Camp.htm

The camp nearest here...

 

[Twitch]

One of my 1st jobs was at a department store restraunt in St. Louis MO. The German chef was at a camp in Missouri and liked it so well he emigrated and spent the rest of his life there.

 

[Michaelson]

There was a fairly large POW camp at "Camp Butner" in north-central N.C. After the war, this camp was renovated and opened as John Umstead State Hospital (one of NC's four state-operated psychiatric hospital's). John Umstead Hospital is still in operation, but is scheduled to be replaced by a new hospital that will serve the population of JUH in Butner and the old Doretha Dix psychiatric hospital in Raleigh. The new hospital, located in Butner, is scheduled to open sometime in 2007.

There was also a smaller POW camp in the mountains of western NC near the town of Tryon in the Rutherford/Polk county area. I am sure that there were more of these camps across the state, but do not have any information on them.

I remember my Mom speaking of those camps, as she was born and raised in Apex, NC, and the trains for the camps stopped for water in Apex. They allowed the POW's off to stretch sometimes, and she said they were most disciplined and courteous individuals she had ever seen. From what I've heard and read elsewhere, most of the POW's that went to the NC camps were German Navy, and WERE the more disciplined groups that went through to the camps, though that always surprised me that they'd emcamp Navy personnel so close to the Atlantic. [huh]

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Mojave Jack]

We didn't have any POW camps nearby that I know of, but we did have one pretty unique camp. There is a spot not far from here where a group of Japanese-Americans hid out during WWII to avoid the internment camps. The built an entire compound out in the desert in a canyon that is so well-hidden that is is virtually undisturbed today. They built their huts under a few scattered tamerisk or cottonwood trees to hide from the military aircraft that criscrossed this area, and hid for the entire war. No one has owned up to it that I know of, but it is almost certain that they had help from sympathetic neighbors. Life must have been at least as hard in the hideout as it was in the camps, but I suppose the difference between being free and being interred was all the difference.

 

[MelissaAnne]

Fascinating story, Mojave Jack. Wow. Is there any links with more information or possible published articles? I'd love to learn more.

 

[Mojave Jack]

Fascinating story, Mojave Jack. Wow. Is there any links with more information or possible published articles? I'd love to learn more.

There's not a lot, I'm afraid. The local historical society maintains what little there is, and one of the residents was tracked down and interviewed by a local, but there is still only about 3(!) pages that are actually in the files. They are very protective of the site, to help preserve it, and I am just now finding my way into the circle of trust. A classmate in my PhD program is Japanese, and is actually doing her dissertation on the internment camps. The historical society folks are really great, and without them I think the site would have been long lost, so I am trying very hard to conform to their restrictions on the site. The real problem in this area is the OHV traffic. I'm not saying that all the people that ride OHVs are destructive, but there is a segment of that crowd that tends to find places like this and turn them into hangouts, and the historical society is trying their best to prevent the location from leaking out. I'd really like to see the site get put on the National Register, which is about the only way it can really be protected. I don't know of anything similar, short of the hideouts in Europe like Anne Frank's, so it meets Criterion A, right there. There is an entire dissertation in that one site alone, but when you add that into the story of the internment camps, it could really add some dimension.

 

[MrBern]

pow love story

anyone recall the TV movie Summer of MyGerman Soldier starring Kristy McNichol?
http://imdb.com/title/tt0078341/

Jewish teen girl in american south harbors an escappe from a local POW camp.

 

[Story]

​Texas used to be dotted with prisoner-of-war camps in World War II, a temporary home to thousands of Germans and Italians.
Texas had far more prisoners than any other state, mainly because the first batch came from the North Africa campaign, and the Geneva Convention said prisoners should be housed in a climate similar to where they came from. Eventually camps were set up in more German-esque climates like Minnesota and Wisconsin.

5. Not-So-Great Escapes
Most Axis POWs, especially after things started going badly for their side, were content to be a long, long way from the fighting, being treated tolerably well. Others tried to escape. Arnold Krammer, who wrote a book on Texas POW camps, notes that the escapees weren't exactly Steve McQueen and crew:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2011/10/nazi_pow_camps_texas.php

 

[Stearmen]

Don't Fence Me In

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2011/10/nazi_pow_camps_texas.php

At the end of the war, this was the song that the Uboat prisoners in Arizona liked to sing. The hard core NAZIs were not amused! [video=youtube;WLoYFvbR0XY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLoYFvbR0XY[/video]

 

[DNO]

There's a former POW camp just outside Bowmanville, east of Toronto. I've been there a couple of times. The buildings are still there, though now derelict and threatened with development. It's 'Camp 30' and it held U-Boat ace Otto Kretschmer. It was also the site of the 'Battle of Bowmanville'. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bowmanville.

 

[Widebrim]

Camp Roberts in central CA was home to Italian POWs. There is still a rock in front of the camp which is painted with some Italian outfit's coat of arms.

 

[Treetopflyer]

POWs in my home state of MN

http://www.mnlegion.org/paper/html/minnesota_pows.html
I often heard stories about the POW camp in Hollandale, a neighboring town about 10 miles away. Since the area was made up of a lot of German immigrants, they felt right at home.

 

[Renault]

If okay I would like to share several stories with the forum concerning a couple of the camps here in Texas;

First story;

I live maybe six miles as the crow flies from Camp Swift Texas. (Eight miles as the horse flies ).... There was a large POW camp there.

One of my lodge brothers told me this story several years ago. He was visiting family in Germany. One evening they visited a small tavern for drinks. All the locals came out to see the "Texans". One excited older gent asked him;
"Where are you from?"
Answer "East of Austin."
"Where??? "I know east of Austin!!!"
My friend went on; "Elgin."
German Gent; "I know Elgin I was POW at Camp Swift!!!!! (Next question floored him) "Is the Chicken Ranch still at La Grange???"

Apparently the German POW had befriended two of his guards, both Sergeants. On Saturday evening they would come and get him, put him in a GI uniform and the three would drive to La Grange to the Chicken ranch! Yes the same as the "Best little Whorehouse in Texas", Chicken Ranch!!!!!!! He went on to say that the two guards would have him back in plenty of time for roll call Sunday morning!!!!! Said they did this a lot! War is Hell!

#2 Shorter but just a interesting;

One of my close hunting buds was born and raised at Brownwood Texas. Home of the old "Camp Bowie". POW camp there too. He said that several of the kids in the neighboorhood had put together an old cart and they had a donkey that would pull them around. They would venture out to the POW camp. As he explained, the POW's had immense and extremely beautiful vegetable gardens. The POW's would pass them veggies of all kinds thru the wire and they would fill up their cart. He said the cuards could care less. He credits the POWs with keeping them well fed during the war as all the kids dads were overseas!

Renault

 

[Haversack]

Out in Contra Costa County north east of San Francisco is the former Byron Hot Springs Resort. Built in 1913, it was leased by the US Government in 1941 to become a high-value POW interrogation center known as Camp Tracy. Both German and Japanese POWs were questioned there and a great deal of strategic information was gained. Apparently, a good deal of the techniques and philosophy of interrogation that the US used up until the GWOT were developed there.