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Johnson, John

About | Abstract

About

John Johnson, living in Lordsburg, New Mexico, recalls the prisoner of war camp located there during World War II.

Interviewee John Johnson, male, born in 1927
Date Range 1941-1945
Date & Location July 7, 2000, Johnson's Store, Lordsburg, New Mexico
Project Prisoners of War in New Mexico Agriculture
Region Southwest New Mexico
Number of Tapes 1
Transcribed December 18, 2000
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Abstract

Tape 1, Side A

John Johnson, born September 18, 1927, moved to Lordsburg, New Mexico in 1928. He first heard that a prisoner of war (POW) camp was to be located east of Lordsburg in 1941, after Pearl Harbor.

His father owned a fountain and gift shop where many of the soldiers stationed at the POW camp shopped. He felt that business would improve with the camp nearby.

First, the camp held Japanese-Americans as internees, then after they left Italians and German POWs were imprisoned there.

He remembers V-J Day, August 1945, as a big celebration. He joined the army at the tail end of the war.