good book about prisoners of war

One of the odd little byways of the war:

Father Godfrey Diekmann, son of German immigrants to Minn., and the Benedictine
monk who was instrumental in having the Catholic mass spoken in the local
language rather than Latin, and was an advocate of other reforms in the Church,
including allowing priests to marry, had a cousin in the POW camp at Douglas,
Wyo., Geoffrey Diekmann, a bomber crewman shot down during the Italian
campaign. He stayed in the US after the war, for a number of years managing
the Safeway in Douglas. As a kid he had read many of Karl May's books and was
fascinated with the old west. So he was actually quite pleased to find himself
interned there. Without the war, it's unlikely he would ever have emigrated.
But as a result of his personal fortunes of war, he spent most of his life in
the "wild west," an avid antelope hunter, hiker, horseman, animal rights
activist and conservationist, with a passionate interest in all things Indian,
even marrying a Crow woman he met on a trip to the Custer battlefield. He
seemed quite a happy man, reluctant to talk about his wartime experiences
without a little lubricating peach schnapps....and not at all interested in
religion.


Chris Mark

John Keeney wrote:

I've read of German PWs being dropped off around California
during Orange season to pick the fruit of indivual trees in
peoples' yards. Later in the day, the truck would come back for'm,
no guards, no escapes.
I don't know if such low security was common.

Very common around here (western Massachusetts).

German POWs would be trucked to the tobacco, corn and potato fields
to work. They were paid an hourly rate with some of it going to
Uncle Sam for "security". Friends of mine who worked the fields
with them said often the single guard would just head off to a
shady spot and nap for the day.

Everyone ate at the farmer's family table: family, guard and POWs.

I don't think "just any" German POW was allowed this sort of extra
activity. The hard core Nazi types (SS) were generally separated
out from the others.

My father worked at a POW camp in California for a brief time while
waiting for his B-29 to arrive and head out to the Pacific. He said
the hard core types would slash tires and such on vehicles, and were
a nasty bunch. Lots of others were rather old and were allowed to
work as mechanics in the motor pool, or just tend to a garden around
the camp.

There were occassional reunions of POWs and locals from time to time.
Apparently, locally, the Germans were quite well thought of.


SMH

On 30 Jul 2003 16:30:25 GMT, ost (Chris Mark) wrote:

Geoffrey Diekmann, a bomber crewman shot down during the Italian
campaign. He stayed in the US after the war, for a number of years managing
the Safeway in Douglas.

Arizona? Interesting. I got the impression that the U.S. was
meticulous about the Geneva provision of housing PWs in the climate
where they'd been taken. Thus the prisoners taken in North Africa went
to Arizona. Diekmann was shot down in Italy itself? Shucks, he should
have gone to Montana.

Or maybe it was summer and the MPs (whoever) were sweltering in the
heat, so directed him to the southwest.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

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In article ,
"John Keeney" writes:

John Burson wrote in message
...
Thirty POW camps were built in 1942 to house the onslaught of captured
enemy
soldiers. McClellan's POW camp was completed in 1943. By mid-1944,
German
POWs had become a significant part of the labor pool at Fort McClellan.
In
their off hours and in jobs assigned to them on post, POWs created a
substantial legacy at Fort McClellan in masonry and art as well as more
invisible improvements. Two hundred prisoners were detailed daily for
excavation, drainage, and clearing operations on the main post; 170 were
involved with food preparation; and others worked on vehicles on post.
POW
labor is responsible for numerous examples of stonework on Fort McClellan,
including stone walls, chimneys, a patio built behind the old Recreation
Center, drainage ditches, and landscaping. The carved bar at the
Officer's
Club (Remington Hall) and the exceptional murals which dress the club's
wall
are also credited to POWs. The camp at Fort McClellan not only acted as
the
processing center for all prisoners interned in the Alabama camps, but was
the last camp to be deactivated on April

A quick web search turned up a list of major camps at
http://uboat.net/men/pow/pow_in_america_stats.htm
(the list is long and tacked on at the bottom); the site also
has a monthly census of prisoners in the system and list
a peak of over 425,000 prisioners. Japanese never accounting
for as much as 2% of the population after April '43..
Snip - List

Hmm. Missed Camp Stark, NH, up in (Wait for it...) Stark, NH. (North
Country, t'other side of Berlin. The same story there as just about
anywhere else - Not a whole lot of guarding, a lot of interaction with
the local folks, and they participated in the local economy. (Cutting
pulpwood, in this case. Which not only meant small parties scattered
out in the woods, but giving them axes, saws, Peavies, & horses. All
they stuff they'd need to make a break.) Many returned after
repatriation, and many more return every few years or so for reunions.
(Well, not so many as there used to be) Most of the troops were
Afrika Korps, captured in Tunisia. Not a whole lot of similarity of
climate, there. But, then, a lot were Bavarians and Swabians, so it
was pretty home-like to them. As I remember it, the hard cases were
separated out and placed in a special camp in Oklahoma.

As an aside, one must wonder what the POWs must of thought when they
found out that they were going to be held near Berlin, with Paris,
Norway, Poland, Naples, and Mexico a short distance away. (Berlin, of
course, being Berlin, NH, and the other towns are in Maine, just over
the border)

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

the Safeway in Douglas.

Arizona?

Douglas, Wyoming. East of Casper on the North Platte in Converse County. In
the heart of the 1.8-million acre Thunder Basin National Grasslands, home of
the largest pronghorn antelope herds in the world. A fellow fascinated by the
wild west of legend would have thought he had died and gone to heaven to end up
here. Not a damn thing like Italy, however. Diekmann, who also served on the
Russian front, could have been shot down there. That would have been no fun at
all.


Chris Mark

As an aside, one must wonder what the POWs must of thought when they
found out that they were going to be held near Berlin, with Paris,
Norway, Poland, Naples, and Mexico a short distance away. (Berlin, of
course, being Berlin, NH, and the other towns are in Maine, just over
the border)

New Hampshire also has Dublin, Derry, and of course Manchester, Dover,
Portsmouth... I live in Durham. But since the lads at Stark probably
hadn't served in the Luftwaffe, they may not have been familiar with
those names. (We also have New London, but no London.)

Thanks for the story. I'd forgotten about Camp Stark, and I am at a
loss to know how anyone could have mistaken Coos (pronounced co-oss)
County for North Africa. But when you give policy to bureaucrats to
interpret, anything can happen.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at http://www.danford.net/index.htm
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the Safeway in Douglas.

Arizona?

Douglas, Wyoming.

Ah!

Well, if it wasn't for the Stark NH story told by Pete Stickney, my
faith would have been restored in the American interpretation of the
Geneva conventions.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at http://www.danford.net/index.htm
Vietnam | Flying Tigers | Pacific War | Brewster Buffalo | Piper Cub