Prisoners of War in New Mexico Agriculture
Abstract of Interview
CONSULTANT:
Alfonso Guzmán
TAPE NUMBER: RG2001-027
DATE
OF BIRTH: August 29, 1926
SEX:
Male
DATE(S)
OF INTERVIEW: February 16, 2001
LOCATION
OF INTERVIEW: NM Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
INTERVIEWER:
Robert L. Hart
SOURCE
OF INTERVIEW: NMF&RHM____X_____
OTHER __________
TRANSCRIBED: YES___X___
NO_______
NUMBER
OF TAPES: One (1)
ABSTRACTOR:
Robert L. Hart
DATE
ABSTRACTED: May 3 and 7, 2001
QUALITY
OF RECORDING (SPECIFY): Good, but Mr. Guzmán drops his voice frequently,
lapses into Spanish at times, and is frequently unintelligible.
SCOPE
AND CONTENT NOTE: Paperboy for Italian and German POW camp located near present
day Young Park. Miscellaneous recollections beginning with Civilian Conservation
Corps use of camp through post World War II.
DATE
RANGE: 1933-1946
ABSTRACT
(IMPORTANT TOPICS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE):
TAPE
ONE, SIDE A:
Saw
prisoners go by on Lohman Avenue daily on their way to the camp. The camp, when
used as a CCC camp, was designated G178N. Sequence of the POWs: Germans,
Italians, Germans. The German POWs were also housed at the camp- BR39N on
Melendres Avenue. The designation BR was for Bureau of Reclamation.
The
Civilian Conservation Corps camps were established as a result of the work of
New Mexico’s delegation in Washington [D.C.], Clinton B. Anderson and Joe
Montoya. The CCC camps housed fifty
men per camp. His uncle, José Padilla, lived in camp G178N. Other CCCers
include: Mike Martinez, El Paso (married Eva Barrio); Alonzo Zanarrita (married
a Medina and worked in California shipyards, fell off a pole working for El Paso
Electric [Company], called a polecat because
he climbed the poles); Catarino Quintannila; and George Ortiz, both from Gallup.
Ortiz married Disaña Isabel. Quintannila married a Telles (she is still
living.) Joe Peña from Laredo, Texas, was another member of the CCC, he married
Bertha Cargon.
The Montezuma Dance Hall and Grandview Hall were both located where Pep Boys is now [1203 E. Lohman Avenue]. Santiago Duran was the owner.
The
consultant speculates that the CCC camps were closed in 1942. Those of the
former CCCers who weren’t drafted went to California to work in the shipyards.
The CCCers were mostly Hispanic.
Germans
and Italian POWs arrived close together. The authorities added fence with barbed
wire on top and spotlights to the CCC camps to convert them to POW camps. There
were guard towers and a lighted perimeter.
Italian
POWs sang and played soccer. The German POWs were quiet; they were mostly troops
from the Afrika Korps. They wore shorts. The German POWs were feared more. The
consultant witnessed a search for an escaped Italian prisoner. He was not
allowed to talk to the POWs. On work details to farms the POWs had two to three
guards. They packed own lunches. Eventually the German POWs at the Lohman camp
were transferred to the camp on Melendres.
Two
to three hundred sailors training as machinist mates at the Melendres camp. The
German POWs moved in when sailors moved out and Italian POWs were moved into the
Lohman camp.
Alfonso
describes pedaling his bike to the Lohman camp to deliver the Sun-News
twice weekly. The roads were dirt and gravel. The papers cost twenty-five cents
a week of that the paperboy got a dime; Sun-News
got fifteen cents. He went through the main gate, then a second gate and handed
the papers to the guards.
The
barracks were wood frame buildings, unpainted with black roofing paper and
chicken wire on the outside. They were not weighted down for high wind
conditions. The buildings, approximately twenty yards long, housed fifteen [?]
men each. (After the camps were demobilized, the Baca brothers bought the
surplus buildings cheaply.) Both camps were about the same size. But the
Melendres camp had fertile soil. And they also had a tennis court.
Guzmán
did not get to know any regular army guards.
POWs
had the POW emblem sewn on their pants and jacket; also on the back. They wore
blue denim uniforms except for the German POWs who wore shorts.
Relates
an anecdote about a POW in restaurant having difficulty ordering.
The
German POWs were more feared than the Italian POWs, believed to be a mean
people. The Italians were considered to be nice guys, who didn’t want to
fight.
His
wife observed prisoners picking cotton and putting it in the sacks. Some Germans
preferred a tub. Germans had never seen cotton before and were poor cotton
pickers. (Schoolchildren were excused from school to pick cotton in August and
September.)
The
POWs were transported in two-ton trucks with sides on them. The guards rode in
the back. Italian POWs waved; the German POWs did not.
He
believes they moved the POWs out “mysteriously.” The POWs got what they
deserved; however, they were well treated.
Discusses again that US navy sailors were trained at the Melendres camp before the Italian POWs arrived.
The
camp was fenced with hog-wire with a barbed wire string at top. The perimeter of
the camp was lighted.
Prisoner
escape stories probably in Sun-News or
Las Cruces Citizen.
Few
townspeople had cameras, as the economy was poor.
TAPE
ONE, SIDE B:
The
consultant’s brother was a guard at a German POW camp in Louisiana. Brought
home a POW-made suitcase constructed of orange crates. How did they get the
tools to make it? Believes it might have been Camp Pontchartrain.
The
POWs were transported to the camps in trucks without markings, probably
government vehicles.
He
describes an unusual occurrence, a CCC camper riot in Las Cruces (!), between
both camps.
The
POWs were not too effective, as they were not experienced in farming.
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