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remainBy JIM STRADERAssociated Press Writer: LETTERKENNY ARMY DEPOT, Pa,— Near the end of World War II, an elderly Italian soldier, held prisoner far from home, learned that his wife had died and tried to kill himself..As therapy, the American general who commanded the Army base, where the prisoners were kept gave • the suicidal soldier the task of designing and building a chapel. Using ’ stones collected from abandoned farmhouses, the soldier and others began by building a bell tower.The rugged stone tower — inscribed in Latin for . those who fought with military honor for their • country — stands quietly 011 die sprawling Franklin County base, nearly deserted now as a result of recent Pentagon base closings.The tower is among the scattered traces of what was a considerable; prisoner of war presence in Pennsylvania half a century ago.Thousands of the. half-million POWs brought to the United States in the early 1940s came to camps in Pennsylvania, where they often fin-. ished the war working in nearby industries. Some made hospital tents and tank covers, some worked to maintain the camps where they were kept, others packed fruit from ruralorchards.More than 20 camps were established around the state to confine captured German, Italian and, less commonly, Japanese prisoners. Among them were officers of the German navy and Rommel's famed Afrika Korps, as well as enlisted infantry troops.A camp first set up on the Gettysburg battlefield housed prisoners who left the barbed wire behind every day to help harvest and process fruit for local companies, ;Prisoners of war lived on the battlefield for several months, while a more permanent camp was being, built nearby. The temporary camp was adjacent to the Home Sweet Home motel, where the Thomas:campsDetails about some sites of former prisoner of war camps: Locations: More than 20 camps were operated during World War (I in Pennsylvania, including Let-terkenny Army Depot, nearCh ambersbuirg; Fort IndiantownGap; near Lebanon; Carlisle Barracks, Tobyhanna Army Depot, near Scranton; and ah Army air-' field at the present site of Harrisburg International Airport.Some of the other camps were near Gettysburg, Johnstown,Kane, Marienville, Pine Grove Furnace and Sideling Hill. “What’s Left: Most POW camp sites have returned to or been converted to other uses, such as military bases or private camps. A stone bell tower built by prisoners stands at Letterkenny Army Depot in Franklin County, arid a weathered stone marker is at the site of the. Pine Grove Furnace camp, near Route 233 in Michaux State Forest, Cumberland County.For more information: U.S. Army Military History Institute, . Carlisle Barracks, .717-245-3611; Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg, 717-787-4978.family lived.“We were quite, fascipated by the Germans, the youngest was about 13 and the oldest was'about 65,” said Ms. Thomas, who was 13 when the family moved to Gettysburg. “They would ,get their exfercise by walking around the camp, and played soccer constantly.” .'....'VDespite fears in town,that the prisoners were hard-core Nazis, many were conscripted from countries conquered by Germany, she said.- One of. the captives spent his evenings singing opera, a pastime that enchanted Ms. Thomas and her sister,-Jeanne Wilson.A.beautiful voice, Mrs. Wilson said. “If I recall correctly, he was a baritpne.”According to articles in Gettysburg newspapers at the time, several prisoners escaped. Two Germans who broke out of the camp after the end of the war turned for assistance to a woman and her daughter they had met at their jobs in town.“The young woman had more or less met the one prisoner while they were working at the canning factory/’ Ms. Thomas said, “They had slipped notes back and forth and that's how he found out where theylived arid they tried to help them.”The prisoners were capjured with- , in days and authorities charged the young woman, her mother and father With aiding the Germans after the family fed them and took them to ari abandoned house to hide.Camps like the one:at Gettysburg . and another camp 30 miles north at the Carlisle. Barracks, where prisoners worked in a teklile factory making tank covers ahd tents/were common knowledge in the communities. Other POW camps were classified as■ secret ' 1 ;Af Pirie Grove Furnace — between Gettysburg and Carlisle — German . officers were, kept at a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp, deep , in the Woods of what is now a state forest. There/ after being brought under cover; of night, the officers Were interrogated about German military operations.' Some of the interrogations yielded intelligence With life-or-death importance One prisoner explained how Germans were taught to hidesmall pistols inside their canteens when they were about to be captured. .After the war, life resumed at the sites of the POW camps.
Newspaper Details
Indiana Gazette
Indiana, Pennsylvania, US
Sun, Dec 05, 1999
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Gettysburg C.
PA, USA 27 Apr 2021
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