Salisbury has, for one afternoon only, a glimpse into the past aboard the schoolbus-turned- museum now parked at the city lot across the street from the county library.For those who don't know, Maryland housed several thousand captured German soldiers, sailors and airmen across the state in POW camps. Locally, Hurlock, Cambridge and Somerset County were camp sites. Internees were often put to work in local programs. Many returned to the
States after the war to become U.S. citizens and raise families.
In addition to the static displays of photographs, maps, charts and memorabilia, the museum's curator (also the driver) has a 2o minute audiovisual presentation.
Very interesting and educational! And it's free!
The museum will only be here this afternoon, then it's on to Cambridge and Hurlock.
12 comments:
when and where in Cambridge will they be there?
Just to add a little known side to this, a lot of these POWs near the end of the war were kids. I served in the Army Reserve with one of them. He was only 15 when he was captured and put into detention. Eventually, he "grew up" and joined the US Army serving time there then later in the Army Reserve.
Sorry I missed the bus.
I remember POW's working on our farm in Princess Anne. I was only 5-6 yrs. old. Willy and Jorgensen were very friendly and appreciative of our family. It would be interesting to know more about them. However I do not even know their last name.
As I stated in a previous Historical Comments, the POW's from Westover helped lay the water and sewer lines along parts of Camden Ave. in Salisbury. My father remembered playing softball against them during the war. He said they were glad to be out of the war in Europe and Africa and were genuinely nice young men.
There was also a POW camp between Berlin and Ocean City. Some of the buildings which housed these German soldiers were moved to Ocean City after the war and became part of the Driftwood Apartments on St. Louis Avenue and 2nd Street. (This was torn down in 2006.)
The area of Berlin is known now as Germantown.
I wish I would have known earlier... I would have visited the exhibit today. Any idea if they'll return to Salisbury in the near future?
Visit the Buseum's website to see the schedule and more information.
http://www.traces.org/buseum.html
We have an email request to the organization requesting a schedule. We'll post it when we get it.
http://traces.org/Buseum_3_tour/Held%20in%20the%20Heartland%20Current/National-Tour-Schedule-2010-2011.htm
The next time it will be nearby is in Accomack on the 22nd of November.
I wish I had known about this when it was around here! I am writing a paper on the Shore in WWII and I'm focusing on the POW camps, so this would have been perfect for me :(
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