My father (Billy Lee Mick Sr.) told me that he was a water boy for German prisoners. Not sure of any other information, but he did tell me that they were nice to him. He passed away in 1985. I do know that he attended high school in Blytheville, Arkansas. I assumed that the prisoners were close to that area or working there.

In 2001, I hosted an Austrian librarian who was on an exchange. When asked what he wanted to see, he said, “a cotton field.” It turns out that his father was a conscript in the German army and had spent time in a POW camp in Arkansas. He said his father often spoke of the heat and dust. He hated picking “plant wool,” which is how the librarian described cotton.
The Italian POW camps have not been very well studied, as far as I know. Prof. Bill Shea at UA–Monticello has written and spoken on POW camps in Arkansas. He tells a really funny story about how the newly arrived Italian POWs at Monticello were disappointed that there were no “mountains” in Monticello. Also, they were downright offended when they went to the only music store in Monticello and could not locate any operas by Verdi.


 I grew up in southwest Arkansas. I was born in Nashville in Howard County on July 27, 1934, and recall the prisoners working in the timber industry during WWII. I don’t recall ever seeing one of them but we knew they were in the area between Nashville and Murfreesboro. On July 4, 1944, I recall having a couple of nickels and wanted to buy a Coke. There were none to be found. We were told that all were taken to the Germans that week. There is a Coca-Cola plant in Nashville.