POW camps in American, insider story

[emtmedic005]

Well i knew my grandfather was in the US Army during WW2 and that he was a medic but i didnt know what he did. I only found out about 3 months ago, he served in a German POW camp in South Carolina during the war.
He was the camps medic and had two German doctors underhim. He was singled out for this assignment because he spoke German with a Bavarian Dialect and he knew German customs.
He was a Tech Sgt and worked in two camps during the war, both were in South Carolina. At first most of the German POWs were from the Afrika Korp, and were members of the German Army. But around 1944 more and more U-Boat crewmen were being sent to his camp. He often had long converstations with the sailors and quickly made friends with them. He remembers that alot of the younger enlisted men were very into the Nazi party and some were sent to POW camps in the midwest for "de-Nazivication".
I dont know if he still has contacts in germany. But if anyone would like to know more info, i will ask my grandfather when he migrates back to Boston from Florida.

[sunvalleyslim]

good story EMT, When you see your grandfather again, ask him if he remembers any U-Boat stories the POW's told him..........

[AVGWarhawk]

Ask if he remember any specifics of what u-boat crew he watched over as the medical technician. What camp was he station? This in invaluable information.

[emtmedic005]

Well hes in Florida allong with the other oldies, hahaha. But seriously he was stationed in a camp about 30 miles west of Charlestown, SC and then he was transferred to a new POW camp like less then 5 miles for Charlestown, SC.

He did tell me how the U-boat crewmen thought that once they were captured by the US navy they would be shot. His understandings were that the U-Boats crews would rather surreander to Americans then to the British.
He did tell me that he talked to a XO of a u-boat and how the sub's captian wanted to go down with the ship and the rest of the crew. But the crew and the other officers took over control of the u-boat and handcuffed the captain, o how did he say it. hmmm it sounded like this , their u-boat was taking on water like a good irishman takes on whiskey.thats good ole'family rascism (family guy)

[mookiemookie]

U-boat crews in general were treated very well in U.S. POW camps. I remember reading about the ones here in Texas where the guards would eat with the prisoners, earning the Germans respect. They worked, learning farming and butchering, working as a mechanic on the Army base vehicles, leatherworking and such. For the work they were paid coupons worth 80 cents a day and could spend it at a canteen for smokes, toiletries and 3 beers a week.

One good story I remember was that there were something like 250 books in German for the POWs to read at this camp donated by the YMCA. The POWs had so many of their work coupons left over that they put them all together and ended up donating $442.00 to the YMCA for the books and $353.07 to the International Red Cross.

Interesting stuff!

[Morts]

someone should start a thread with war histories (WW2)
told by their grandparents/other
that would be really intresting

[The Munster]

Originally Posted by Morts

someone should start a thread with war histories (WW2)
told by their grandparents/other
that would be really intresting

Then sticky the thread. I think most People on this Forum are hungry for this sort of information.

I have a true account I could contribute from an elderly Gentleman [81] with a sharper brain than mine but it involves a British Submarine and not a U-Boat.

[desertisland]

Just curious. How do you de-Nazify someone?

[Gildor]

I remember my dad telling me about a POW camp in Northern Ontario. The guards would let the germans take rifles out of the camp to go hunting. Conditions were so good that there was usually no fear that they would try to escape. As a matter of fact, in my neighbourhood growing up I can recall some elderly german men that were former POWS in the camp nearby that loved the area so much that after the war they immigrated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...amps_in_Canada

However, this site documents an escape attempt at Camp X. (some audio clips from CBC radio 1981)

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-1642...s_Canada/clip6

[GT182]

I can't remember his name, or the year, but there was a German POW that escaped from a POW camp in Ontario and made it across the St. Lawrence River to Ogdensburg NY. There was also a movie of his adventure on the television back in the 60s. He was lucky as he almost froze to death from the frigid winter temperatures, and getting wet if I remember that correctly.

[Lannes]

The one neat tidbit on German POW's I can add is this-

I was heavily into American Civil War reenacting until a back injury ended that. I was part of a pretty authentic group- real "hardcore" bunch and very focused on presenting the most accurate portrayal we could- Confederate and Union both.

Anyway, a fellow I knew is one of the foremost experts and researchers in the country on Civil War uniforms and he uncovered that apparently there was some sort of clothing shortage in some of the German POW camps in North and South Carolina. Some official in North Carolina discovered that, packed away in an old run down warehouse, there were bundles and bundles of never issued Confederate shell jackets and pants. The uniforms were made of a jean/wool weave and the jackets were what is referred to today as the North Carolina pattern. These were then issued to the German prisoners for their work uniforms...

Any of these jackets today, in just about any condition, would sell for tens of thousands of dollars each...

All told, there are probably less than 100 Confederate shell jackets left in existence today...and thousands were issued to German POW's just 60 years ago...

[August]

Originally Posted by Lannes

All told, there are probably less than 100 Confederate shell jackets left in existence today...and thousands were issued to German POW's just 60 years ago...

Interesting. I read a book awhile back that in WW2 a unit fighting in the pacific requested a shipment of machetes and was sent (by mistake apparently) 1860s issue US calvary sabers. Our boys did the American thing and modified them into a quite serviceable, though fancy looking, brush cutter. I wonder what they'd be worth.

Regarding the German POWS, my maternal grandfather was one of them. According to family lore he was captured by American troops walking home on the Autobahn a few weeks before the end of the war and spent the next two years in a pow camp in Texas. Four years later my mother brought my dad, an American from Indiana, home to meet him. According to Pop the reception was a bit, well.... frosty, at first.

It got even frostier when they took him and my grandmother for a ride in my dads car and it got not one but four flats several miles out of town. The old man bailed out and walked home with my grandmother in tow.

I was so glad I got a chance to spend some time with him when I was stationed there in the late '70s, before he passed away. That man was hard as nails.

[August]

Originally Posted by desertisland

Just curious. How do you de-Nazify someone?

Explode the myth of Aryan superiority?