Prisoners of War in New Mexico Agriculture
Abstract of Interview
CONSULTANT: Dwight L. Sharp
TAPE NUMBER: RG2000-070
DATE OF BIRTH: July 29, 1938
SEX: Male
DATE(S) OF INTERVIEW: June 19, 2000
LOCATION OF INTERVIEW: Corazzi residence, Roswell, New Mexico
INTERVIEWER: Marcie Palmer
SOURCE OF INTERVIEW: NMF&RHM___x__OTHER___________
TRANSCRIBED: YES____x___ NO_______
NUMBER OF TAPES: One
ABSTRACTOR: Palmer
DATE ABSTRACTED: October 10, 2000
QUALITY OF RECORDING (SPECIFY): Good
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: Describes German prisoner of war labor on his parents’ farm.
DATE RANGE: 1942-1947
ABSTRACT (IMPORTANT TOPICS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE):
TAPE ONE, SIDE ONE:
Dwight Sharp was three years of age when World War II started. His home was across from the prisoner of war camp at Orchard Park.. The camp was there until 1946 or 1947.
Sharp remembers watching the prisoners when they worked. His dad would go over and pick them up in a cotton trailer. The guard was carrying a gun which Sharp didn’t think the guards ever used.
He remembers his mother would make a pot of stew or chili or beans to feed the POWs and would buy sacks of apples and oranges for them. Sharp was not allowed to go up to the prisoners to give them the fruit but he could throw it to them. The prisoners would cheer him when he threw.
Dwight felt the POWs had enough to eat and thought perhaps his parents were providing extra so the POWs would work well for them.
When the POWs marched by the Sharp house, the consultant remembers their chatting, singing and whistling. They didn’t seem to be unhappy.
When the prisoners were working the farm to the west of the house, they would find guinea nests and they would have an egg fight, throwing eggs at each other.
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