The Wilmington morning star., 1944-05-22
BY F. H. Jeter
State College Extension Editor


when I saw them stripped to the
waist in the warm spring sunshine
and engaged in such ordinary pas.
toral occupations as harvesting
truck crops.
Did not one notice the non-com.
missioned officer of the United
States Army standing in bored but
alert attention in the background
he would never know that those
blond boys out there in the field
were former German soldiers fill
ed with a lust to kill and arrogant
in a false assumption of superior
qualities which they did not pos
SeSS.
They looked as if they were &C
cepting an entirely new situation,
and they were doing first-class
work, although the observer could
not but feel that the apparent
meekness was only temporary.
There are 277 German prisoners
of war with 80 of them being non
commissioned officers located in
the N. Y. A. camp on the Carolina
Beach Highway near Wilmington
These men are under the super
vision of Lieut.. r. H. Hazel
Greenwood, South Carolina, com
officer of the camp, as
sisted by Lieut.. J. T. Hayes, ad-
officer. The Com
mandant has a group of IS men.
mostly non-commissioned officers,
to help him in handling the pris-
oners.
The prisoners are sent out indie
tails in the number and as the
farmers ask for them. With each
group goes a leader, usually one
of the German non commissioned
officers, and an interpreter. Oc-
casionally, the two jobs head up
in one person. But each detail is
in charge of it's own leader and
the farmer, employing the detail
for the day, gives his orders
through this leader.
I saw one detail working on the
90-acre truck farm belonging to
A. C. Setter. Out in the field the
men cut the lettuce according to
instructions and brought it in ham,
pers to the end of the rows where
it was repacked. The leader looked
on and talked with the various
ones in their native German Ian
guage. Back at the end of the
rows on the farm road where
the hampers were packed, stood
an armed corporal of the United
States Army, alert and poised but
with little to say. 1t was his job
to see that no prisoner escaped.
PLEASED WITH WORK
The Germans, likewise, on the
farm of A. Sondery, president Of
The Castle Hayne Growers and
Shippers Association, were busy
cutting and packing lettuce. A.
Slagle, secretary Of the associa-
lion, had six of the prisoners in
he packing sheds of the associa-
lion and Is cut in his own fields.
In each case, the growers said
hey were highly pleased with the
work done and that having this
extra labor made it possible for
he other labor to be used to bet
;er advantage.
One of the most pleased men
hat 1 visited wa Otto L. Leu
commercial dairyman
IN the New Bern road. Mr.. Leeu-
is milking about 60 cows
and all of the work is done by
German prisoners. The men not
only milk but they keep the barn
n tip-top shape, feed the cows and
wash them down for the milking.
Mr.. Leeuweenburg uses about
eight on his farm and eight in
he barns. The men work on a
six day week basis, arriving at
he farm about 6 o'clock each NOR
hing, finishing up the forenoon
chores by 10 o'clock and returning
again for the evening at four in
he afternoon and leaving at about
o'clock. Some of the men en-
ployed here had worked on dairy
farms in Germany, and it is said
that they almost run for the truck
when it comes to the internment
camp for them.
CAMP KEPT CLEAN -
This camp is nicely kept with
: e n, comfortable quarters,
spotless kitchen and dining hall,
a small infirmary, and a we'll
stocked exchange. Here, the men
spend their earnings, using h e
small books of canteen checks
With which they are paid for their
abor. Under the plan as worked
'ut, the prisoners are paid by the
government according to work
lone and hours employed. The
farmers pay the government.
lieut.. Hazel showed me several
checks paid by farmers for labor
Turing the past month amounting
o $77.50, $173,40, and other vary
ng amounts. Mr.. Leeuwenburg,
or instance, paid $576 for labor
Turing the month in his dairy,
while Mr.. Setter had delivered a
,heck for $1,306.50 for work on his
ruck farm.
Some of the prisoners had been
working in the fertilizer plants for
which higher rate OF pay was
charged. Others had been in the
woods cutting pulp logs. If the men
will not work when work is avail
able, they get nothing. If no work