Wednesday, October 13, 2010

German Prisoners on the US Home Front-- Part 1

From the September 15th Grady County (Ok) Express-Star. "Local Man Recalls Driving WWII Prisoners" by Debi Desilver Terry.

Roland Brashears was only 16 during World War II and too young to serve, but he did his part for the war effort by transporting German prisoners from what is now the Grady County Fairgrounds to work in the broomcorn and cotton fields.

Today. many Americans do not know about German POW camps in the United States, bur there were. Oklahoma alone had 34 camps scattered across the state.

Chickasaw had two separate camps. One was located on the south side of Highway 62 at the fairgrounds which opened August 17, 1944 as a branch of the Alva Camp and later a branch of the Fort Reno camp. Between 240-400 Germans were held here before it closed Nov. 16, 1945.

The second camp was located on the west side of Chickasha at the Borden General Hospital and was a branch of Fort Reno. It opened April 16, 1945. Some of the prisoners may have worked at the hospital before the camp opened. It closed after a couple weeks, May 1, 1945.

Taking Care of the Prisoners. --Cooter

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