Prisoners of War in New Mexico Agriculture

Abstract of Interview

CONSULTANT:  Lupe Peralta Rivera  

TAPE NUMBER:  RG2000-103

DATE OF BIRTH: February 24, 1919

SEX: Female  

DATE(S) OF INTERVIEW: July 28, 2000

LOCATION OF INTERVIEW: Lordsburg, New Mexico  

INTERVIEWER: Molly Pressler

SOURCE OF INTERVIEW:  NMF&RHM_x____OTHER__________  

TRANSCRIBED:   YES___x____            NO_______

NUMBER OF TAPES: One

ABSTRACTOR: Sylvia Wheeler  

DATE ABSTRACTED: April 27, 2001

QUALITY OF RECORDING (SPECIFY): Good

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: Employment as a clerk at Camp Lordsburg during 1944.

DATE RANGE: 1944

ABSTRACT (IMPORTANT TOPICS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE):

TAPE ONE:

Lupe Rivera was a clerk at the prisoner of war (POW) camp near Lordsburg during World War II.  The camp first housed Japanese internees, then German POWs. She worked at the camp in 1944.  Some POWs did janitorial work in her building.  She saw the trucks taking prisoners out to the farms early in the morning and returning them late in the afternoon.

She felt some of the military personnel were very “military” in their approach to her work.

She enjoyed dancing with the American soldiers at the camp mess hall.  The camps formed their own bands.  Around fifty, or half, of the soldiers attended the dances.

She worked only six months at Camp Lordsburg.  After, she became the city secretary for Lordsburg for thirty-eight years.

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