POWs in the United States
May 19, 2008 – 6:00 amNot long ago, an acquaintance sent me an article concerning German POWs who spent their summers in York County, Pennsylvania working in the fields and in the canneries dotting the southern part of the county. During the winter months they were stationed at Fort Indiantown Gap, now the site of one of our national military cemeteries. Actually, my brother is buried there.
My husband’s first assignment after being inducted into the Army was in food services at Fort Indiantown Gap. He told me long ago that he recalled the German POWs coming into the dining area to eat. I think he even received a military patch from one of them.
And, more recently, a friend told me about his father’s visits to Indiantown Gap. His dad was Pennsylvania Dutch and possessed some knowledge of the German language. He was pastor at a church in Lebanon, not too far from Indiantown Gap. He would regularly visit the fort to chat with the POWs and to offer services when requested.
Over the years, I have heard about POW camps and I even attended a conference at one myself. It was a YM/YWCA conference in 1948 at Camp Michaux somewhere near Carlisle. We were told that it once was a POW camp. From the Internet I learned that early in 1945, a former Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, located in the Micheaux State Park between Chambersburg and Carlisle, was enclosed in a stockade and newly captured German prisoners of war were transported to the camp. All of the prisoners were brought to the camp after dark on blacked-out trains to maintain the secrecy of the camp’s location
These POW camps dotted the eastern part of the country and were scattered throughout the country. It is estimated that when the war was over, there were 425,000 enemy prisoners in 511 main and branch camps throughout the United States.
The next blog will feature the camp at Stewartstown in York County.
Please share any POW stories you may have by going to the Comment section or emailing me at margaretgeorge@verizon.net.
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