Re: Working to Save POW Cabins

Date: January 03, 2004

"Casper, Wyoming - Saturday, January 03, 2004 

History buffs work to save POW cabins

BRAD ARMSTRONG/AP

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Wooden cottages that once housed German prisoners of war in Arizona will escape demolition because of the efforts of three history buffs.

Robert Melikian, whose family restores historic buildings, is footing the bill for moving three of the five World War II-era cottages from an area just south of downtown Scottsdale.

"My family likes to save history," said Melikian, who wanted to take the cottages but doesn't have the land for them.

One of the cottages went to the home of Phoenix resident Matt Marino, who plans to use it as an art studio for his wife.

Jim Lawrence plans to move three of the cottages to his Scottsdale property. They'll fit right in with his extensive collections of World War II memorabilia and autographs of prominent world figures from that era.

"We don't have a lot around here from that time any more. ... When we get a chance (to save it), we should step up and take it," Lawrence was quoted as saying in Friday's East Valley Tribune.

The cottages are from a POW camp in the Phoenix area that at times housed almost 3,000 German prisoners. When about 25 of them escaped on Christmas Eve 1944, the search for them "was big news around the world at the time," Melikian said.

Evans Rust had maintained the five buildings as rental units for more than 40 years. But he decided earlier this year to lease the commercial site to a small business or a developer.

Last summer, he offered the buildings for free to anyone willing to move them. Demolishing them would have been his only financially feasible option had there been no takers by the end of the year, he said.

Rust said he expects to have a taker for the fifth cottage soon.

They'll no longer be all on one site and at least one will leave Scottsdale, "but they're being saved. I'm glad about that," Rust said.

Melikian, whose family owns the historic Hotel San Carlos in Phoenix, said the cost of moving the cottages is worth it to preserve a fading piece of significant history.

Moving the first cottage cost $5,000, he said. Moving two more will cost up to $10,000.

"People don't realize the important role Arizona played during World War II ... these (cottages) are part of that story," Melikian said.

© 2004 by the Casper Star-Tribune published by Lee Publications, Inc."