227711 PFC. Arthur Ray Walton United States Army from:Salem, IN Arthur R. Walton was a POW from January until April 1945
The following quotes are from PFC Art Walton: Often times people describe conditions here as not to bad but these are usually people who were in transit at the camp. Art was not, he was a prisoner and tells of different conditions for those who were being held at the camp who were not going to be shipped somewhere else. They were allowed to write letters home but the Germans would black out anything they wanted too of course.
"Daily rations were a potato and bread covered in sawdust". What Art refers to as bread covered in sawdust is not far off. In fact sawdust was used in the making of the bread often times along with normal flour, this was due to shortages of wheat. So they would use sawdust as well.
"A lot of guys died every day, and the Germans would throw the bodies into this big pit, and they didn't even cover them up. The stench was like nothing else." This too was common, especially with any who were Russian POWs because the Germans considered them sub-human.
A German guard either liked or took pity on Art and "gave me extra food to eat and share with other guys."
"Because it was winter, they would make us take off our pants and throw them out the door every night, so you wouldn't try to escape. And you would go get them in the morning." But the Germans weren't aware that when Art was brought to the camp he had been wearing three pairs of pants during the winter. "They never caught me."
"I wouldn't salute those German officers so they said they were gonna put me on trial, my guess is that it meant they were gonna shoot me". According to Art, his trial was supposed to be in May, but the camp was liberated in April. "Those tanks just came right through the fence and they started shooting the Germans. I was worried about the one guard coz he had been bringing us food and I hoped they didn't at least kill him."
"I used to walk the fence line all the time coz I didn't want to just sit inside all day, a lot of the guys just gave up and would lay there." One reason for this may be the fact that many POWs have said that guys would be moaning, or crying all the time. And this may simply have been a way for him to cope. After Art had returned to his home, he often would be found in the middle of the night walking the fence line at his home. This happened even into his old age.
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