German Graves In England

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

The Fort Lewis post cemetary has the graves of a few, I think four, German soldiers, POWs who died during the war.

[Redleg Reilly, SASS #46372]

Fort Leavenworth has the graves of the German POWs who were executed during the war.

[PowderRiverCowboy]

Oklahoma has several POW cemetery's Fort Reno, Camp Gruber and so on
 

Camps in Oklahoma

Alva PW Camp... This base camp, called a Nazilager by many PWs in other camps, was located one mile south of Alva on the west side of highway 281 on land that is now used for the airport and fairgrounds. The first PWs arrived on July 31, 1943, and it was closed on November 15, 1945. It had a capacity of about 6,000, but never held more than 4,850. The Alva camp was a special camp for holding Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, and there are accounts of twenty-one escapes. Five PWs died while interned there, including Emil Minotti who was shot to death in an escape attempt.

Ardmore Army Air Field PW Camp... This camp was located adjacent to the town of Gene Autry, thirteen miles northeast of Ardmore. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1945, and last appeared on November 1, 1945. It was a branch of the Camp Howze (Texas) PW Camp, and between 200 and 300 PWs were confined there.

Bixby PW Camp... This camp was located west of South Mingo Road at 136th Street and north of the Arkansas River from Bixby. It first appeared in the PMG reports on April 1, 1944, and last appeared on December 15, 1945. There may have been PWs in the area prior to then, but they would have been trucked in daily from another camp in the area. A branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp, it held about 210 PWs.

Borden General Hospital PW Camp... This camp, a branch of the Ft. Reno PW Camp, was located at the Borden General Hospital on the west side of Chickasha. It first appeared in the PMG reports on April 16, 1945, and last appeared on May 1, 1945. Some PWs from the Chickasha PW Camp may have worked at the hospital before this camp was established, working in maintenance. About 100 PWs were confined there.

Caddo PW Camp... This camp, located in the school gymnasium at Caddo, was a work camp sent out from the Stringtown PW Camp. Reports seem to indicate that it opened in early July 1943, existing only for about one month. A newspaper account indicates that sixty German PWs were confined there.

Camp Gruber PW Camp... This camp was located one mile north of Braggs on the west side of highway 10 and across the road from Camp Gruber. The first PWs were reported on May 29, 1943. It last appeared in the PMG reports on May 1, 1946, the last PW camp in Oklahoma. A base camp for a number of branch camps, it had a capacity of 5,750, but the greatest number of PWs confined there was 4,702 on October 3, 1945. Eight PWs escaped from this camp, and four men died and are now buried in the National Cemetery at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.  During the course of World War II Camp Gruber provided training to infantry, field artillery, and tank destroyer units that went on to fight in Europe. Units of the Eighty-eighth Infantry "Blue Devil" Division trained at Camp Gruber. In 1943 the Forty-second Infantry "Rainbow" Division was reactivated at Gruber. In 1945 the Eighty-sixth Infantry "Blackhawk" Division was stationed there pending deactivation at the end of the war. Ultimately, more than 44,868 troops either served at or trained at the camp, which also employed four thousand civilian workers and incarcerated three thousand German prisoners of war. On June 3, 1947, Camp Gruber was deactivated and soon became surplus property, with 63,920 acres placed under the authority of the War Assets Administration (WAA). In 1952 the General Services Administration assumed authority over 31,294.62 acres from the WAA, and between 1948 and 1952 the U.S. Army regained control of 32,626 acres. By 1953 virtually the entire 1942 reservation was in federal hands. During the 1950s and 1960s most of Camp Gruber's original buildings and facilities were removed or destroyed. In 1967 the Oklahoma Military Department, Oklahoma Army National Guard (OKARNG), acquired 23,515 acres to establish Camp Gruber as a state-operated training area under a twenty-five year federal license from the Tulsa District of the U.S. Corps of Engineers. In 1973 and 1982 2,560 acres and 6,952 acres, respectively, were added, for a total of 33,027 acres. The present camp covers eighty-seven square miles. The cantonment area covers 620 acres, and ranges occupy 460 acres. At the end of the twentieth century Camp Gruber still served OKARNG as a training base for summer field exercises and for weekend training. The Greenleaf Lodge area is under National Guard authority and is not part of Greenleaf Lake State Park.

Chickasha PW Camp... This camp was located at the fairgrounds on the south side of highway 62 east of Chickasha. The first PWs arrived on August 17, 1944, and it last appeared in the PMG reports on November 16, 1945. Originally a branch of the Alva PW camp, it later became a branch of the Ft. Reno PW camp. From 250 to 400 PWs were confined there. Reports of nine escapes have been found.

Eufaula PW Camp... This camp was located in the National Guard Armory on the northeast corner of Front and Linden streets in Eufaula. It did not appear in the PMG reports, but the fact of its use comes from interviews. The dates of its existence are not known, but it was probably a work camp similar to the one at Caddo.

Ft Reno PW Camp... This camp was located one mile north of the El Reno Federal Reformatory and one mile east of Ft. Reno. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July 19, 1943, and last appeared on April 15, 1946. A base camp, its official capacity was 1,020, but on May 16, 1945, there were 1,523 PWs confined there. Reports of two escapes and one PW death have been found.

Ft. Sill PW Camp... This camp was located on the far west side of the Ft. Sill Military Reservation and south of Randolph Road. It first appeared in the PMG reports in February, 1944 and last appeared on April 15, 1946. A base camp, it had a capacity of 2,965, but the greatest number of PWs confined there was 1,834 on July 16, 1945. Reports of three escapes and one death have been located. Three separate internment camps were built at Ft. Sill. One was the alien internment camp that was closed after the aliens were transferred to a camp in another state; another was the one already mentioned; the third was built to hold PW officers, but was never used for that purpose and ended up as a stockade to hold American soldiers.

Glennan General Hospital PW Camp... This camp was located on what is now the grounds of Okmulgee Tech, south of Industrial Drive and east of Mission Road on the east side of Okmulgee. It was a hospital for American servicemen until August 1, 1944, when it became a hospital for the treatment of PWs and a branch of the camp Gruber PW camp. The staff consisted of PWs with medical training. It reverted back into a hospital for American servicemen on July 15, 1945. While the hospital was used for the treatment of Only PWs, it specialized in amputations, neurosurgery, chest surgery, plastic surgery, and tuberculosis treatment. Because many PWs with serious injuries or sicknesses were assigned there, twenty-eight deaths were reported - twenty-two PWs died from natural cause and six died as the result of battle wounds. Reports of three escapes have been located.

Haskell PW Camp... This camp was locatd in the National Guard Armory on the southwest corner of Creek and Spruce streets in Haskell. It opened on December 1, 1943, closed on December 11, 1945, and was a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. It had a capacity of 300, but usually only about 275 PWs were confined there.

Hickory PW Camp... This camp was located four miles east of Hickory at the Horseshoe Ranch. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1944, and last appeared on June 16, 1944, although it may have actually opened as early as May 1, 1944. It was a branch of the Camp Howze PW Camp. Thirteen PWs were confined there, and one man escaped.

Hobart PW Camp... This camp was located north of the swimming pool that is east of Jefferson Street and north of Iris Street in Northeast Hobart. It opened in October 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on May 16, 1945. A branch of the Ft. Sill PW Camp, it held as many as 286 PWs.

Konawa PW Camp... This camp, a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, was located in the National Guard Armory, three blocks north of Main Street on North State Street in Konawa. It opened on October 30, 1943, and closed in the fall of 1945. Seventy-five to eighty PWs were confined there.

Madill Provisional Internment Camp Headquarters... Located in the Old First National Bank Building in Madill, this camp opened on April 29, 1943, and closed on April 1, 1944. It was not an actual PW camp, but was the administrative headquarters for several camps in the area, including the ones at Powell and Tishomingo. There were no PWs confined there.

McAlester PW Camp... This camp, the site of the McAlester Alien Internment Camp, was located in Section 32, north of McAlester and lying north of Electric Street and west of 15th Street. Opening on June 3, 1943, it closed in October or November, 1945. A base camp, it had a capacity of 4,920, but never held more than 3,000 PWs. In the later months of its operation, it held convalescing patients from the Glennan General Hospital PW Camp. Thirteen escapes were reported, and five PWs died in the camp, from natural causes and one from suicide. Three of the men are still buried at McAlester.

Morris PW Camp... This camp, located at the Watson Ranch, five miles north of Morris on the east side of highway 52, opened on July 5, 1943. It last appeared in the PMG reports on august 1, 1944. Originally a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, it later became a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. Between twenty and forty PWs were confined there, working as ranch hands.

Okemah PW Camp... This camp, a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp, was located in the National Guard Armory on the northwest corner of 6th and West Columbia streets on the north side of Okemah. It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 1, 1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. About 130 PWs were confined there.

Okmulgee PW Camp... This camp was located at the old fairgrounds east of Okmulgee Avenue and north of Belmont Street on the north side of Okmulgee. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 1, 1944, and last appeared on January 15, 1946. Originally a branch of the Alva PW Camp, it later became a branch of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. About 300 PWs were confined there.

Pauls Valley PW Camp... This camp, a mobile work camp from the Camp Chaffee (Arkansas) PW Camp, was located at North Chickasha Street north of the Community building in what is now Wacker Park in Pauls Valley. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July 16, 1944, and last appeared on October 16, 1944. About 270 PWs were confined there.

Porter PW Camp... Located in the Community Building in the center of Porter, this camp first appeared in the PMG reports on September 16, 1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. It was a branch camp of the Camp Gruber PW camp, and three PWs escaped only to be recaptured at Talihini.

Powell PW Camp... Located a short distance south of Powell, a small community about three miles east of Lebanon and about eight miles southwest of Madill, this camp was originally a branch of the Madill Provisional Internment Camp Headquarters, and later became a branch of the Camp Howze PW camp. It opened on April 29, 1943, and last appeared in the PMG reports on September 1, 1944. It had a capacity of 600 and was usually kept full. The PWs cleared trees and brush from the bed of Lake Texoma which was just being completed.

Pryor PW Camp... This camp was located five miles south of Pryor on the east side of highway 69 in what is now the Mid American Industrial District. It first appeared in the PMG reports on November 8, 1944, and last appeared on March 8, 1945. It was a base camp that housed only officer PWs with a few enlisted men and non-commissioned officers who served as their aides and maintained the camp. There were two escapes, probably the reason for the closing of the camp. Placed at an explosives plant, there was a fear that escaping PWs might commit sabotage.

Sallisaw PW Camp...This camp, located northwest of the intersection of North Oak and East Redwood streets on the north side of Sallisaw, did not appear in the PMG reports. The only word of its existence comes from one interview. The number of PWs confined there is unknown, but they lived in tents. This may have been the mobile work camp from the Camp Chaffee PW Camp that moved across Oklahoma and appeared at several locations.

Seminole PW Camp...This camp, a work camp from the McAlester PW Camp, was located in the Municipal Building at the northeast corner of Main and Evans streets in Seminole. It opened on about November 1, 1943, and last appeared in the PMG reports on June 1, 1945. About fifty PWs were confined there.

Stilwell PW Camp...This work camp from the Camp Chaffee PW Camp was located at Candy Mink Springs about five miles southwest of Stilwell. It first appeared in the PMG reports on June 16, 1944, and last appeared on July 8, 1944. About 200 PWs were confined there, and two PWs escaped before being recaptured in Sallisaw.

Stringtown PW Camp...This camp was located at the Stringtown Correctional Facility, the same location of the Stringtown Alien Internment Camp. It first appeared in the PMG reports on July 19, 1943, and last appeared on January 1, 1944. The camp had a capacity of 500 and was generally kept full.

Tipton PW Camp...This camp was located north of the railroad tracks between 2nd and 3rd streets on the southeast side of Tipton on a four acre tract that had been a Gulf Oil Company camp. It opened on October 20, 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on November 1, 1945. It was a branch camp of the Ft. Sill PW Camp and held 276 PWs. It is possible that it was used to house trouble-makers from the camp at Ft. Sill. Four men escaped.

Tishomingo PW Camp...This camp was located on old highway 99 north of the Washita River and south of Tishomingo where the airport now stands. it opened on April 29, 1943, and closed on June 13, 1944. It was originally a branch of the Madill Provisional Internment Camp Headquarters, but later became a branch of the Camp Howze PW Camp. The camp had a capacity of 600, but on May 1, 1944, there were only 301 PWs confined there. Two PWs escaped.

Tonkawa PW Camp...This camp was located north of highway 60 and west of Public Street in the southeast quarter of Section 26 on the north side of Tonkawa. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 30, 1943, and last appeared on September 1, 1945. It started as a base camp, but ended as a branch of the Alva PW Camp. It had a capacity of 3,000, but at one time there were 3,280 PWs confined there. Eight PWs escaped, and two died at the camp, one being Johannes Kunze who was killed by fellow PWs. The other died from natural causes.

Waynoka PW Camp...This camp was located one-half mile north of Waynoka in the Santa Fe Railroad yards at the ice plant. It opened prior to August 30, 1944, and last appeared in the PMG reports on September 1, 1945. A branch of the Alva PW Camp, it hosed about 100 PWs. One PW escaped.

Wetumka PW Camp...This camp was located at the old CCC Camp north of Wetumka along the south edge of Section 15. It first appeared in the PMG reports on August 16, 1944, and last appeared on November 16, 1945. A branch of the Camp Gruber PWs Camp, it held as many as 401 PWs at one time.

Wewoka PW Camp...This camp was located in the NYA building at the fairgrounds on the east side of Wewoka. The first PWs arrived on October 11, 1943, but the closing date is unknown. About forty PWs were confined at the work camp from the McAlester PW Camp.

Will Rogers PW Camp...This camp was located at what is now Will Rogers World Airport at Oklahoma City. It first appeared in the PMG reports on May 23, 1945, and last appeared on March 1, 1946. It was a branch of the Ft. Reno PW Camp and about 225 PWs were confined there.

There are still seventy-five PWs or enemy aliens buried in Oklahoma. The greatest number of these are in the Post Cemetery at Ft. Reno, but three are buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery at McAlester and two more are buried at Ft. Sill.

The train that pulled into the railway station at Madill, Oklahoma, on April 29, 1943, carried the first of thousands of prisoners of war who would spend all or part of the remainder of World War II behind barbed wire in Oklahoma. By 1945 the state would be home to more than thirty prisoner of war camps, from Caddo to Tonkawa, and each would have its own unique history.

The story of prisoner of war camps in Oklahoma actually predates the war, for as American leaders anticipated World War II, they developed plans for control of more than 100,000 enemy aliens living in the Untied States, all of whom would have to be interned in case of war. To prepare for that contingency, officials began a crash building program. permanent camps were put under construction or remodeling at Alva, McAlester, Stringtown, and Tonkawa. In addition, a temporary camp was set up at Fort Sill. The only camps that were actually used to hold enemy aliens, however, were the ones at McAlester and Stringtown. The other two would become PW camps from the start.

Not all the seventy men buried at Ft. Reno were PWs who died in Oklahoma. Two of the burials are enemy aliens who died in Oklahoma and 29 are PWs, both German and Italian, who died in PW camps in other states. The Ft. Sill Cemetery holds one enemy alien and one German PW who died there. One other enemy alien who died at Ft. Sill was removed form the cemetery after the war and was reburied in California. The only PWs who died in Oklahoma and who are not buried in this state are the four men who died at the camp Gruber PW Camp and are buried in the National Cemetery at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.

None of the alien internment camps and PW camps in Oklahoma still exist, and the sites of most of them would not give any hints of their wartime use. Most of the pre-existing buildings that were used at some of the branch camps still stand, but it is difficult to imagine them as being used as a PW camp. A few of the buildings at the Tonkawa PW camp are still standing, but they have been remodeled over the years. Buildings at the sites of the PW camps at Alva, McAlester, and Tonkawa were being used up to a few years ago as VFW club houses. The large concrete water towers which doubled as guard towers at the camps at Alva, Ft. Reno, and Tonkawa are still standing at the sites of those camps. A few buildings at Okmulgee Tech were part of the Glennan General Hospital PW Camp. After the war many buildings were sold and removed from the camp sites and some of these are still in use around the state.

The only PW camp site where it is possible to visualize how a PW camp would have looked is near Braggs at the location of the Camp Gruber PW Camp. The fences and buildings have been removed, but the streets, sidewalks, foundations, gardens, and a vault that was in the headquarters building can still be seen. Some of the concrete and stone monuments that were built by the PWs are also still standing there.

Alien Internment Camps

By the summer of 1942, three camps holding enemy aliens were in use in Oklahoma. These camps were at Ft. Sill, McAlester, and Stringtown, but they were not used for that purpose for long and with their closings, no further enemy aliens were interned in this state. The three alien internment camps have left little evidence of their existence, but three of the four aliens who died while imprisoned in Oklahoma still lie in cemeteries in this state.

Ft. Sill Alien Internment Camp...
This camp was located northwest of the intersection of Ft. Sill Boulevard and Ringgold Road on the Ft. Sill Military Reservation. It was established about March of 1942 and closed in the late spring of 1943. Japanese aliens who had been picked up in midwestern and north central states, as well as in South and Central American, were confined there; it did not hold any of the Japanese-Americans who were relocated from the West Coast under Executive Order N. 9066. The capacity of the camp was 700, and no reports of any escapes have been located; two internees died at the camp and one of them is still buried at Ft. Sill.

McAlester Alien Internment Camp...
This camp was located north of Electric Street and west of 15th Street on the north side of McAlester in what would later become the McAlester PW Camp. It was opened on May 1, 1942, and closed on May 22, 1943. It held primarily Italian enemy aliens, but the Provost Marshal General (PMG) reports show that at least one German alien was confined there. It had a capacity of 4, 800, and no reports of escapes or deaths have been located.

Stringtown Alien Internment Camp...
This camp was located at the Stringtown Correctional Facility, four miles north of Stringtown on the west side of highway 69. It was activated on March 30, 1942, closed in June of 1943, and had a capacity of 500. It held primarily German aliens, but some Italian and Japanese aliens also were confined there. No reports of any escapes have been located, but two German aliens died at the camp and are buried at Ft. Reno.
Sources used: [written by Richard S. Warner - The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. LXIV, No. 1, Spring 1986]

 

---

 

Five Nazis Sentenced to Death For Killing Companion in State
Source: Daily Oklahoman Feb. 1, 1945 Page 1
New York. Jan 31-(AP)-Newsweek magazine says in its Feb. 5 issue that five German prisoners of war have been sentenced to death by court-martial for killing a fellow prisoner at Camp Tonkawa, Okla., Nov. 5, 1943, and are awaiting "their doom in a federal penitentiary." The five non-commissioned officers, the magazine says, "proudly admitted at their trial -- the first American court-martial involving a capital offense by German prisoners of war -- that they killed Cpl. Johann Kunze, who was found beaten to death with sticks and bottles.  "Under the articles of war the court had no choice but to pronounce the death sentence," the magazine adds.  "The Nazis appeared entirely satisfied."  Newsweek said other prisoners at the camp regarded Kunze "a traitor to the Reich and to the fuehrer: because "some of them had seen a statement Kunze had given American army officers information they believed had been of great value to the Allies in bombing Hamburg."  The magazine continues: "Held from Jan. 17 to 18, 1944, the trial leaned over backward to be fair to the five non-commissioned officers accused: Walther Beyer, Berthold Seidel, Hans Demme, Willi Schols and Hans Schomer.  The Geneva convention entitled them only to court appointed counsel, but in addition they were permitted a German lawyer, selected from among their fellow prisoners." 
Newsweek also says that two other German Prisioners of war, Eric Gaus and Rudolph Straub, were convicted June 13, 1944 of the slaying near Camp Gordon, Ga., of Cpl. Horst Cunther.  The magazine adds Gunther also had been denounced as a traitor.

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

California had a few camps:

 

https://www.gentracer.org/powcampsCA.html

 

An overview:

http://www.seecalifornia.com/authors/kathy-kirkpatrick.html#:~:text=In California%2C the majority of,and 1%2C087 in the South.

 

"The POWs worked producing much-needed products, like food, cotton, clothing and lumber. They repaired roads, railroad tracks and locomotives, airfields and other necessary infrastructure. They even provided bands for the camps as well as outside local churches (where they sometimes met girls). Some tried to escape. At Ft. Ord in Monterey County, 500 German POWs attempted to escape through tunnels in August of 1944.

In California, the majority of prisoners were Germans (a maximum 10,500 in the North and 13,288 in the South). The state also had 3,000 Italians in the North and 5,504 in the South; 3,500 Japanese in the North and 1,087 in the South."

 

Putting a human side on a camp here in Sonoma County:

https://northbaydigital.sonoma.edu/digital/collection/Lebaron/id/394/

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

Texas had a few as well. 
 

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/preserving-wwii-internment-history-in-texas.htm#:~:text=These internment camps were located,Dodd Field%2C and Fort Bliss.

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

For many years I've gone to Memorial Day services at the Fort Lewis Post cemetery. They have a perfect observation, one-half hour from color guard to 21 gun howitzer salute. Interrupted during the pandemic, but then resumed.

 

It's a small, beautiful cemetery in the heart of the fort, surrounded by woods. It's a post cemetery, not the familiar big military cemetery; soldiers and their wives and children who've died on the post over the last century.

 

There are flags on every grave at the ceremony. The German consulate for many years has placed contemporary German national flags on the graves of those POWs. As far as is known, they were ordinary infantrymen who died of natural causes during the War.

[Tennessee Trapper Tom]

35 minutes ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

For many years I've gone to Memorial Day services at the Fort Lewis Post cemetery. They have a perfect observation, one-half hour from color guard to 21 gun howitzer salute. Interrupted during the pandemic, but then resumed.

 

It's a small, beautiful cemetery in the heart of the fort, surrounded by woods. It's a post cemetery, not the familiar big military cemetery; soldiers and their wives and children who've died on the post over the last century.

 

There are flags on every grave at the ceremony. The German consulate for many years has placed contemporary German national flags on the graves of those POWs. As far as is known, they were ordinary infantrymen who died of natural causes during the War.

RD, I never knew that. I was at Fort Lewis from Jan 79 to Dec 80. Lived next to the mushroom farm in Tumwater. Is your area still referred to as the Tacoma Aroma. Living next to a mushroom farm is a real scent experience. Anyway, sorry for the deviation from the topic. I do vaguely remember some sort of ceremony take took place on Fort Lewis honoring soldiers of other nations. I was just too young to care. DO they still do that, and is it in relation to your post. 

 

Thanks again for this post SJ. Honor among soldiers of opposite armies seem to be a lost ideal.