German prisoners of war were held at Camp Howze in Cooke County in 1943. They were allowed to do day work on farms and other businesses for about a dollar a day. I know some were employed by Morrison Mill in Denton. We needed laborers, so Dad prepared a 1940 Dodge one and a half ton flat bed truck with a six cylinder engine to haul the prisoners in. He built wooden walls on the bed and covered the top with a pitched roof tarp that would allow the rain to drain off.

Generally, three or four armed guards came with twenty prisoners. The work detail usually cut wood from the Campbell bottom land at Big Elm Creek. The wood was sold to help pay the prison labor and the guard’s expenses.

As a thirteen year old, I was interested in learning about these enemy soldiers and was surprised at their friendliness. Much to my amazement, they liked the prison life and work. Some would bring German chocolate candy to share with me. Others would tell me they wished to stay in America as they feared for their life under Nazi rule.

One day a German friend asked me to talk to the guard to see if he would allow the German to walk across the field – about three hundred yards away – to have privacy in order to relax and relieve himself. He knew the guard would tell him no, and asked me to talk to the guard for him. Please. So I told the guard the prisoner was my very good friend and he just needed a bit of privacy in order to relax and relieve himself. The guard told me he could not allow this as the prisoner might escape.

I begged and pleaded and whimpered a bit, so finally the guard shouted that if the SOB escaped, I would be accountable and have to go track him down. The prisoner had been gone about fifteen minutes when the other Germans came around and wanted to do the same thing. The guard yelled, "NO!" I was really beginning to get nervous by this time. The other Germans grinned and made fun of how I had been taken advantage of. So I told the guard I would go get the prisoner, but the guard loudly said, "NO!"

The next few minutes were certainly among the longest the Lord and I have ever spent together. Finally, I saw the bushes moving and yelled, "Here he comes!" All work ceased as everyone watched my German friend walk back across the field. He assured me there was no way he would attempt to escape. Then they all went back to cutting down trees. I truly believe the beavers chew trees down faster than those prisoners could chop one, but the afternoon had been exciting for all of us.

The photo this week is of downtown Aubrey on the April morning in 1918 after the storm. I would like to thank the Uncle Ed Jones family for providing this picture to me some many years ago. As you closely examine in the far left, the light colored building that housed the Aubrey Argus. This Argus building is still in use today. It is the red brick building just north of the present City Hall. No cars are obvious in the photo. The saloon, blacksmith shop, the meat market, and the Case implement house to the extreme right were in ruins from this tornado. I am not sure that I have mentioned in previous stories, but we have an old organ that is on display in the hardware store that survived the storm only because it was removed just minutes before the tornado completely destroyed the Methodist Church. The organ was used in each week’s service and was transported each time to the church in my grandads wagon. My Aunt was the organist at the church and would practice during the week on the organ at her home which is the house where I live now. My much loved cousin Billie, so graciously gave me the organ to bring back home to share its beauty with other friends and relatives in Aubrey. I shall always be grateful for this very prized work of art and welcome anyone to drop in and just ask to see it, because somehow the Lord intended for this instrument to survive and exist to this day. More next week for more talk from under the tipi.

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