One in a collection by Allen Bachoroski,
Local Historical Writer,
Tales Along the
Highway of Legends
Note: This
is one in a series of historical stories about local families
in the Trinidad region.
Click here to find out more
about how these stories were collected.
The following was first written for the Oakland Tribune
on May 3, 1964. It is about a prisoner who spent time
at the Prisoner of War Camp near Trinidad. Reunions for
the U.S. officers, soldiers and clerks is still held annually
in Trinidad. When Gunther Keger and his family went back
to Trinidad to see the Prisoner of War Camp he got the
idea of a reunion.
While he and his wife, Ursula, were wandering around
looking for someone he knew from those years, she noticed
an old building that turned out to be a museum. After
they signed the register, the curator asked them question
townsfolk generally ask tourist, and discovered Kerger's
background.
Once he had found out who they were, he asked them to
return in an hour. When they returned, the mayor and an
official city delegation greeted them. For two days the
family was given a royal fete. They ate and drank and
met people who were happy to welcome Kerger back "home."
They went to the camp outside the city in a chauffeur
driven limousine. "The buildings were no longer there,"
he said, "only the foundation." But he found
a tree his brother, Sigfried, had planted 18 years ago.
"It had grown tremendously, but it brought back so
many memories to see it still there," he said. The
mayor conceived the idea of a reunion there. Reunions
have been held annually in Germany, but because of travel
expenses nothing had ever been scheduled for Trinidad.
Eight of the 22 ex-POW's will be accompanied by their
wives at the five-day reunion, which will include visits
with community residents who befriended them in wartime.
Efforts also are being made to contact American Army officers
who were stationed at the camp.
Kerger looks a little sad whenever he speaks of the
reunion. Even though he might not make the trip, he knows
he'll be remembered. His exploits on his company's championship
soccer team grew into a legend during his stay at the
camp. He was goalkeeper. "I had a soft job at the
camp-washing dishes and doing odd jobs in the kitchen
because I played soccer," he recalled.
Kerger was the last person to leave the camp when it
closed in February, 1946. He had been there since June,
1944. He got there the hard way. After being taken prisoner
in May, 1943, in North Africa (he was a paratrooper; under
General Rommel), he was transported to Alabama. ("I
picked a lot of cotton there," he said.) He then
went to Florida, "My brother was in Colorado, and
the government allowed prisoners to transfer to camps
where they had close relatives," he said.
(Note:
if you have Photos of this family or know of anyone that
does, please have them get in touch with us so that we
might share some photos of the family here)