Chapter 8

The Amerikans slowly shipped their 330,000 prisoners to the U.S. as ships became available. Officers and enlisted men were separated. Ernst Martz, Hans Goebel, Dieter Pfeiffer, Oskar Löwe and Willi Dietmar managed to stay together. They shipped to Amerika aboard a Liberty ship converted into a troop transport. Dieter and his four friends landed in Baltimore on 17.Juli 1943. From there, they were trucked north to Camp Micheaux. The camp was located in the hills of south-central Pennsylvania, about 20 kilometers northwest of a town Dieter had read about – Gettysburg. The American Civil War fascinated young Dieter when he was in Gymnasium. He read a couple books about the krieg between Union and Confederate forces eighty years earlier.

Dieter’s stay in Camp Micheuax was brief, only four weeks. He and his squad-mates were transferred to a nearby camp that would be their home for the next two and a half years.

Three days after posting his letter, Dieter and the other 23 barracksmates were marched out of the wire and loaded onto two olive drab US Army trucks and driven off for work. The trucks headed northeast to a small town called Arendtsville. To the soldiers’ surprise, Herr Youndt, owner of the farm, spoke excellent deutsch. The farmer laughed when the soldiers inquired how he knew such excellent deutsch. He replied that half the farmers in Adam County grew up speaking deutsch as their first language. They didn’t learn English until they were ready to start school.

The POWs spent the next week picking apples for Herr Youndt on his nearly eighty acres of orchards. The following week the work crew headed to help a farmer named Marvin Wenger bring in his hay crop.

“Guten morgen, meine Herren,” Herr Wenger announced as the work crew climbed off the truck. The 10 prisoners climbing out of the truck looked slightly surprised at Herr Wenger’s excellent, though slightly accented deutsch.

Herr Wenger continued on, auf deutsch, explaining what he needed done. He asked if any of the prisoners had experience on a farm. Dieter and Oskar raised their hands. Oskar grew up on a farm in the Rheinland. Herr Wenger called the two forward and he explained what he needed done. Dieter and Oskar would help the “Stadt jungen” [“City Boys”] understand what work was needed.

The prisoner spent the next two days raking up the mowed hay into windrows so it could dry. By then, thanks to the dry weather, the first fields were ready for the next step. Herr Wenger had a traktor and wagon. The prisoners used pitchforks to load the dried hay onto the wagon. When the wagon was full, Herr Wenger drove it to his large barn and the prisoners used a large hook to hoist large clumps of the hay to the top floor of the barn, where they would spread it out in the hay mow.

The process was slow and labor intensive, but the prisoners had the rest of the war. Herr Wenger called Dieter aside when they prisoners finished their work Friday after lunch.

“You know farming well, Dieter,” Herr Wenger said. “Does your Vater have a farm?”

“Nein,” Dieter replied. “My Vater worked for an agricultural company. They sell seed, fertilizer and farm equipment. I worked summer vacations on some of the farms near my hometown, Leck.”

“You do good work, Dieter,” Herr Wenger said. “I hope they send you again the next time I need farm hands.”

“I enjoyed working for you,” Dieter replied politely. “Bringing in hay is something I know. Last week we were picking apples. That was new to me. How do you manage, before you started getting help from us prisoners?”

“My two sons helped work the farm,” Herr Wenger answered. “Alan is in Italy. He is a machine gunner on a bomber. Lloyd, my younger son, is a Marine, fighting in the Pacific.”

“I am sorry to bring this war to your family,” Dieter replied.

“Nonsense, you didn’t start it,” Herr Wenger replied. “You are little different than my boys, fighting for their country. God willing, you will all return home safely when the war is done.”

“That is my strongest wish,” Dieter replied. “I want to get home and marry my fiancée so we can raise our son.” Herr Wenger chuckled.

“Some things aren’t so different for teens in Deutschland as here,” Herr Wenger teased with a big grin. “Some of Alan and Lloyd’s friends got the cart before the horse too. Make a baby and then get married. It happens. How old is your baby?”

“Horst turned five last month,” Dieter replied.

“Five? You must be older than I thought,” Herr Wenger said. “Either that or you and your girlfriend started very early.”

“The later,” Dieter replied. “I am twenty-two. Gisela and I were quite young to be having a baby.”

“Those things happen,” Herr Wenger replied. “My wife and I wanted to thank you boys properly for your help. Please share this apple pie with the rest of the work crew.”