POW camps in American, insider story

GT182 · 02-15-07, 10:29 PM

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 · 02-16-07, 12:07 AM

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 · 02-16-07, 01:24 AM

Quote:

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.

Woof1701 · 02-16-07, 05:45 AM

I never met my maternal grandfather and so I don't know any specifics, which might be a blessing. Only what my mother and grandmother told me. He was a German Army Medic on the Eastern Front near the end of the war, and was captured by the Russians and served as a medic in the POW camp under very bad conditions. Most injured soldiers died already on the way to the camp and were simply left lying next to the street. There was little to no medication and if you got infected or ill you had very poor chance to survive the labor camp. My grandpa was among the "fortunate" to be released after only five years. Many German POWs stayed far longer or never returned.
During the last months of the war many people - among them my grandmother with my one-year-old mother - had to flee their homes in Eastern Prussia, where her family had been living for ages, from the advancing Russians. Luckily my grandfather had managed to arrange for them a place to stay in Garmisch in Southern Bavaria. So my grandmother packed the stuff and her two children and set off on a journey into the unknown. They were lucky to leave in time since the Russian soldiers made little difference whether you were a civilian or a not. Many of her neighbors never made it out of East Prussia. The 1500 km trip took almost two weeks on foot and parts of it by train, where the railway system hadn't been destroyed and they arrived in Garmisch shortly before the war ended and were lucky to be in US-occupied territory.
My grandmother raised her two children in Garmisch alone until my grandfather returned from POW. Apparently he had changed a lot but never lost his kindness until he died in 1970. My grandmother never returned to her home in Eastern Prussia - now in Poland - not even for a visit after the "Iron Curtain" was drawn back in 1990 and visits were possible. Her son - my uncle - however went back for a visit in the mid 1990s and found many places still intact and even several people of Polish ancestry he knew are still living there. No Germans though. They either fled or were killed. My grandmother died in 2004 at the age of 97.

02-15-07, 10:29 PM	#1
GT182 Ocean Warrior Join Date: May 2005 Location: New Castle of Delaware Posts: 3,231 Downloads: 658 Uploads: 0	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. __________________ Gary No Borders, No Language, No Culture =s No Country I'm a Deplorable, and proud of it.

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02-16-07, 12:07 AM	#2
Lannes Seaman Join Date: May 2005 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 38 Downloads: 97 Uploads: 0	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...

02-16-07, 05:45 AM	#4
Woof1701 Commodore Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Munich, Germany, Home of U-96 Posts: 633 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	I never met my maternal grandfather and so I don't know any specifics, which might be a blessing. Only what my mother and grandmother told me. He was a German Army Medic on the Eastern Front near the end of the war, and was captured by the Russians and served as a medic in the POW camp under very bad conditions. Most injured soldiers died already on the way to the camp and were simply left lying next to the street. There was little to no medication and if you got infected or ill you had very poor chance to survive the labor camp. My grandpa was among the "fortunate" to be released after only five years. Many German POWs stayed far longer or never returned. During the last months of the war many people - among them my grandmother with my one-year-old mother - had to flee their homes in Eastern Prussia, where her family had been living for ages, from the advancing Russians. Luckily my grandfather had managed to arrange for them a place to stay in Garmisch in Southern Bavaria. So my grandmother packed the stuff and her two children and set off on a journey into the unknown. They were lucky to leave in time since the Russian soldiers made little difference whether you were a civilian or a not. Many of her neighbors never made it out of East Prussia. The 1500 km trip took almost two weeks on foot and parts of it by train, where the railway system hadn't been destroyed and they arrived in Garmisch shortly before the war ended and were lucky to be in US-occupied territory. My grandmother raised her two children in Garmisch alone until my grandfather returned from POW. Apparently he had changed a lot but never lost his kindness until he died in 1970. My grandmother never returned to her home in Eastern Prussia - now in Poland - not even for a visit after the "Iron Curtain" was drawn back in 1990 and visits were possible. Her son - my uncle - however went back for a visit in the mid 1990s and found many places still intact and even several people of Polish ancestry he knew are still living there. No Germans though. They either fled or were killed. My grandmother died in 2004 at the age of 97.