POWs in the Woods
Following the D-Day invasion, thousands of German troops were captured and taken prisoner in Normandy. Because of housing shortages in Britain, the United States was asked to assist in with the overflow of POWs. Due to the Geneva Convention, troops had to volunteer, for they could not be placed in harm’s way without their consent. German U-boats were still in the waters from Liverpool to New York and were capable of sinking the troop carriers that were bringing the German soldiers to the United States. Prisoners were asked to volunteer and serve out the remainder of the war in the United States.
The German POWs were 15 years of age and older. As the war turned against Germany, younger boys and older men were inducted. These men had little training but got a gun and a uniform and sent into battle.
In the summer of 1944, farmers were guaranteed a minimum price for their potatoes. With most of our American men and some women serving overseas, this caused a labor shortage, especially for the farmers who were holding a record crop. For the Germans who made it safely to northern Maine, the majority served out their time by harvesting and picking potatoes and some went to lumber camps in the area.
The Geneva Convention also mandated equal treatment that would allow for POWs to receive wages. POWs would receive 80 cents a day, equivalent to the pay of a U.S. private. Separate from the POWs’ wages, the farmers in Maine who contracted for POW workers would provide meals for them and paid the government 45 cents an hour per laborer. This money helped offset the cost needed to care for the prisoners.
A year earlier, in 1943, the Air Transport moved from Houlton to the Presque Isle Air Base. When the need came for POW camps, Houlton became the headquarters or base camp because of its size and ability to house up to 4,000 POWs. An additional four POW camps existed in Maine and one in New Hampshire, along with several satellite camps including one in Presque Isle.
Of the thousands of soldiers who came to the United States as prisoners, there were very few who tried to escape. You can count them on one hand. Among the escapees was a man who was captured and was returned to the camp. Years later, after the war, he returned to the United States as an engineer working with NASA. He went on to become a U.S. citizen.
Another German POW returned to Houlton and went to the Houlton Museum where Leigh Cummings, former president of the Houlton Library, was talking to a group of high school students from the Christian Academy about World War II German POWs. The POW who just happened to stop by shared his story with the group: how he was wounded at Normandy and lay among the dead soldiers from both sides. That night was long and cold as he lay there with his injuries and the dead American lying next to him had warmer clothes, so he put them on. The next day he was found alive and was put on a ship and brought to New York for treatment. Eventually he was treated by a doctor who spoke German and that was when he was sent to Camp Houlton.
After the war, other POWs returned to the United States to the people they had met and whom they considered friends. One German soldier recalled, “As soon as we were in American hands, we had it good.” Prior to coming to the United States, he had suffered a lot of things including extreme hunger. Another German soldier recalled, “Being in the United States as the luckiest time of my life.” There were many other German POWs who felt guilty because they were safe and had plenty to eat and they knew this wasn’t so in their homeland. During one of its inspections in 1944, the Red Cross gave Camp Houlton high marks for the treatment of prisoners.
Cummings said, “Initially there was great fear of the prisoners in the community of Houlton. That opposition continually lessened as the locals came to realize that, in the words of Kay Bell, ‘they were just boys, just like our boys.’” Camp Houlton had its own fire department. The nurses used to go and sun bathe outside the stockade where the German POWs were housed. One day the boys decided to turn the hose on the girls and watch them jump up suddenly. This story shows the youthfulness in these young men and women. Even though they were prisoners and nurses, they were also human.
What started out as reluctance on both sides for the German POWs and the communities such as Houlton changed with increased interaction. Within a year, after one-on-one interaction, the prisoners were humanized in the eyes of the town folk and both sides were able to get along with each other.
This year, Louise Moloney and family gave photos of Camp Houlton to The Aroostook Historical and Art Museum of Houlton. Her father was an officer at Camp Houlton and these photos would have been taken after the war.
The stories and recollections of these soldiers and the people of Maine range in multitudes of categories: from heroism to comedy, friendship and wonder. One prisoner was credited for saving the life of a young girl who had fallen off a moving tractor. Another story is about a farmer’s wife who sat down and ate with the soldiers as a way of reassuring them that nothing was in the soup that she wouldn’t eat herself. Yet, another story reminds us that we were at war. The POWs were handed shovels and ordered to dig a cesspool. One of them began to cry. When the guards asked why, he replied that he thought they was digging their own graves.
Even during hardships, and in the direst situations, life can throw you a curve ball. When you least expect it, you find friendships, build fond memories and realize, even if we speak very different languages and have different customs, what we have in common is humanity.
