Prisoners of War in New Mexico Agriculture
Abstract of Interview
CONSULTANT:
Bob
Porter
TAPE NUMBER: RG2000-025
DATE
OF BIRTH: September 3, 1929
SEX: Male
DATE(S)
OF INTERVIEW: June 15, 2000
LOCATION
OF INTERVIEW: Consultant’s
home, Las Cruces, New Mexico
INTERVIEWER:
Jane O’Cain
SOURCE
OF INTERVIEW: NMF&RHM___x__ OTHER:
TRANSCRIBED: YES___x____
NO_______
NUMBER
OF TAPES: one
ABSTRACTOR:
Jane O’Cain
DATE
ABSTRACTED: July 26, 2000
QUALITY
OF RECORDING (SPECIFY): very good
SCOPE
AND CONTENT NOTE: Recounts
memories of the prisoners of war who were incarcerated during World War II in
Hatch, New Mexico. The prisoners of war worked on his father’s farm near
Salem during the cotton harvest.
DATE
RANGE: 1943-45
ABSTRACT
(IMPORTANT TOPICS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE):
TAPE
ONE, SIDE ONE:
Consultant
was born in 1929. During World War II, he resided on his parents’ farm near
Salem, New Mexico. They produced cotton and alfalfa on farmland that was cleared
of native growth (bosque).
Discusses
cotton harvesting before WWII and during the early years of the war. Harvesters
then included migrant laborers (families) from Texas and Oklahoma, school
children, women, and, of course, family labor. After a prisoner of war camp was
established in Hatch, New Mexico, his father utilized German prisoners of war
(POWs) to harvest cotton.
He
recalls the German POWs as being cooperative and “very pleasant” to work
with. His father, as an inducement, would provide the POWs with rolls or bread.
The POWs seemed healthy to the consultant. He does not remember working
alongside the POWs, who were under guard, but recalls letting one take a ride on
his horse. The guard cautioned him not to do that again.
The
consultant also relates one occasion when he observed the POWs being held under
guard on the high school’s football field. He states they were on
“strike,” but the strike did not last long, as they were held outside in the
hot sun.
Porter
did not have any negative feelings about the POWs. He feels that their use as
agricultural laborers was good not only for the farmers, but also for the
prisoners’ mental
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