Prisoners of War in New Mexico Agriculture
Abstract of Interview
CONSULTANTS:
Fred and Naomi Ewing
TAPE NUMBER: RG2000-095
DATES
OF BIRTH:
Fred: January 9, 1923; Naomi:
November 25, 1919
SEX:
Male and Female
DATE(S)
OF INTERVIEW: July 26, 2000
LOCATION
OF INTERVIEW: Ewing residence, Lordsburg, New Mexico
INTERVIEWER:
Mollie Pressler
SOURCE OF INTERVIEW: NMF&RHM__X___OTHER_______
TRANSCRIBED: YES__X_____
NO_______
NUMBER
OF TAPES: One
ABSTRACTOR: Sheila Klug
DATE
ABSTRACTED: April 16, 2001
QUALITY
OF RECORDING (SPECIFY): Good
SCOPE
AND CONTENT NOTE: Documents their recollections of their jobs at the prisoner of war camp
in Lordsburg plus their memories of watching the Japanese internees being
brought to the camp (prior to the prisoners from Germany and Italy).
DATE
RANGE: 1942-1943
ABSTRACT
(IMPORTANT TOPICS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE):
TAPE
ONE, SIDE A:
Although
they were both living in Lordsburg when the prisoner of war camp was
established, they do not have specific memories of how they learned of the camp.
Rather, it was simply by “word of mouth.”
Fred
described his work for the contractor, M. M. Sundt, who built Camp Lordsburg.
He cannot remember the exact pay, but says it was an improvement over his
job in a gas station or with Phelps Dodge. Naomi started working at the camp in
early 1942, and agreed that the pay was better than her previous job a local
bank.
Mrs.
Ewing remembers watching the Japanese internees marching from the railroad to
the camp. She remembers that many
of them were old and looked very sad. She
felt sorry for them and thought it unfair that they had to march in the heat.
Fred witnessed the same situation but does not remember feeling sorry for
them. At the time he didn’t make
a distinction between internees and prisoners of war, although much later
everyone was made aware that they were indeed civilians.
Mr.
Ewing worked at the camp only for six to nine months, then trained briefly at
Compton Junior College to be a tool designer before being drafted into the U. S.
Navy in early 1943.
Mrs.
Ewing worked in the engineer’s office until the camp was almost finished.
Rather than be transferred to Douglas, Arizona, she resigned and went to
work for a local bank.
She
never observed the internees once they went into the camp and was too young at
the time to be aware of the camp’s impact on the local economy.
She never saw any German or Italian prisoners being taken to camp.
Mrs. Ewing said that her memories of that time are very blurred, perhaps
because it was a time in her life she did not enjoy.
After
the war the camp was deactivated and the buildings were sold, with veterans
being given preference. They bought
two buildings and moved it to the ranch. One
building was converted into a house and the other into a barn.
Neither they or any of their neighbors used POW labor.
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