Description:
Tape Number WCHFT009
03:00:55;03 03:00:56;27 [00:00:01:24] WCHFT009
:keywords:
World War II
Home Front
Kurt Peckmann – interview
Continued
Interview conducted on December 3, 2002
former German Prisoner of War
tent camps
asparagus
peas
factory work
happy to be in America
shoot date: 12-3-2002
transfered from Hestad laptop: March 2004
03:00:56;27 03:02:19;09 [00:01:22:08] WCHFT009
:Dead Baby:
He pulled up a brand new, green army towel. Out rolled a dead baby. Somebody, yeah, that I don't want it on the, I hope you cut it out, so. And we regarded, we reported to the guard and I don't know if he reported back to the officials, the camp officials, but I don't know because, uh. Last year, about a half a year ago, I got a letter from a gentleman in Milwaukee. He saw that book from Betty Cowley and he said, "Oh, you were in Camp Ellis in Illinois." I said, "Yeah." "Well, were you out in the dump, out on the recycling bins," see, and he said, "Do you remember about that baby? My dad told me about it," he told me. And apparently he knew it and he reported it, but it never came out, you see, so I don't know what ever happened to it either. That is one thing I never, as a matter-of-fact, I never told anybody, because it's not for everybody to know. And I just hope that you don't put down.
03:02:19;09 03:02:50;20 [00:00:31:11] WCHFT009
:Q-Temporary, Tent Camps?:
03:02:50;20 03:04:18;03 [00:01:27:09] WCHFT009
:Shower Snoop:
Yeah, well we, most of our branch camps were in tents, on fair grounds or in cow pastures and so on and so forth, see. Our main camp was in Camp Ellis, Illinois, that big army camp, the training camp, and from there, there we had barracks just like the rest of the army guys had. From there we came then to branch camp in Hoopeston, that was a work shed from the canning company where they stored the machinery, they repaired the machinery. We, we cleaned the bottom part out and then we were sleeping in there on, on cots and told that it's clean, so, just a big fire, wire fence around it and from there we came to Barron, Rice Lake and there we slept in the cow pasture. We just camped around it and so-on, there's just one single strand of wire around it and, a funny part of it was there too. Our shower was out in the open, four poles and used a piece of canvas around on three sides and the open side towards the woods over there, maybe 200, 300 yards away and there you saw, people with, when we're taking showers there, people looking over there. Why, I don't know. We don't know if you're a man or boys or girls, I don't know. But we saw someone there peeking at us. Didn't bother us any.
03:04:18;03 03:06:38;14 [00:02:20:07] WCHFT009
:Camps and Bands:
From there we came to Lodi, Wisconsin, there we were on the fairgrounds, just in tents, two-men tents. There we had, they built a shower for us there, a toilet, a for us, built in a kitchen and a dining room there. We had food, but we are still sleeping in tents, see. And then, from there we came to Beaver Dam. There we were sleeping in tents. And Columbus, that was another work-shed. From, before we got to Beaver Dam, we came to Columbus and Columbus, it was a ex-sheep barn, where the sheep had before, but the sheep were gone though, they cleaned everything out, put new floor in it, toilet, kitchen, everything. And we were there a few weeks and then from there we came to Beaver Dam. And from Beaver Dam we came to Hartford, and Hartford was the best camp, well, I believe it was the best camp in the whole United States. It was a ballroom. A dome building there with the chandeliers and everything on it, parquet floor, see, and it was a ballroom before, but the army rented it and, for, as a POW camp. It had a station back there, their own band there. And we had our, outside in the corner of that big park there, there was a big grandstand there, we were the, we had our own 8-man band there. They played the music, then the civilians were just on the otherside of the fence there and just listened to it, see, and were singing with us. While we were in Camp Hoopeston, Illinois, we had a band there, we were standing there in the fenced area playing there. And then all at once there came a couple high school girls there from the high school with own instruments and with, outside the fence they were playing along with us, you know. It was fun there, so. That is still a memory. Good memories.
03:06:38;14 03:06:45;28 [00:00:07:14] WCHFT009
:Q-Name Off Different Crops You Worked On?:
03:06:45;28 03:08:13;29 [00:01:27:27] WCHFT009
:Asparagus and Peas:
First of all, the Camp Hoopeston in Illinois was asparagus. Going out there with 60, 80 guys in a row and just have your basket and you cut asparagus. The asparagus here is different than over in Europe. In Europe you have the asparagus, you cut them below ground. Over here the asparagus has to be at least six inches tall, then you can cut it. You left the rest of it stand there until the next day. Two hours and then we were done with it. Take about two weeks until all the asparagus is cut and harvested. Of course, we had plenty to eat too then, our camp, and we enjoyed it. Fresh asparagus, couldn't get it any fresher. And from there we came up to Barron, Rice Lake. There we were in the pea harvest. And just after the pea harvest, started there, it takes about a good week, then we were done with it because if the peas are not harvested in the sunshine, they turn out to be just like buckshot, then they have to throw them away, see, though it was just at the right time we came there, see, and harvest the peas because we had, any one of those places we had to replace the civilians, high school kids and so on, see. Because the men were all gone to be in the army.
03:08:13;29 03:10:04;27 [00:01:50:26] WCHFT009
:Odd Jobs:
And the harvest up in, Barron, Rice Lake was done, so we came to Lodi, and there we start all over again, see, and pea harvest a little bit, then the corn harvest started out, and then the red beets a little bit later on, and onions in the Horicon Marsh. And we enjoyed every minute of it. And then in Hartford, then some of us went in the milk factory, there the milk co-op. Other ones worked in the hemp mill, other ones worked in the leather factory in Hartford, in WB Place and Company. They had deerskins and cowskins, everything and made leather out of it. And I worked at one time there and then several times I worked in the Libby made in Libby, in the canning company, in red beets, canning company. (Cough) Then also I worked as a laborer for, brick-layer for contractor, see, and at one time we worked in the rendering company in Beaver Dam and I thank god it didn't last that long. Oh that smell, that you couldn't believe it that those civilian boys gets that, with the dirty hands, they're eating the sandwiches by hand. Thank the lord, no, I was not, the reason why we didn't work too long there. And then we came again to, uh, Harford until the day was over, and some of them worked in the cheese factory.
03:10:04;27 03:10:11;12 [00:00:06:15] WCHFT009
:Q-Do That In The Winter?:
03:10:11;12 03:10:42;29 [00:00:31:17] WCHFT009
:Summer Or Winter:
Summer or winter, whenever the harvest was ready to go, we worked at it. Wintertime we worked in hemp, fall in hemp. And milk factory, summer or winter. And beets, again, that was in the fall, so when the onions were ready, and carrots. And then, corn was, along the corn harvest was, so 8 hours on the farm fields, or in the canning company.
03:10:42;29 03:10:50;12 [00:00:07:13] WCHFT009
:Q-Glad You Came Back To Wisconsin?:
03:10:50;12 03:12:37;23 [00:01:47:07] WCHFT009
:Recapping Life:
Oh, I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait until I came back. Because, um, if a fellow like me, I grew up in eastern Germany. We were healthy, we had enough to eat, but not rich, not poor, but medium, see. And then you come as a soldier, as a soldier on the eastern front, you freeze your feet, get shot at, nothing to hide behind, just an open flat field. Wintertime the snow is blowing, it's so cold, 84 below zero, then you come back, get healed up and then go to Russia again, being shot at again, and then come back, down to Italy. There you're being shot at again, more than anyplace else and become a POW, get the pistol in your back, "Let's go." You go, you don't even tell them, "No, I don't want to," you just go. It is quite a, a past, what a fellow went through there, see, and I couldn't wait to come back to America, tell you the truth, because I seen America before as a prisoner of war and they treated us excellently and I'm thankful they got me here. And I try to do my best now to give back as much as I can because I enjoyed it, being here.
03:12:37;23 03:13:39;06 [00:01:01:11] WCHFT009
:Geneva Conference Broken:
And, uh that part, now that we had been a POW here we were sorry we had to leave, tell you the truth. We were sorry we had to leave America and go back to Europe because we knew Europe was in shambles, but we didn't know at that time that we had to go to France, see, and that was the worst part of it yet because France had gone strictly against all rules and regulations of the Geneva Conference. According to Geneva Conference, every POW who was released after hostilities stop, he had to be released to his hometown, or to his town where he wants to go, see. America didn't do it. And still today I don't hold it against America because America gave me a home, so I loved every minute of it, but still it was against all rules and regulations of the Geneva Conference. (Cough)
03:13:39;06 03:15:49;06 [00:02:09:26] WCHFT009
:Getting Into Town:
So, I'm happy I'm back. And right now, no 10 horses could pull me back to Germany. No way. Matter-of-fact, while I was, after I came home from France and I went in one German town there and applied for a permission to stay in that town, just temporarily, see, they told me, "No. We don't want you here. You go back to France where you came from, or go back in the Russian sector where your mother lives." I said, "Nuts to you. I will not go anywhere." I went around the corner, there was the American High Commissioner, he was, I believe, his name was Thompson, I'm not quite sure. And he was a civilian, he was a civilian government, temporarily government, until everything was settled over there, see, and I told him about it, my name is Kurt Peckmann and I would like to go to Kurdestein(sp?), in the town there, for temporarily stay until I find my own place to work, and so-on. And they wouldn't let me in there, see. And he said, I told him I was a prisoner of war in America, and he said, "Where were you in America?" I told him I was in Wisconsin and Illinois and, "How'd you like it over there?" I said, "I can't wait 'til I go back." He put me on the top rung of his ladder, see, and he called the Bergemaster(sp?) up in Kurdestein(sp?). "Make sure Kurt Peckmann gets permission to stay in your town. Bergen(sp?)" I went, he wanted to see me, he let me wait in his office for two hours before he talked to me, then he just looked at me, then out he went. Didn't even go, didn't talk a word to me. I couldn't care less, see, but at least I could stay there for, for a few weeks until I found work and then I found work and then I went back to my, at that time, my girlfriend that we then married and we then came to America. Here I am.
03:15:49;06 03:17:31;27 [00:01:42:17] WCHFT009
:Giving Back:
No there's, it's hard to believe that a person can go through, though life with all those things happening. It's hard to believe. Because anybody who talks to me, and especially American soldiers, when I talk to American soldiers, we are use to, they never hold it against me that I was in German army or they were in American army. We were soldiers, they fought, they followed orders, I followed orders, so we are just like buddies. And I get along with every one of them marvelously, so...and once in a while I am invited to VFW doing stuff, like I have been in Grafton giving a little talk, not as long as this one now here. And with the VFW they had a little celebration there, and a little talk, and that was in Fort Atkinson. And I have, I gave talks already to high schools in history classes up in Wausau, there were 450 kids there that were high school. To give them a little bit to know the other side of it, and fix mistakes. So I don't regret it one bit. I enjoy talking to American veterans and that's why I have built those memorials too, so, give something back to them. |
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