German Prisoners on US Homefront-- Part 3

Today, most Americans don't even know of the large numbers of Italian and German prisoners who were kept in prison camps on the US homeland. This is the story of one camp in Oklahoma.

Roland Brashears was too young to go to war, but he did his part by driving German prisoners back and forth from farms where they worked in the fields.

Most times, the moving went with no problems, but there was one time he got scared.

"We normally had about thirty prisoners in our truck and the ones in the middle had to stand up. One afternoon after we had already loaded up, the guard had lost count. He told the interpreter to tell everyone to get out of the truck and he was going to count again.

"Well, all but one got out. He was on the front end and just said, 'Count me as number one.' There were two guards. One on each side of the truck. One guard told the interpreter, 'I said tell him to get out one more time.'

"He nodded his head and flipped his rifle up and loaded at the blink of an eye. When he cocked the gun, the prisoner came out in a hurry. I don't know that he could have shot him, though, due to the Geneva Convention rules.

"I asked him what he would have done if the prisoner would not have gotten out. The guard said, 'Well, I bluffed him and it worked.' I didn't know what was going to happen."

I guess the German was just having a bad day or feeling a bit cantankerous.

A Little-Known Aspect of the War. --Cooter

German Prisonerrs on the US Homefront-- Part 2

Continued from October 13th.

Roland Brashears got together with a reporter from the Grady County (Ok) Express-Star and recounted his memories at the prison camp.

"All this area was fenced off with about eight to ten foot high barbed wire fence to keep the prisoners in. You know, actually they didn't want to escape. It was better than what they had where they came from. Here they got three meals a day, cigarettes and a place to sleep. The guards carried rifles, but because of the Geneva Convention rules they weren't even loaded.

I didn't find out until later that when our boys would go overseas, they would send the POWs back on the troop shops. Since our boys were gone fighting, we needed the POWs to work the farms."

Farmers could come to the camp and make deals for the prisoners. They had to haul the prisoners back and forth to the fields and each truck had an interpreter.

There were escapes occasionally, but they always came back. "Where were they going to go? And, they couldn't speak English."

The Germans would not get intothe trucks if they were dirty, "We would have to take the cattle out at night, clean out the truck and have it ready to go for them to load at 6 a.m.. They carried their own lunchbox. The farmers didn't have to feed them."

More to Come. --Cooter

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

German POW Camps in Wilmington, NC-- Part 2

Margaret Sampson was a student at Williston Primary School near the second camp. She remembers that occasionally the teachers let the students speak to the prisoners behind the fence, "We'd dash across the street and give them candy and gum and talk to them. A lot of times we couldn't understand them, but the gestures were friendly."

When Germany surrendered, there were 552 prisoners in Wilmington. On April 12, 1946, some Germans were sent home and by the end of May, all were gone.

The 8th and Ann site was turned over to the city. Some of the farmers who had the POWs working for them kept in touch.

From "A Sentimental Journey" about wartime Wilmington by Wilbur D. Jones, Jr..

Captured Germans Were Certainly Treated Better Here Than Captured Americans Were in Germany. --DaCoot

German POW Camps in Wilmington, NC-- Part 1

From the My Reporter Column in the Jan. 15th Wilmington Star-News.

Between February 1944 and April 1946, there were three German prisoner of War camps in the Wilmington area.

The first group of 250 Germans arrived February 7, 1944 and were held in a camp at the intersection of Carolina Beach Road and shipyard Boulevard. They had been captured in North Africa in 1943 (probably members of Rommel's Afrika Korps).

By September 1944, the camp had become overcrowded and a second one opened in a four-block area around 8th and Ann streets. During World War I it had been a Marine hospital. By October, this camp was open and all prisoners were transferred there and the first one shut down.

These prisoners were put to work in local sawmills, fertilizer plants and farms. A third group worked in the officer's mess and grounds keeping at the Bluethenthal Army Airbase, now Wilmington International Airport.

Local citizens took Sunday drives out to see the prisoners.

The Life of a German POW in the US. --Cooter

World War II in Wilmington, NC

Again, of all the cities and communities in the United States, I doubt that there is any that is doing more with their World War II heritage than Wilmington, North Carolina. They even have a group that concentrates on it called the Wilmington Homefront Heritage Coalition which recently installed a German POW sign in the lobby of the USO Building located at 10th and Ann streets..

It was painted on the mess hall by German prisoners and originally in the Swift and Co. fertilizer plant across the Cape Fear River on US-421. The plant closed in the early 1970s and was donated to the Coalition earlier this year. When the building was torn down, it was saved.

These Germans were part of Rommel's Afrika Korps and among 550 prisoners interred in and around Wilmington during the war. None tried to escape and they were returned to Germany in 1946.

The Little-known US Homefront. --Cooter

Wilmington, NC, in World War II

Without a doubt, Wilmington is at the forefront of US cities embracing their World War II heritage. Even though no major battles were fought there, there was much action just downriver in the Atlantic Ocean as German U-boats waged war against Allied shipping.

Then, there were all the war-time industries, especially the shipbuilding and nearby Camp Davis. One thing many younger Americans don't know is the existence of many German prisoner of war camps, three of which were in Wilmington.

There is a regular driving tour of World War II sites in the city and environs, and now there is the World War II Wilmington Homefront Heritage Coalition organization that is constantly busy expanding the scope.

And, of course, there is that great old battleship moored opposite the city. What was its name again?

Wish More US Cities Were This Active. --Cooter

Wartime Drama in Bowmanville, Canada

Back on March 7th, I wrote about the demise of the German POW camp in this town. If you had to become a prisoner of war, I guess this is where you would want to be sent. But things were always not wonderful here.

The March 6th Toronto Star also had a sidebar about Thanksgiving weekend 1942 when the Germans seized control of part of the camp when plans to shackle 100 officers were learned. The Canadian government ordered this in retaliation of Hitler's orders to shackle Canadian troops captured in the Allied raid on Dieppe.

Both prisoners and guards battled without firearms. Canadian guards used baseball bats. The three day standoff ended when the Germans were hit by high-pressure water hoses. Dozens were injured on both sides.

One inmate, however, was shot through the stomach by a tower guard after prisoners dragged a Canadian officer into the mess hall. The bullet hole is still there.

Very few German and Axis prisons remain in the US and Canada. It would be a shame to lose this one.

Save That Old Prison. --Da Coot

Bowmanville, Canada German POW Camp

The March 6th Toronto Star had an article by Carola Vyhnak about a World War II German prisoner of war camp about 45 minutes east of Toronto in Bowmanville, which is slated to be destroyed in the next several months after sitting empty for the past year after an Islamic school closed.

The camp consists of 18 buildings on 40 hectares and held top-ranking German prisoners. They were shipped to Canada to get them out of Britain. It is rumored that Adolf Hitler had plans to send a U-Boat down the St. Lawrence River to rescue one high ranking submarine commander.

Even to this day, there is a pile of dirt in the attic of one of the buildings, a remnant of an escape attempt. A 90-metre passage was dug 4.5 metres underground. Excavated dirt was placed in the ceiling until a collapse from the weight alerted guards to the plot.


LUXURY

At its high point, the camp held 880 pows in what can be described as luxury, even five-star. They even had an indoor swimming pool and a theater. Only barbed wire and towers would indicate the true function.

One Luftwaffe pilot wrote, "I am convinced that nowhere in the world did prisoners of war have better housing, better food, better recreation facilities, better educational opportunities, and above all, fairer treatment, than in Canada."

Too bad at least one of the buildings, preferably the one with the dirt in the attic, can't be preserved and turned into a war museum.. Most young people today do not know that enemy soldiers were held prisoner in the US and Canada during the war.

If You Gotta Be a POW, I Vote for These Accommodations. --Cooter

WW II German POW Camp Gets Marker in Wilmington,NC

WECT 6 News September 18th. Wilmington's WW II German POW camp at the corner of 10th and Ann streets had a sign dedication recently. The WW II Wilmington Home Front Heritage Coalition co-sponsored the event.

There were actually three German POW camps in Wilmington from February 1944 to April 1946. This was the location of the main camp, which, at its peak, housed 550 Germans and covered a four block square area. Local businesses and farms employed them.

Another camp was at the corner of Carolina Beach Road and Shipyard Boulevard and there was a satellite camp at Bluethenthal Army Air Base, now ILM, Wilmington's airport.

Wilmington has been doing a lot to portray the war on the home front, including a driving tour of war-related sites.

Keep Up the Good Work. --Old Coot

Wilmington, NC in World War II

The Wilmington, NC, Star News reports that on Tuesday, Feb. 19th, author Wilbur D. Jones, Jr., will give a talk on the impact of WWII on southeastern North Carolina at 7 pm at the Southport Community Building.

Every branch of the armed forces had bases in the Wilmington area:

Army Air Force-- Wilmington Airport (Bluethenthal Field)
Army-- Camp Davis, Fort Fisher
Navy-- Fort Caswell
Coast Guard-- Fort Caswell and Wrightsville Beach
Marine Corps-- Camp Legeune

Also, the Wilmington area housed German POWs.

The Wilmington Shipyard launched 234 cargo ships  (N.C. Shipbuilding Co.)
The Port of Wilmington shipped and received large amounts of war materials.
The population of Wilmington doubled with the influx of military personnel, war workers, and their families.

Wilber D. Jones, Jr, has written 16 books.

Looks like am interesting talk. Wilmington also has a tour you can take of WWII sites.

Too Often, US WWII Sites are Overlooked. --Cooter