Learning & Preserving Our Heritage!
My Grandfather was a POW in Camp Alva, his Name was Karl Wegmann from Theilheim, near Wuerzburg, Germany. He was an Air Force Soldier in North Afrika and came to the US in 1943. Grandma told me he worked in the Camp Kitchen? Anyone remember him, please contact me. It is very importent for me. My Grandfather passed away in 1982 so there is not much information left. Thanks. — Mario - Email: MW2372@t-online.de
I’ve been trying to get information on German POW Camps in Oklahoma during WW2. I am having poor luck at finding sources for this. I know there was one at Alva, and El Reno but am sure there must have been more. My dad helped construct the one at Alva prior to his shipping out to the Navy Construction Battalions otherwise known as the CB’s. I have heard that the one at Alva was reserved for the hard core “Nazi” prisoners. I have talked to one person in Attica, Kansas, who was allowed to help build the POW camp at Alva but was not allowed to continue working there once the prisoners started coming in. His folks were German and he spoke German so they dismissed him. Mrs. Sanderson, my Dorm Mother at Shockley Hall, was a little girl at the time and she remembers them being taken off the trains and marched out to the camp south of town. Is there some site that would have a list of all the POW/Relocation Camps in the US? I am a third generation “Okie” and my Grandmother was one of the original homesteaders who settled in the Cherokee Strip. She lived to be a 103 and I was able to get a lot of history from her. Thanks for the help.” — Contact: Dean Gerber - Email: SANDHILL13@aol.com
I do have question concerning army personnel (guards) at the Alva camp. My biological father, James E. Kern, was stationed at the Alva Camp. I have been trying to locate him for over 35 years to no avail. Do you know of any list of army personnel that was stationed at the Alva Camp or of anyone I might contact that could provide that type of information? I have previously conversed with local Alva personnel who worked at the camp but no one remembers my father being there? I would greatly appreciate any information or suggestions you might have. Thank you. — Larry Johnson - Email: VillainMoonquake@worldnet.att.net