|
|
I
grew up in Greenville PA and
lived on N. Woods St. One
summer afternoon when I
was around 10 years old she
was out playing in the yard
with her friends. Word had
started to spread through
the neighbors that a German
POW had escaped from Camp
Reynolds and was seen
in their neighborhood. Soon
there were sirens of fire
trucks and police cars and
all the children were rushed
inside the houses. The area
was soon filled with a
flurry of activities with
police officers and
firefighters with their
trucks and cars. I remembered
her father saying that the
POW was not dangerous and
that he had no weapon and
was probably scared like a
little bunny that was being
hunted. I also remembers
hearing that somebody had
picked up
the POW who was hitchhiking
towards Greenville and apparently the driver did
not realize that the man he
picked up was a POW. A short
time later the POW was
captured and returned to the
POW stockade at Camp
Reynolds.
|
|
- Greenville PA Resident |
|
|
When I was 16 and a Junior
at Hickory High School I
used to to hitchhike after school up
to Camp Reynolds where I
worked in the Service Club
on 22nd Street as a "soda jerk".
I
would get to camp anywhere
from 2:30 to 3:30 PM and
work till 9
PM, I got paid $.50 an hour. |
|
I also worked at the PX
(Post Exchange) on 10th
Street and remember that the
beer there was "three-two
beer". While working at the
PX I could buy 3 candy bars
for $.25 and then I would
sell them for 3 for a
dollar. |
|
- Joe
Jones - Former Hermitage
Resident |
|
|
I grew up on property that
was part of the Army Camp
which was located along
Route 18 near 10th Street. I
was 13 years old I believe
at that point. The 85 acre
farm where my house was
located was not much of a
farm, we had one cow and one
horse. The property was
owned by my Uncle Don who
was a Professor at Ball
State. |
|
My dad had lived in the
house around
1908, which was built in
1888. He lived there until 1915 and then
he moved back to the house
in 1939 when I was around 10
or 11 years old. The
government bought the
property off my Uncle in
1942 as part of the Army
Camp. We did not move right away but shortly
afterwards. |
|
The house was moved shortly
after the government
purchased the property down
Route 18 a short ways. When
the war was over my Uncle
bought back 29 of the of the
original 85 acres which is
currently a trailer park. |
|
As
a young boy money was a big
thing and I was always
looking for a way to be able
to make some money. |
|
Before the Army Camp came I
worked
worked in the Templeton
potato farm getting four
cents a bushel in the summer.
|
|
While I was still
living in the house on the
camp before he had to move I
could see
bulldozer work being done
down 10th Street and I would
take water down for them and
they would give them $.50. |
|
I also
got a job in the PX on 10th
Street. I went down and
asked about a job and
they give me one. But my
dad wondered where I was
when he got home since I didn’t come
home when I was supposed to.
He found out about me
working at the PX and he
went down to the PX and
talked to them and discovered
I had
lied about my age and I got fired so
my job at the PX
lasted less than a day. |
|
I also sold newspapers for the
Record
Argus down by seven
street while the camp was
under construction. I would
stand down in that area
around the time that the
construction workers would
be leaving and sold the
newspapers
to them. |
|
I also
worked on tearing down the
barracks after the war while
the camp grounds and
buildings were being sold
off. We would cut the
buildings
into sections and then wewould
load the sections on a
flatbed truck and take them
down to where they were
loaded on railroad
cars. |
|
One other job I had while
the camp was being tore down
I was taken to one the
mess hall on Edgewood Drive,
the building was gone but
there was cement there about
the
size of a living room
perhaps. They give them a
sledgehammer to break up
cement. |
|
I remember the Rock View
School on seventh
Street down by where there
are gas
pumps are for trucks and
other vehicles today. |
|
I also remember MPs being
around Greenville walking around
making sure the soldier
stayed in line. My brother
and I at a
soda fountain. Greenville's
curfew was 9
o’clock and we didn’t get
out of work till 1030
because we helped close up
and mop the floors so we
needed a permit be
out past curfew. |
|
Another thing I remember is seeing the POWs
when the our family would be
coming from Sharon to
Greenville on a Sunday. My
parents would take drive
down through the camp so we
could see
the German POWs. |
|
- Jack
Miller - Former Reynolds
Area Resident |
|
|
My grandfather helped to
build the camp. |
|
- Slippery Rock Resident |
|
|
My grandfather was of
German descent and lived in
Greenville PA and was one of the
translators for the German
POWs held at Camp Reynolds. |
|
- Granddaughter |
|
|
My grandfather help to build
houses in Reynolds after the
camp was closed, he
worked for Greenville
Lumber. |
|
- Grandson |
|
|
My junior
choir at the Methodist
Church in Greenville, PA went down to the camp
and sang in the chapels
during Christmas time. |
|
I also remember being at the
first flag raising ceremony
in September 1942. This was
before the camp had its
first commander. There were
over 5000 people present. |
|
- Jerry Hodge |
|
|
As a young girl in Sandy
Lake PA I remember in 1944 I
was delivering newspapers.
In my paper bag along with
the newspapers I had a
flashlight and my cat. One
evening when I was
delivering newspapers,
shortly after dark I sensed
that someone was up ahead.
As I reached into my
newspaper bag to get my
flashlight my cat got
restless. When turning on
the flashlight I saw a man
up ahead. I screamed and
fortunately the local
sheriff was visiting
somebody at the nearby house
came out to investigate. He
discovered that the man was
a POW escapee from camp
Reynolds. The sheriff took
him into custody and he was
taken back to camp Reynolds. |
|
- Resident of Sandy Lake, PA |
|
|
My grandfather and great
grandfather bought one of
the buildings at the camp
and tore it down and hauled
it to Pymatuming Lake and
built a family cottage
there. |
|
My mother while traveling
with her parents from
Hermitage, PA to Greenville,
PA stopped by the camp to
see the POWs. She had always
been told the Germans were
monsters. She was shocked to
see young blonde haired &
blue eyed boys. |
|
- Laurie McCandless -
Daughter |
|
|
My grandfather was an MP at
Camp Reynolds during the
race riot and was involved
with the shooting that took
palce.mp during riot |
|
- Granddaughter |
|
|
My father worked for the
Pennsylvina Railroad which
transported men and supplies
to Camp Reynolds from New
Castle , PA.
|
|
- Grandson |
|
