Emily Paine Carter

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Pam Thomas' question for Neighbors came just in time for the Pearl Harbor Day publication: Could we find any information about a World War II "internment camp" on or near today's Yokohama Tire Corp. plant in Salem?

She said that singer and Roanoke County substitute teacher Freda Fry (wife of architect Bob Fry, a co-worker of Pam's at Kinsey Shane, where Pam is an administrative assistant) had recently "captured [her] interest" with this story. Pam could not recall seeing any previous reports.

Lifelong (89 years) Salem resident Gertie Mae Wood Blankenship -- Pam's beloved aunt by marriage -- recalled a "camp" in the Troutville area, but not one on Salem's Indiana Street.

Neighbors editor and self-described "history geek" Erica Myatt was quite interested, having not heard such local lore.

Before sharing what I learned about area prisoner-of-war camps, here's the bizarre way in which I first heard of them: In Germany, from a former POW who had been imprisoned back here!

As a student in Germany in 1968, I was keenly aware of world politics for several reasons. Oh man, like how the Soviet military's streaming into nearby Czechoslovakia was stirring up a bit of excitement in our village.

And I liked to chat auf deutsch with the locals; German was also the language we students from 29 countries could share among ourselves -- with varying degrees of struggle. Sometimes I questioned my translating: Say, did my landlady's apple cake recipe really demand that the baker "stand naked on the bowl-rim with your apples and dive in"?

So, a German man asked where I was from, then smiled. I translated that he had lived in the "Blue" Virginia mountains during "the War" (WWII) and had "picked apples, ja, on land like this part of Germany, ja? Catawba." "Ja, ja, sure, uh-huh," I thought. Whoever heard of such a thing?!

But it was true. Check late Roanoke Times editor Norwood "Woody" Middleton's definitive "Salem: A Virginia Chronicle," for sale at the Salem Museum.

I also knew to count on trusty John Long. Via e-mail, the triple-threat scholar -- Salem Museum director, Roanoke College history professor and Roanoke Times op-ed columnist -- confirmed Salem's Indiana Street POW camp ... and Catawba's 1933 "CCC camp that is now a Baptist church camp."

At the museum I read John's file of 1943-44 Salem Times-Register stories on using German prisoners for cutting pulpwood in Roanoke County, and 1945 ones about closing POW camps.

And also a Roanoke Times & World-News report of a former German POW's June 1987 return visit to "Ward Haven": "POW found friendly war in Catawba prison camp." A similar fascinating story ran in this paper's June 12, 2000, edition: "Ex-POW finds Virginia campsite."

That latter piece stated that the Catawba POW camp ran from 1943-46; for two years prior, the place had been a mechanical training camp for American soldiers. It held about 150 soldiers.

In addition, Long told me about the late Don Piedmont's Salem Museum visit for "Play-by-Play" magazine. A sports topic? I asked. John explained that Don was researching this Catawba camp where his wife Dot had actually watched German POWs playing soccer: evidently the first soccer in the Roanoke area.

So, that was the prisoners' play. ... As for their work, John found a faded contract; POWs had been paid 35 cents a day, he said. According to this paper's 2000 article, Botetourt's Ikenberry and Layman orchards paid 80 cents a day ... for picking apples. Ja, just like that German fellow had insisted to me almost 40 years ago.

Do you have stories or photos of such Southwest Virginia POW employers or camps, especially the one in Salem, for possible use in a future story? E-mail emily.carter07@gmail.com.