GERMAN PRISIONERS ARRIVE
From the St. Croix Observer, Woodland ME
June 1 st, 1944 No. 6 (excerpts)
On the morning of May 5th Woodland presented an appearance quite similar to an old time Labor Day. A special train drawn by two engines arrived shortly before 8 am and nearly everybody in town gathered near the station to watch the unloading of the first detachment of German prisoners to arrive in this section of the country. There were 286 prisoners and 30 armed guards on the train, and surprising as it may seem, the prisoners were a jolly lot of young men ranging in age from 14 to 23 years.
They ere practically all Germans captured in the Tunisian campaign. They were loaded onto trucks bound for the C.C.C, Camp at Princeton, ME. The old camp has been converted into a Prison Camp enclosed by an electrically charged wire fence, 12 ft. high, with watchtowers and floodlights at each corner. The men are already at work peeling pulpwood for various mills in Eastern Maine (Eastern Pulpwood). They work in groups of 40 with one-armed guard for each 5 men. They Army collects the prevailing wage rate and each prisoner is allowed 80 cents a day and his board. A canteen has been established at the camp where beer and cigarettes can be purchased and the lucky guys get their liquid refreshment for about 1/2 of what it costs the citizens of this state.
