The escape of twenty-five German prisoners of war from Camp Papago Park in Tempe, Arizona, in late December 1944 caused an uproar. The caustic Walter Winchell, a famous newspaper columnist and radio commentator, accused the War Department of coddling the thousands of German prisoners held in more than 500 camps throughout the United States. Members of Congress saw the tunnel escape as a way to criticize the Provost Marshal General’s Office, the office in charge of prisoners of war, as the Allies closed in on Germany.

A local inquiry board was established by the commander of Camp Papago Park which took seventeen days for its investigation. The board heard fifty witnesses and compiled nearly two hundred pages of testimony.

The main question about the escape centered around the question of why the prisoners in Compound 1 A and 1 B did not have a head count on Christmas Eve day (a Sunday) until late in the afternoon instead of in the morning. According to one officer called to testify, no head counts were ever held at Papago Park on Sunday mornings–that is until December 31, 1944–a bit after the fact. There was also testimony about the movement of dirt for the faustball (volleyball) field, dirt which came from the digging of the 178-foot tunnel. Why had no one questioned the appearance of so much dirt? It seems the camp officers were convinced the ground was too hard to dig a tunnel through!

Although it was acknowledged that the camp was poorly run and its security was like a sieve, at the end of the inquiry three officers were admonished for so-called dereliction of duty under the 104th Articles of War. This article says that a commanding officer may impose disciplinary measures without court-martial proceedings unless those reprimanded request a trial. The commander of the camp retired soon afterward for health reasons.

However, the men of the camp were still up to their usual antics and in February 1945 they finally stirred up a hornet’s nest on Capitol Hill.

Next time: The swastika flag flying in the Arizona sunshine.

Copyright, Geraldine Birch. All rights reserved.