News-Info-Alerts

Re: WW II POW Camp

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: July 25, 2002

"Don't bury history surrounding former WW II prisoner camp
By Guinn Sweet

A few years ago, Mary Crieghton undertook the task of providing information to the state historical people, sufficient to obtaining a historical marker for the old Camp/Fort Wolters installation.
This effort was rewarded by giving recognition to Mineral Wells' bit of army/Texas history with the desired marker.
In doing her research for the application, she found an old copy of the Mineral Wells Index, from probably the late '60s or early '70s, which detailed a bit about the POW camp under the headline of "WWII Prison Camp Now Buried In Local History." According to the article, "Between early 1943 and September, 1945, when WWII ended, the lives of the POWs read more like a summer camp for Boy Scouts as opposed to a Stalag 17 or an Auschwitz."

Excerpts from that article tell about the good treatment given to the prisoners, saying that there was little or no animosity between the townsfolk of Mineral Wells and the prisoners. Some of the prisoners spoke English, many did not. It was not against the law to talk to the prisoners through the fence and this was an often-used means of communicating with them. The good treatment afforded the Germans extended beyond good food and adequate shelter. They were provided radios, magazines, newspapers as means for keeping up with world events, and especially the war going on between their country and the U.S.

The story is related in the newspaper article that a civilian liaison officer, Allen Wallace, lived "just 50 yards or so east of the compound." According to Wallace, "They (prisoners) worked in my yard some and my mother-in-law, who lived with us at the time, often fixed them lemonade or iced tea. One day she told them she couldn't offer them anything to drink because she didn't have any sugar." (Remember, young people, in those war years sugar was on the "ration list" and was unavailable after all the ration stamps were spent.) "Hearing this, one of the POWs promptly went over to the compound and returned with a whole sack," Wallace related.

An interesting fact was unearthed only after the prisoners were sent back home. As the quarters were being cleaned, in the attic of one of the buildings, the cleaners found an elaborate still for making whiskey, which was not dismantled prior to evacuation of the Germans. (Aside: maybe that's what they did with the sugar they had).

In Ms. Creighton's narrative, she mentioned that the POWs assigned to Camp Wolters were of a non-violent and non-militant nature. There were in residence here about 250-300 German prisoners assigned to the Mineral Wells camp. She also mentioned that she had found information regarding the deaths of three men who had died from natural causes it is thought, who were buried near the compound, and whose bodies were later exhumed and returned to their homeland when the prisoners were released following Germany's surrender.

The final paragraph of the old newspaper report stated: "Eventually, even these remnants which are now mostly obscured by tall weeds and mesquite will be uprooted and hauled away for landfill, and in time, the only evidence that the POW camp ever existed will be buried away somewhere in the U.S. center of military records in Washington, D.C."

What a sad commentary on our society today. We have become a toss-aside, throw-away people. We destroy our history when it is no longer esthetically satisfying, not state-of-the-art condition or is no long in architectural style, thereby obscuring a little bit of history by doing so. It would be a shame if the people of Mineral Wells allowed this to become a true statement. It is almost there now, with only one building remaining. I propose that some of our civic organizations (Lions, Rotarians, Historical Society, etc.) look into public acquisition of the site and take on the task of restoration of that one building to preserve it for our young. What a great lesson could be taught to a High School history class while at the site of a former POW camp, just outside the school building. I dare say, that era would become more real as a result of that lesson.

I do not propose that this bit of lore be elevated above its true value, but perhaps we have been offered a second chance, while there is still a remnant extant, to prevent what the newspaper suggested so many years ago.

We can prevent the uprooting and the hauling away for landfill the evidence that the POW camp ever existed. I will help. Just call.

©Mineral Wells Index 2002 "