POW camps and the American homefront
America was at the end of the Great Depression as the dark specter of a second World War loomed over Europe and Africa. Big Band swing filled the radio air waves in American homes along with broadcasts reporting on battles taking place in far away countries.
Like Germany, the Japanese policy of aggressive expansionism would seize territory by force in Asian Pacific islands to control the important natural resources of oil, rubber and sugar.
Japan attacked the U.S. territorial protectorate Pearl Harbor and other U.S. bases in the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island all within 24 hours on Dec. 7, 1941. These attacks would catalyze America out of the stance of isolationism and into the Second World War. President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing the country the day after the attacks, said those famous words, “… a date which will live in infamy.”
On that day, America’s social structure changed. Winning the war took priority over everyday life, thus the homefront came to America. Every citizen, young and old, mobilized to contribute to the war effort.
Slogans urging Americans to rally against the Third Reich of Hitler’s Germany and Axis allies of Italy and Japan began to appear.
Among the slogans were “Do with less — so they’ll have enough,” “Sow seeds of victory,” “Buy War Bonds,” “Save scrap for Victory” and “Don’t let our sailors sink.”
A government rationing system mandated fair sharing of food, services and commodities. Each person, even babies, was issued a ration book with stamps. Ration stamps allowed the limited purchase of food items as they became available. Common foods like meat, sugar, canned foods, butter, cheese, eggs, cooking oil, chocolate, tea and coffee required ration stamps. Clothing and shoes also required ration stamps.
The coffee ration was one pound per person every five weeks, later changed to one pound every six weeks. Reusing coffee grounds became known as making “Roosevelt coffee.”
Selling rationed items in black market operations was illegal and resulted in punishment for both the sellers and buyers. The ration system ended in 1945 except for sugar, which ended in June 1947.
Homefront Victory Gardens sprang up in suburbia and on roof tops in cities. Even window boxes were used to grow food. Growing vegetables helped fill the gap of food shortages at home. There were an estimated 20 million Victory Gardens which produced 40% of fresh vegetables and fruit. Shortages of mostly everything was a way of life on the homefront.
Food production programs were developed. The WLA, the Women’s Land Army, sent women into agriculture work. A similar program was designed so teenagers could work growing and harvesting food when not in school.
Elementary-age children collected milkweed pods to make life vests for sailors. Before the war life vests were made from kapok fibers harvested in the East Indies, which were occupied by Japan.
Gasoline rations averaged three gallons a week. Tires were registered by serial numbered. It was nearly impossible to purchase a new automobile or household appliances.
Americans were asked to cut back on fuel for household heating and cooking, take shorter showers and use less bath water. In addition to rationing, daily reports from the war front, blackouts and air raid simulations were now a way of life on the homefront.
Factories retooled from making everyday items like typewriters and baseball bats, to the production of airplanes, tanks and munitions.
Our grandparents grew gardens, saved pennies to buy and paste war stamps into $25 bond booklets, and gathered donations for scrap drives. Entire communities participated in “Get in the Scrap” campaigns.
Scrap drives collected materials to be recycled as needed items for the war effort: paper, kitchen grease, tin, lead, rubber, pots and pans, discarded rags, silk stockings, metal toys, and even iron fences. The drives created a common patriotic goal and galvanized citizens to the sacrifices needed for victory.
As author Ursula K. LeGuin described her early teen years of living in the homefront, “Growing up during WWII certainly affected my whole view of life … Everything we did was influenced by it — eating, traveling, dressing, thinking — everything in daily life.”
By war’s end, the homefront would see 16 million men in uniform, 6 million women in war production factories and 350,000 women in noncombat military jobs.
With millions of Americans fighting overseas, the reduced labor force led to the need for manpower in agriculture and production factories.
An unusual method solved this problem. England was running out of space to house prisoners of war. America accepted the responsibility to provide holding camps for 500,000 prisoners captured by Allied troops. The American camps held German, Italian and Japanese soldiers.
The holding camps were in every state, except Vermont. The U.S. housed POWs in about 500 camps nationwide. Pennsylvania operated 30 camps throughout the state. The U.S. maintained Geneva Conventions standards of humane conditions for POWs. The men were provided housing, food, clothing and medical care. Work was available on farm fields, tending livestock and in factories not involved in production for War Department contracts. Men also worked in canneries, meat packing plants, quarries — anywhere that needed workers. They were paid 80 cents a day, about $15 today.
Camp canteens stocked soda, beer, candy, snacks, ice cream, cigarettes, stamps, stationery and toiletries. Camps provided many activities. Men could take advantage of English classes, study college course work, and attend religious services, movies, sports activities. Hobby and art supplies were available, camp bands organized and camp newspapers printed. Camp libraries provided books, magazines and newspapers.
German holidays, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, were celebrated with special meals. Men could send and receive letters and packages after inspected by military censors.
Weekend liberty passes were issued using the honor system. Each man wore clothing typically made from denim and stamped with extremely large letters, “PW,” to identify they were from the local POW camp. Men could go to movies and eat in restaurants. Some towns with German-speaking communities would invite POWs to stay in private homes while on liberty.
The guests would often give gifts of candy and gum to the families. Italian American clubs and Catholic Churches arranged group activities like dances and picnics for Italian POWs.
Alex Funke, a POW in America, served as a chaplain traveling to other camps providing religious services in German for the POWs. After the war, he became a Lutheran minister. He said of his time, “The three years in the camp were not lost, useless time for us in the course of our lives, but a lifting experience, which has shaped us.”
There were attempts of prisoner breakouts, however, most were caught quickly. With the exception of an escapee who lived undiscovered for 40 years. Georg Gaertner, escaped from Camp Deming in New Mexico in September 1945. While in camp, Gaertner was able to work as a clerk. He studied English in school and had learned how to type. Gaertner had been trained at a Nazi officer’s school in the technique of escape and evasion.
Able to lose his German accent and speak English, he escaped and changed his name to Dennis Whiles. He did not want repatriation to Germany. He was motivated to stay hidden in America. His hometown was occupied by the Soviet Union and living conditions in postwar Germany were bleak.
Using his new American identity, he found work at various jobs: logging, migrant worker, salesman for a door and cabinet company, and at a ski resort. While in California at a YMCA dance, Whiles met his future wife. He and his wife, Jean, were married for 23 years. They owned and operated a tennis club. Later, they moved to Hawaii.
Whiles’ false life began to unravel as plans for retirement required documents that did not exist.
Whiles lived undetected until 1985 when he turned himself in to the FBI. Since it had been 40 years after the escape of Gaertner, the FBI file had been given Inactive status. The search for the escaped Nazi prisoner was over. Gaertner was no longer a fugitive. He became a U.S. citizen in 2009.
Gäertner, as Whiles, surrendered in September 1985 on the same day his book, “Hitler’s Last Soldier,” was published. He died in 2013. A memorial plaque on his grave reads: “Georg Gäertner A.K.A. Dennis F. Whiles Dec. 18, 1920 — Jan. 30, 2013, Schweidnitz Silesia Germany. A displaced person.”
At the conclusion of the war, prisoners returned to their home countries. The Treasury savings accounts were released to each prisoner, money needed as they returned to civilian life.
Some Americans grew fond of the workers and continued correspondence with the former German POWs and sent them care packages of food and clothing to their homes.
After the war, over 5,000 former prisoners returned to America seeking citizenship and a life of freedom and democracy.
Deborah E. Holden, who has a master's degree in education, has loved history since a teenager. The book, “The Hiding Place,” a gift from her mother, started a lifelong interest in WWII history and the Christian faith. Martha Gellhorn is one of the historical figures Holden portrays at reenactments across the country and presentations for schools and civic groups. She lives in Cranberry Township with her husband, Richard.
