uniforms issued to German POWs in the US.

[1canpara]

That's a very cool jacket Leigh! Wow! What a great piece to have in your collection! During WWII my grandfather was a road builder and also built runways for some of the Commonwealth Air Training bases in Manitoba and was "given" dozens of German POWs to work for him doing this work. They were mostly Kriegsmarine and submariners and for the most part wore pieces of their original uniforms. My Mom tells me of the senior POW officer who wore a thick wool turtleneck sweater and his officers cap, but the Nazi eagle was taken off.

As time wore on, and their uniforms wore out, they were supplied with heavy denim overalls and jackets, and I remember seeing photos of them working in the woods and some were wearing their military caps.

 

My Mom also told me that without exception they were all very glad to be out of the war, were happy to be in Canada and no one ever tried to escape that she's aware of. Most of them were lonely and quite ordinary people who missed their families.

 

Rick

[USARV72]

Back in the 80's found a bunch of WWII GI shirts dyed black with PW in white on them. Wish I had kept one. There was a pallet of jump jackets with PW on them at Ft. Bragg back then, Robert may remember the talk at the N.C. shows back then.

[Rakkasan187]

Rick, and USARV72,

 

Thank you for remembering those accounts, it is always great to hear from members who either themselves recall or had family recall what they witnessed back in the days..

 

Leigh

[Mr.Jerry]

Just throwing this into the mix, but are you 100% sure that is a German POW? The reason I ask is that it looks like he is sitting in front of a large Buddha statue, and could be a US soldier somewhere in Asia. ??

[doyler]

Just throwing this into the mix, but are you 100% sure that is a German POW? The reason I ask is that it looks like he is sitting in front of a large Buddha statue, and could be a US soldier somewhere in Asia. ??

 

 

Appears to have the PW markings on the shirt and trousers.

[willysmb44]

My Mom also told me that without exception they were all very glad to be out of the war, were happy to be in Canada and no one ever tried to escape that she's aware of. Most of them were lonely and quite ordinary people who missed their families.

I'm sure most liked being out of the action in a decent place, but not all of them loved it there. Just Google Franz von Werra.