Prisoners of War in New Mexico Agriculture

Abstract of Interview

CONSULTANT:  Brady Porter

TAPE NUMBER:   RG2000-108

DATE OF BIRTH:  May 16, 1927

SEX: Male

DATE(S) OF INTERVIEW:  August 22, 2000

LOCATION OF INTERVIEW:   Hatch Auto Electric, Hatch, New Mexico

INTERVIEWER:  Ron Nelson

SOURCE OF INTERVIEW:  NMF&RHM__x___OTHER_______

TRANSCRIBED:     YES_____x__            NO_______

NUMBER OF TAPES:  one

ABSTRACTOR:  Ron Nelson

DATE ABSTRACTED:  January 21, 2001

QUALITY OF RECORDING (SPECIFY):  good

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE:  Mr. Porter’s recollections of German and Italian prisoners of war camp in Hatch, New Mexico, during World War II.

DATE RANGE:  1942-43

ABSTRACT (IMPORTANT TOPICS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE):

TAPE ONE, SIDE ONE (only):

Mr. Porter tells of the prisoners of war who were housed in a camp across the street from the high school. The only problem he recalls is one morning when the Italian prisoners did not want to work. After the guards fixed their bayonets, the prisoners went to work without violence. Consultant thinks that most prisoners were “good people.” Some of the POWs corresponded with people in the Hatch area after the war.  Consultant states that there was no local labor during World War II so the prisoners picked and weeded cotton. They worked almost year around.

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