By HAL BERNTON, Seattle Times
WWII German POW returns to say Thanks – Intermission Story (27)
SEATTLE (AP) — Gunter Grawe spent three years as a German prisoner of war in western Washington, a World War II incarceration he recalls not with rancor, but gratitude for the chance to “live and learn in America.” Grawe always thought about returning to the state to say thank you.
In early October, the rail-thin veteran, now 91, did just that during a brief visit to this base, where guard towers and barbed-wire fences are long gone but some of the two-story wooden barracks that once housed German prisoners still stand.
He declared his capture by the Americans at the age of 18 “his luckiest day,” and reminisced about camp life that included English, French and Spanish classes organized by other POWs and a commissary stocked with chocolate, ice cream and Coca-Cola.
“I never had anything to complain about,” Grawe said. “No guard called us nasty names. I had a better life as a prisoner than my mother and sister back home in Germany.”
In a global conflict that resulted in the deaths of more than 60?million people — including 6?million Jewish Holocaust victims — Grawe was indeed fortunate to live to an old age denied so many others. Grawe was filled with patriotism as he went to serve in the German army but now denounces Adolf Hitler as “one arrogant, hypocritical dammed liar” who led his nation into disaster and shame.
Grawe’s trip to Joint Base Lewis-McChord was arranged with the help of HistoryLink.org, a Seattle-based online encyclopedia that chronicles the state’s past. “We have a list of those who were pro-Nazi, and he was not on it,” said Duane Denfield, a historian who works as a JBLM contractor.
Grawe’s military career started in Latvia, where he went through training for what appeared to be an assignment to the Eastern Front to fight a resurgent Russian army. If Josef Stalin’s forces had captured him, he likely would have been sent to a labor camp, where harsh conditions killed many.
But then Allied forces invaded France, and the Germans scrambled to try to slow their advance toward Paris with fresh reinforcements. Grawe was transferred to Normandy, where he served in a tank unit that was quickly overwhelmed by the U.S. and British armies.
“It was a terrible fight in Normandy — it wasn’t what we expected, and we were young and inexperienced,” Grawe said.
Grawe said he realized how well things had turned out as he was put on the ocean liner Queen Mary for the voyage to America. He had comfortable quarters and most important — ample meals — served on metal trays. Next, he took a train ride across America to what was then Fort Lewis. At the Army post south of Tacoma, barracks vacated by U.S. troops were turned into prison quarters for some 4,000 German POWs at five locations.
Fort Lewis (now part of the joint base) was part of a much broader POW prison-camp network of some 500 sites across the country that held 400,000 Germans. Overall, historians say these prisoners were treated well. Some Germans even referred to their camp as a “golden cage,” according to Michael Farquhar, who wrote a 1997 article about the POWs for The Washington Post.
Grawe traveled by truck from Fort Lewis to help in apple, sugar-beet and potato harvests. Later, he was transferred to Arizona to bring in cotton. He recalled his farm labor as a real adventure that earned him an 80-cents-a-day salary to buy things at the commissary.
Through his years as a prisoner, Grawe says he came to love America.
But his first loyalties were to Germany. As a boy, he participated in Hitler Youth. He joined the army as what he calls a “young idealistic soldier” who thought it “right to fight for an honest and upright fatherland” just like his father, a plumber turned soldier who died in the war in 1940.
Grawe says he first learned of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps while a prisoner in America. He initially brushed off the news as propaganda because it was conveyed by a U.S. officer. When he wrote home to his mother and sister, they replied it was true.
In 1947, two years after Germany’s unconditional surrender, Grawe was released. In the postwar era, as the German economy surged, Grawe prospered. Through the decades, he returned to the U.S. several times to vacation. But only after his wife died in 2016 did he make up his mind to return to Washington state.
On Oct. 3, a brilliant fall day, Grawe arrived at JBLM. He brought his electric bike, determined to ride the final distance — a little over a mile — to the old camp site. On each side of his bike’s rear wheel hung a sign: “USA, the country and its people, you are my first and final love!”
At the blacktop by the barracks, he looked around somewhat uncertainly. He recalled a barren site. This place was full of fir trees that had grown up in the seven decades since the prisoners had gone home.
He was greeted by the base’s deputy joint commander, Col. William Percival, who offered a handshake, and later a hug inside a building now empty and bare of furniture.
He piled his plate full of a noodle casserole, and sat down to eat one more ample meal served up by the U.S. Army. This time, as a free man.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – by: Bill Mauldin
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Farewell Salutes –
Michael Aiello – St. Louis, MO; US Army, WWII, SSgt., KIA
Robert Blakeley – Jacksonville, FL; USMC
Vincent Burns – Athol, MA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
Richard Cavazos – San Antonio, TX; US Army, Vietnam, BGeneral
Walter Hackenberg – Middleburg, PA; US Army, Korea, POW, KIA
Duane Hackney – Flint, MI; US Air Force, Vietnam, (most decorated airman in U.S. history)
Charlie Laine – Broad Channel, NY; US Navy, WWII
David McElroy – Brookline, MA; US Coast Guard, WWII, Yeoman
William Parham – Bedford, IN; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Jacob Sims – OK & Juneau, AK; US Army, Afghanistan, Chief Warrant Officer, KIA
#####################################################################################
Posted on November 6, 2017, in Current News, Home Front, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged 1940's, ETO, German POW, History, Military, Military History, veterans, Washingtom State, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 176 Comments.
What a wonderful story. God bless America.
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Thank you for having uch sentiments, Chris!
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This is a great story, GP! Thank you for sharing all sides and perspectives of war with readers. And this one had a happy ending! 🙂
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It is great to find ones that have a happy ending! A much needed break from constant miseries of war.
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Among the horrors a tale of redemption. Most of them were just human. LIke us.
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And that is exactly why I include stories from ‘the other side.’ Thank you for seeing that.
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Nice to hear that the US made such a good impression on this prisoner. I liked Percival’s quote: “How you treat somebody defines who we are.”
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That quote has been noticed by many here. Not only the former POW, but our modern officer has made an impact here!
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Looks like he was better off than what I was living in England on very strict rationing. during the war
Chocolate was unheard of for us, we received 2 oz per month sweet(candy?) allowance, which gave us a couple of packets of Wrigleys chewing gum, not the sticks that the GI’s had but sugar coated things 4 or 5 in a small packet.
We would make this last a month by taking it out sticking it on the bedheadt over night.
This believe it or not was recommended by the “Radio Doctor” who advised parents to do this for their children to keep their jaws working properly. We had very little meat we did get plety of fish though.
I can’t remember ever eating butter until I came to Australia in1951
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My mother used to tell me about the “oleo” they had in a plastic bag with a yellow capsule. You squished the bag to make the stuff look like butter. My dad said he felt sorry for the civilians back home, because the soldiers had so much real butter, they used it to grease their equipment. I suppose one hand didn’t know what the other was doing.
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You hit that right on GP. Well it’s over now some of us learnt from it; sadly there are still those who know nothing of the horrors and just think it’s a man thing to go out killing ‘lesser ‘ mortals. 😦
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Thanks for another great story- it is always nice to hear a positive one 🙂 I’ve been to JBLM but had never heard much of the history or about housing POWs- interesting!
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I am very glad you found it interesting, Anne. There are millions of stories out there, we’ve lost most of them, but we can try to have a taste of all sides.
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In war, only “brutality” is conspicuous.
We ordinary citizens, originally, not hate each other.
Strategy of Crazy top or Crafty moneymaking, citizens are thrown into the battlefield.
We have ” human mind”, so we want to value such nice these stories.
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Exactly, Nasuko. These kind of stories are called ‘human interest stories’ because it tells how the ‘common person’ feels. Thank you for taking the time to read this story.
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Wonderful story, G. And it reminds me that our nation can be great. –Curt
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Thank You, Curt !! Great comment!!
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It’s a lovely story and I appreciate his gratitude, but don’t quite understand how the prisoners were fed so well when the US was issuing ration cards for food.
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Perhaps for them, what the ordinary person in the US ate really was terrific for the prisoners. Latvia wasn’t the richest country and the Germans didn’t have as much as we did. Then of course you have politics involved….
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Nice recounting.
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He does a good job, agreed.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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I greatly appreciate you sharing this story.
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Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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Thank you very much, John!
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You are welcome so much.
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EVERY BODY should read this.
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Thank you, Colleen, I agree. It shows that the USA isn’t without feelings and ethics.
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Amen.
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Wonderful. Love Perceval’s words, too.
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Perceval has made as big a hit here as the POW. It shows people the USA isn’t all bad, eh?!
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“Wow” is the only word Of I can think of to say about your post.
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The USA isn’t all bad, eh? We actually do some things right.
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Amen
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91 jaar is niet niets en mooi dat hij na al die tijd nog dankbaar is
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I thought so and it seemed good to have a nice post here in the middle of such a horrendous war.
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Interesting, GP. Thanks. Does this mean you are up and running again?
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So far so good, John. “Knock on wood” everything will stay that way!!
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Excellent. I have a piece of pine here. (and now a bruised knuckle)
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Funny guy you are! lol
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Ha ha ha. Thanks, GP.
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With your focus on international understanding and reconciliation your post on a German POW has been another heart-warming account of how human beings should be treated. I also had a relative back in Germany, who reported fair treatment as a POW in an American camp. Thank you for another great post, GP!
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My pleasure, Peter. Actually, I’ve been waiting to hear your response to this post, so thank you.
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A young man caught in the middle of a world gone mad. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to see America for what it is and can be. In return, he has indeed shown how grateful one can be for having been given that chance. That’s why this country is a symbol of hope.
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Very true – just wish more of today’s generation could see that!
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Hopefully, this generation won’t have to undergo the same kind of anguish before it comes to realize that humanity is only granted by extending it.
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Sometimes I have my doubts as to what will happen in the future after I’m gone. They had better wake up fast!
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Couldn’t agree with you more, GP.
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Another great article! What that must have been like for Grawe after all those years! I’m also going to give a shout-out to the Bill Mauldin cartoons. I have some of his books 🙂
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Aren’t they great?!! He spoke for the soldier on the ground and not the officers – that’s for sure, haha.
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Definitely! 🙂
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The same thing as at Camp Concordia also happened in England where the more fanatical Nazis killed a nice prisoner because he wouldn’t join in with their plans for an uprising. Herr Grawe shows us all the way forward though. Peace on earth and goodwill to all men.
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A great message, even today! Thank you, John.
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Thanks for sharing this sweet story. Aww, the last two sentences 🙏🏽.
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So glad you liked it Persia. Thank you for coming by to let me know. Wish I had more time to comment on some of Maximus posts! 🙂
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Pleasure. Please do not worry about not being able to comment more; life gets busy, and I too, an unable to comment as much as I would like. I’m just glad you stop by to have a read. Thank you. Your likes are very much appreciated. 🙌🏾
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My pleasure.
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What fine account. Outstanding post, GP.
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Thank you very much, Cindy. I appreciate your visit!!
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As always them cartoons nail it better than entire books~!
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Mauldin said what the men were thinking and feeling, that’s for sure!
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Just a wonderful story.
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I appreciate you stopping by to read it, Terry, very much so.
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Always a pleasure to read these interesting stories.
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I’m glad to hear that, Terry. I try to put in items of interest for a wide audience, so if you think of something you’d care to see – don’t hesitate to suggest it.
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There’s a book about German POW’s, that ended up in Camp Concordia in Kansas. It was an interesting read. It wasn’t all violins and roses, either. There was an uprising of prisoners, that were still loyal Nazis. They killed one of their own fellow Germans, they felt was too chummy with his American captors.
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Ah yes, all true, Adam. The guards were unable to tell who were true Nazi and who weren’t. But it was nice to have this pleasant story for a change.
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Hello! Thank you for this fascinating article. It shows multiple facets that can be easily overlooked–the young German soldier had no idea there were such horrors as concentration camps. And what Maria Holm said, as well.
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So true. And Maria Holm is such a nice person! I enjoy her posts and those of her husband very much. They both help care for the Allied soldiers’ graves that are buried there too.
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I will check out her pages. Thank you!
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Definitely my pleasure!
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Hat’s off!! Lovely article GP.
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Thank you very much, Hollie!!
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my pleasure GP.
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Thanks for that very interesting and enlightening article.
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My pleasure, Pit. It’s good to have a nice article now and then, eh?!
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It sure is.
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Heart-warming article. I am proud of America for being so visionary despite current conditions.
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Agreed, Jacqui. Thank you for reading this.
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Sweet story but one that made me wince at times. Although I am proud that our country treated its prisoners so well, I can’t help but feel pained, thinking of this man taking French lessons and eating well and having a good time while his fellow Nazis were torturing and massacring people in concentration camps. That he now sees that Hitler was arrogant and a liar is not enough. I don’t sense any real remorse for what his country did, only regret that they elected an arrogant liar. Hitler was far more than that—he was a totally evil man, probably the most Satanic human being who ever walked the earth.
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I can understand your feelings on his words. Being as Germany lost WWI, Hitler capitalized on the lost feelings of the people and had to locate one common enemy for them to rally behind him. It works on the same principle as ‘mob mentality’. For FDR to help his friend Churchill and cover up the exorbitant amount of Lend Lease he had sent without permission, FDR had to create a situation for the majority of people to give up isolationism and rally ’round him. It worked in both cases. Very sad indeed, actually, no words to describe.
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I understand how Hitler managed to get support in post-WWI Germany, but this man was talking many years later when the worst he could say about Hitler was that he was an arrogant liar. That, to me, was the least of Hitler’s sins. And I don’t think we can in any way equate FDR to Hitler, can we?
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I apologize for not explaining myself properly, Amy. I was equating the political method of getting support from the people, not comparing the 2 people. I agree, It would be very difficult to find another evil example to equal Hitler, unless we talk about Stalin who killed far more Jews.
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Thanks, GP, for your patience in responding to my questions.
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I understand why you’d get upset and it was my fault for being in such a rush to catch up around here and reply to everyone – I’d never wish to hurt you.
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Oh, of course—you didn’t! Just was expressing my own honest reaction to the man in your post, not at all to you.
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Too many people today like to make off-the-cuff comparisons of some in the U.S. to Nazis or other such evil characters, and while we certainly do have our idiots like Skinheads, BLM and Antifa thugs, there is no real comparison. Stories such as this just go to show how often Americans really are the good guys in some pretty horrible situations. Thanks for sharing.
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My pleasure! I agree with your every word!
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Love the Bill Mauldin cartoons. As a child during WW II, the daily cartoon was the first thing I looked for in the newspaper.
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I wonder how many of those have been digitalized and archived. I can locate past Australian newspapers easier than I can find ours.
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Gunter’s capture by the Americans was indeed his luckiest day. Living as a POW in better conditions than many of his family at home is something sobering to consider. The fact that he was a Latvian serving in the German Army would undoubtedly have resulted in his execution, if he had been captured by the Soviets.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I did not realize he would have come to such ends just because he was Latvian. It makes his remarks so much more poignant.
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Latvian soldiers in the German army did not have a good reputation, as I recall. The country had been occupied by the Soviets since 1940, and was considered to be part of the USSR. Soldiers from the Baltic Countries served disproportionately in the Waffen SS, and as concentration camp guards too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvian_Legion
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Whoa, live and learn! You can see why I just concentrate on one half of the war – to cover the entire war would take someone much smarter than I. The link is much appreciated, Pete.
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Thanks, GP. You can’t be expected to do it all, my friend! 🙂
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I do know my limitations.
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Interesting, heart-warming story.
I live a couple of small towns away from a base that was used as a German internment camp.
Different family members that have lived in and around the area have told fascinating stories (unfortunately, I was too young to understand or realize the significance of the stories, and most of the family members have long passed away.)
You can still see where the fences, topped with barb wire, line the road, rusting and grown into the tree lines. A stark reminder of a very different era.
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You would think someone would put a sign denoting the area as a historical site. Firelands’ father was near to a camp and I located the sign on Wiki for Camp Douglas.
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You would, wouldn’t you? However, the only way I knew was from the stories I was told of all the Germans lining the fence waving as the people went by.
Not that it is an excuse, but during BRAC, the post was deactivated and now only a small NG group is there. (Possible a small MP unit, too, I think.)
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Thanks for the info.
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You are welcome!
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How nice to see you “back”! And what a touching story you’ve brought. It’s a reminder that we never can predict the consequences of our actions, and that even the smallest gestures of kindness can reap great rewards. Not only that, who wouldn’t be taken with that photo of Mr. Grawe with his bicycle? When I saw it, I thought, “I want to be him at that age!”
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It’s good to be back!! Glad you enjoyed the article, Linda! I agree with you – I’d love to be able to ride my bike at that age!!
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Better picking cotton than being picked off in a tank! A lovely story and how true those words of Col. William Percival.
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I’m sure the POW’s were much happier that way. Thank you for taking the time to read this article, Helen, much appreciated.
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A great story! My dad grew up on a ranch near Wheatland, Wyoming, and he told me that there was a German POW camp nearby. He would go there sometimes and talk with the prisoners through the wire. He was surprised to learn that they were ordinary people just like him. He also said that security was very lax – after all, where could they go if they escaped.
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I presume you’re talking about Camp Douglas? If I’m not mistaken, they also housed Italians. Thank you for adding your father’s story and glad you found this article interesting!
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Yes, it was Camp Douglas. Thanks for jogging my memory.
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No problem. I was trying to make sure myself – so thanks right back atcha! 🙂
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This was a pleasure to read.
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Great to have a pleasant story of the war now and again, eh?!!
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It really is.
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Your blog has been my daily ‘go-to’ in filling the huge knowledge void re: the PTO – your recent posts on the Burma fighting especially (my father was a Polish POW of the Germans for the War’s duration).
Q: I always assumed that your ‘farewell salute’ section was for veterans who recently passed.
I wanted to learn more about Air Force Sgt Duane Hackney, as ‘most decorated’.
His Wiki indicated he died in ’93 – glad you listed him in any case so his heroism could be shared. Are entries in your regular listings not limited to recent Veteran deaths?
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The Farewell Salutes are for any member of the military (on the Allied side). I knew I did not have Sgt. Hackney listed prior to this and wished to correct my oversight. You will also see soldiers who were KIA during WWII, Korea and Vietnam, that probably means their remains were located and identified and were finally coming home for burial. I thank you for making Pacific Paratrooper your ‘go-to’ spot for the PTO!!
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Of interest to me is why 400,000 were shipped across the Atlantic to be held by USA mainland and who initiated that? And then there is the consternation and anecdotes that they were treated better than the USA’s own black soldiers.
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They were shipped here because the UK asked us to. We weren’t prepared for such a scenario, but the UK was having a housing shortage. As for our own black soldiers, Carl, I couldn’t say. It was a different world back then or the Germans had a Geneva Convention agreement protecting them? I don’t know.
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Great article GP, good to hear these stories.
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Yes, it is nice to find a pleasant story now and again.
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Reblogged this on PenneyVanderbilt and commented:
Great Story!
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Thank you very much, Penny.
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Thank you so much for sharing this story. I plan on using the quote by Col Percival as he meet Herr Grawe “You remind us that how you treat somebody defines who we are,”
in a post tomorrow I’ll be writing about having finished reading the tale, The Book Thieves—the story of the millions of books plundered from all of Europe and the USSR by the Nazis–the quote reminds us that we are more than soldiers, enemies, prisoners, victims—we are human beings first—-
a very timely message……
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I am very glad you not only found the article interesting, but useful. Thanks for the visit, Julie.
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Love your posts!!!
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Thank you very much.
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Wonderful Story. M 🙂
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Thank you, M. I appreciate you coming by.
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Lovely story of gratitude and how it pays to treat people desently. The truth always comes up to the surface
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So true, Maria. No one can hide treachery forever. I’m grateful when pleasant events emerge.
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This is a testament to the importance of behaving in humane ways.
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Excellent!!! Some people just don’t get it.
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That’s interesting. Yes, Grawe was certainly a lucky guy – so much luckier than the millions who died, and the millions more who suffered loss, in this most dreadful conflict. We hear a lot about our lads imprisoned in mainland Europe or the Far East, but the stories of ex-enemy POWs are fascinating – I don’t know about the US, but many stayed in the UK after the war.
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I’m sure they were in the UK, much closer than the US, that’s for sure. Being as I concentrate on the pacific War, the Intermission time gives me a chance to insert stories like this.
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I’ve often wondered what happened to some of these guys. Very interesting article. Thank you.
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My pleasure.
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Thank you very much.
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