A Slice of Stateside War Time Life
 

Last Christmas I made a post about a very used fighting knife that my Grandfather carried through Japan and back and a German bayonet... and a German pistol. The thread is here: http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=31864

In that thread I talked a little about German POWs that our dear friend and neighbor, Mr. Dahmer, hired through the War Dept. Many years before he died, Mr. D. sold his farm to my Dad with right of survivorship. We have been slowly cleaning and remodeling the mid/late 1800s farmhouse and my wife and I, with our children, had a garden there over the summer. A few weeks ago when we finished digging the potatoes, I was helping Dad move some furniture and happened upon an old suitcase. Inside was just about every Christmas and Birthday card Mr. D. ever received and several very interesting items:

Here is a page from his diary. On Sept 15, 1945 Mr. D. went on a picnic and stopped in White Sulphur Springs (WSS), WV and "signed up for Germans to cut corn".
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Dahmer/001.jpg

I'm not sure if POWs were available to any farmer, any place in the US that had a POW camp nearby or if they were available only to farmers that were food suppliers to the War Dept. Mr. D. was 28 at the time and was not drafted because he was a food supplier. His brother Stanley went to the Navy and brother Eugene went to Italy via the Army.

The letter from the War Dept.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Dahmer/002.jpg

The Contract
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Dahmer/003.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Dahmer/004.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Dahmer/005.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Dahmer/006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Dahmer/008.jpg

and what he did with the Germans:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Dahmer/007.jpg

I've never seen or even heard of anything like these documents and thought some of you might enjoy them.

*I know some of you don't like Photobucket, but I couldn't get the photos to attach.

Oh and that long lost German pistol Mr. D gave to my dad... Dad was cleaning out an old Hoosier cabinet in the wash house and in the last drawer, in the last hand full of mouse nest was a heavy wad of rags:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04072.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04073.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04074.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04075.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04076.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04077.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04078.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04079.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04080.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSC04081.jpg

Not a Luger but a very prized pistol - mouse damage and all, and not bad for being wrapped in a rag and stored in an outbuilding for 69 years.

BTW, I don't know how the forum handles very large photos, but the originals are here:
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/dand...library/Dahmer

Also, if anyone can provide details on the pistol, that would be great!

That' looks like a 1934 model Beretta, likely in 9mm Corto which is .380 acp.

Mr Honey Bee
Thanks for the fascinating documents.:)
I grew up in Ventura County CA and we had a POW camp during the war. The German POWs where allowed to volunteer to pick lemons and oranges.AFAIK it was not mandatory.According to letters I have read ,most enjoyed their stay here and liked the weather. After the war the camp was dismantled. One time, I looked at one of the guard towers that had been moved to the back yard of a house for the kids to play on. :thumbup:

Here is some info on your 1934 Beretta 380/9mm corto pistol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beretta_M1934
Bob

There were POWs who did logging and other work in my home area.
Mostly Afrika Korps who were happy to be here.

There was controversy concerning some farm exemptions in those days.

my father was at Bastogne with the 506th and the general thinking was that they might not survive.

A wintery Saturday night in the middle of this a guy in a fur coat and new car stopped at the farmhouse and asked my grand dad for gas to get home. It was rationed at the time.

It was the rich kid down the road riding a farm exemption.
Gramps was a WW1 vet and apparently laid into the guy.
Another time some of them painted a house front yellow for another they considered a shirker.
we had a guy just behind me in school who ducked his obligation and fled to Canada. He still can't come home, Jimmy Carter pardon or not.

Thanks for the glimpse of life 69 years ago!