Prisoner of War Camps in Salina Utah

My name is Jessie Hall and my Grandpa wrote this story, this is his eye witness account.

My name is Rex Veroughn Torgenson and I was born November 3, 1931 (over the river) during the Great Depression. I lived in house in Salina Utah next door to my Grandmother.

When the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp (CCC) began I was only 3 years old. And one was built 600 feet from my front door.  The young men that were in the camps worked for the forest service. They were really nice guys, and did a lot of hard work. When I was around the age of 6 I used to take my empty REX Lard buckets to the mess hall and they would fill them with any extra food they had. They made me their mascot and I hung out at the camps with them all the time.

It was My Mother, Father, 3 sisters, 1 brother, and I. My father worked hauling gravel to make streets; he would use a team of horses and wagon, and “over the river” in the fields. So that extra food really helped. My father signed up for WWI, but they would not take him because he was married. My older brother Thad was in WWII, I was in the Korean War, and my younger brother Lynn was in the Vietnam War. We all survived.

I was 10 when the war started with Japan on December 7, 1941. All the men in the CCC camps were recruited to the army and by July 1942 the CC’s left Salina. 

When WWII started with Japan the US Government took everyone who even looked oriental from the west coast and put them into to “Intern Camps”.  They took them even if they had citizen ship. They even lost their homes and business. A Japanese intern camp was built in Delta Utah and they needed coal to keep them warm. So they sent approximately 40 small trucks to Salina up I-70 which was a dirt road at a time. They parked in front of our house leading to the CCC camp and stayed the night there. The next morning they went up to the Severe Valley coal mine and loaded up with coal and stayed back in the CCC camp that night. They made several trips to the CCC camp to get coal and always stayed the night there.  

After that most of the buildings were taken down and canvas tents with wooden floors were put in their place. There was also a 4 foot barb wire fence put in around the perimeter. That’s when they brought in Italian Prisoners of War. They seemed to be treated well, well fed and taken care of. They lived there for a year working in the beet fields because all our men were off to war. 

When the Italian left the CCC camp was reinforced for the German POW’s with a 10 foot barbwire fence and 3 gun towers overlooking the entire camp. The German POW’s were brought in by being marched through town up Main Street from the train station to the POW camp. The young men were between the ages of 17 and 24. Everyone treated them just regular guys they spoke a little English and used hand gestures, we were easily able to communicate. I remember working in the beat fields with them and there was always an armed guard present.

  The war had just ended and on the night of July 8, 1945 around midnight I was in bed sleeping. I heard a few seconds of intensely loud rapid gun fire. It scared us so bad we all jumped out of bed. Scared to death I looked out the window to see my Uncle Sharp Rassmussen running across the street with his rifle. My father was on the mountain at the time working. We still did not know what was happening so my Uncle stayed with us in our house with his rifle clutched in his hands, while his son who was home on leave from WWII stayed with their family.  Shortly after a pickup truck with a loud speaker drove through the town saying “everything is under control, everything is fine”. 

Wounded German POW’s were spread across my Grandmothers front lawn, it was dark but we walked next door anyway. We were promptly told to go home. 

It was impossible to sleep that night because we still didn’t know exactly what had happened. 

The next morning we found out that an American soldier, Private Clarence V. Bertucci, climbed up to the guard tower, loaded the .30 caliber M1917 Browning machine gun and opened fire on the tents of the sleeping Germans. He hit 30 of the 43 tents. He killed 9 and injured 20. Six were killed immediately, 2 died at a local hospital, and one died after being taken to Salt Lake City for severe medical attention.

Near the end of the war the German POW’s left. Our men were still at war so Mexican labors were brought into the camps to work the fields. They spoke broken English and were paid. In 1945 our men came home from war and the Mexican labors went back to Mexico.  

The camp was eventually taken down and it was made into a rodeo grounds.

 They left 2 or 3 buildings that at this time are still being used by the city. 

I was married in February 20, 1950. I went into the service February 1951 and got out February 1955. 

 When I tell people about the Camps they have never heard about them before and I would like to get this piece of history known.

Rex V Torgenson