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Show t lb? Gunnison Vnlpy News Wed Ihg gq'ing Sun . t Anrll 6.. 198ft Prison Two winners of the recent Regional Utah History Fair for the Sanpete and Juab areas were Shonnie Siltre and OLD CCC BARRACKS: These old buildings have seen a lot of history in their time. Two students from Gunnison High recently won an Essay contest with stories of two events which took place at this location: the German Prisoner of War Camp Massacre; and the Civilian Conservation Corps. We thought our readers would enjoy reading their essays, and we are including one in this weeks issue, and will carry the other next week. r Card of Thanks We would like to express ourthanks to all jvho made the last nine months as pleasant as possible for our beloved husband and brother, Richard Criswell. To the doctors and nurses, especially Dr. Jan F. Christensen and the nurses in ,the Gunnison Public Notices to know what Government is transacting Your right NOTICE OF TRUSTEES SALE The following described property will be sold at public auction to the highest bidder, April 21 , 1 988 at the hour of 10:00 A.M., payable in lawful cash money of the United States at the time of sale, in the Hospital diiring his final week; for their tenderness and love shown and their compassidnate service. To - the Salina First Ward West Entrance Foyer of the Sanpete County Courthouse, Manti, Utah, for the purpose of foreclosing a TRUST DEED exe- Bishopric' the Relief Society for the ' lovely luncheon served. The many flowers, the food brought to the home, the many cards sent and money received. To those on the program and the Salina Legion Post 36. Your kindness will always be remembered. The Richard Criswell Family cuted by CALUTE LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, as Trustor, in favor of FIRST SECURITY BANK OF UTAH, as Beneficiary, recorded November29, 1 984 in Book 257 at Pages 374-37- 7 as Entry No. 277454, records of Sanpete County, Utah, covering real property located at property known as CALUTE LIMITED PARTNER- SHIP property at North Gunnison, Gunnison, Utah, and more particularly described as: Beginning at a point 11.00 feet era id's landscaping & ' Experienced yard Lawn Care - Reasonable! 529-759- 2 LAWNCARE 528-798- today! 6 Fuller O'Brian Paints wallpaper & Paint Glass Jensen 85 East Main Sailna - 529-345- 4 OLD WORLD CRAFTSMANSHIP MASTER GUMSMITHING Firearms! Specializing in Repairfof Finer Quality Inlays Engraving Carving r Checkering Stock Work Custom Rifles Rust Bluing Custom Hot Blue Restoration Metal Work Black Powder firearms Gunshop Martin's Custom .,48 East-Mai- Salina 529-712- North- east Ouarter of Section 17, Township 9 South, Range 1 East of the Salt Lake Base and Meridian; thence West 185.00 feet thence North 31 4.00 feet; thence North 83 degrees 1 828" East 1 97.34 feet; thence South 79.00 feet; thence West 11.00 feet; thence South 258.00 feet to the point of begin1 ning. Beginning at a point 536.00 feet North from the Center of the North- east Quarter of Section 1 7, Town- ship 1 9 South, Range 1 East of the Sait Lake Base and Meridian; thence West 196.00 feet; thence North 388.00 feet; thence East 196.00 feet; thence South 388.00 to the point of beginning. Notice of default was recorded December 16, 1987 as Entry No. 292269 in Book 284 at Pages 508-Records of Sanpete County, UT. Said sale will be made without covenant or warranty, express or implied, regarding title, possession or encumbrances. Dated March 1 8, 1 988. 9, D LAND TITLE A Utah Corporation, By: Merrill R. Published T rustee Ogden-V.- P. the GUNNISON VALLEY NEWS March 23. 30. and April 6, 1988. in THE STATE OF UTAH DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS , REquest for proposals may be obtained from the State of Utah, Department of Social Services, Bureau of Finance, 120 North 200 West, 3rd Floor, NE Corner, Salt Lake City, Utah 841 03. There will be a workshop held Wednesday, April 20, 1988 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Dept, of Social Services, 120 NOrth 200 West 2nd Floor, Rooms 201-20Please contact Muriel Kresser at 538-4- 1 00 by April 1 5, 1 988 if you wish to attend. Bidding closes at 3:00 p.m. 10 May, 1988, on the following: 2. By Darrin S. Higgins Phone WEst from the Center of the 9 SERVICE- - Req. No. 221 769- - Proposal for a service contract for child abuse prevention education, child abuse prevention public awareness and child abuse DSS-FAMIL- Y prevention training, for Juab, Piute, Millard, Sevier, Sanpete, and Wayne Counties. The Department reserves the right to reject any or all proposals; or to accept or reject the whole or any part of any proposal; or to waive any informality or technicality in any proposal in the best interest of the State. Only proposals giving a firm quotation properly signed will be accepted. Proposals and specifications will be furnished upon request. DOUGLAS F. PETERSON DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES Published in the SALINA SUN April 6, 1988. continued on page 9 Subscribe today! Call 528-311- 1 Stacy Preston In 1945 the roar of army trucks could be heard throughout the little tow n of Salina. These trucks were bringing soldiers, but not home from foreign lands, to the celebration and love of family and friends. These men were being taken away from home to a new frontier in a prison camp in the midst of an enemy land. They were completely defenseless against - and dependent upon - the U.S. Army. These men were German prisoners of War. Captured soldiers were being marched into prison camps all over the world. Once such camp was built in Salina, Utah. This camp had been used as a Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) campinthe 1930s. ButonJune8, 1945, it was occupied again by German Prisoners of War. As the German soldiers were brought into the camp, they saw the compound of 43 tents that would become their home. These homes would have to be shared with 6 to 8 other men. A total of 250 men were housed there. The barracks would also house American guards, the cook shack;, the stockade, and the three tall guard towers. Surrounding them was a six to eight foot barbed wire fence. This would be, for some, their home for the remainder of their lives. Life for the soldiers took on a melancholy routine. Each morning they would wake to the cool mountain air. They would dress and go to the cook shack for breakfast. Then they would be loaded onto big, open trucks and carried to farms throughout Sevier and Sanpete counties. The prisoners talked and joked as they were taken to the farms. When they arrived, they wereput to work in the sugar beet fields thinning and cropping beets with short handled hoes and long, notched knives. They would thin beets, pick up rocks; theyd do just about anything, said B.J. Crane. They were prisoners, and they were under guard. If they came out to the fields to thin beets, the guards stood there with a rifle, so that none of them could get away. When lunch time came they would find a place to sit, take out their lunches and rest. The farmers were not allowed to give the prisoners food. They, (the prisoners) brought their own lunch. The Army had them on a specific number of calories. That was supposed to be sufficient to take care of them, said Merle Madsen. After the prisoners finished their lunch, they would shuffle back to their jobs until evening. They would be loaded back onto the trucks to return to their compound of tents on the' hill. Their evenings would be spent in many ways, but it was all done under the supervision of American guards. They would sleep and again wake to the cool mountain air and to the same process of events. Through the spring and summer the prisoners waited for the day they would be going home. Many would not live to see that day. Although the prisoners were with the townspeople daily, the prisoners lives remained very isolated from their neighbors in town. American soldiers, appointed as overseers, controlled them while they were on the farms. We didnt communicate with them a lot because they were prisoners under guard - and you didnt have a lot of reason to talk to them. . said Mr. Crane. The farmers rarely came in contact with them. They didnt just go out and let us take care of them, said Mr. Madsen. The prisoners could not speak English, and the Deseret News noted that Not one of them is learning the language,. These and other factors kept the prisoners isolated. This isolation caused the townspeople to fear, but as time passed, their attitude changed. Following is one mans feelings about the prisoners: Well, I think the first impression . . .they (The townspeople) were concerned about it, real concerned about it. They were the enemy because they were prisoners of war . . .Theyre loyal to Germany. If they got away they might do something. They had to be guarded. But as far as wanting to hurt anyone individually, I dont think any of them did. Butmilitarily they might want to go don and blow up a railroad track or They certainly werent by any means dangerous people in our opinion. I slept outside all alone every something. Camp of Death Stacy Preston. Their essays were based on the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the night. I remember one night two of them ran across the foot of the bed. The guards were chasing them , but they w ere just out goofing around, Mr. Crane related. Most of the people got over the initial fear of the camp. Agriculture supervisors and placement officials stated they were good workers, and had done excellent work, and the cooperation of the Army in supplying them has saved many acres of valuable sugar production stated an excerpt from the Salina Sun. We would visit with them as kids and laugh at them. Theyd bring down their trucks and put them there in the Salina Creek. Theyd take buckets and wash their trucks. They were iust German boys just like our American Boys, homesick. They caused little said problem here in the community, Mr. Crane. Each day the prisoners went through their day and returned to the camp safe. There was no reason to fear. The U.S. Army took good care of them. Captain Kowman revealed the sanitary and physical conditions to be excellent and that no shortage of housing or food conditions were present, noted the Deseret News. All went well until one day, w hen the prisoners didn't wake to a calm, cool morning. They woke to a bitter, booming darkness. In the darkness of night could be heard the deafening vibrato of machine gun fire, then silence until the wail of sirens came, and all was chaotic. Private Clarence Bertucci was a dark, slender, soft spoken and intelligent man" according to the Tribune. He grew up in New Orleans, LA. In 1940, the year he turned 18, he enlisted in the Army. In 1945, the year this story took place, he was 23. He had not seen battle action, but spent eight months in England with the Field Artillery. He has been subject to three previous military actions, one for being absent without leave, refusing guard duty, and for missing a train, noted the Salina Sun. At the end of Private Bertuccis military career, he was a guard at the prison camp in Salina. This is where he reported to his post in the No. 1 watch tower at midnight on July 8, 1945. Why would Clarence destroy the lives of so many people? What was he thinking as he climbed the stairs of the watch tower? It was rumored that his brother had been killed over in the Pacific, said Lambertson. Later that night at 12:30 a.m. he took a 30 caliber air machine gun, went berserk and in fifteen seconds with three bursts of fire, emptied 250 rounds into the tents of sleeping prisoners, the Deseret News reported. Thirty of the 43 tents in the compound had been hit. The noise awakened nearly everyone in town. Many of the townspeople thought that the Nazis were making a break..., the Salina Sun noted. All the violence and tragedy of war had reached the prisoners. They couldn't understand what was happening..., the Deseret News stated. Pvt. Burtucci was removed from his post and taken to a guard house. Mrs. Lau, a nurse, was called. She in turn called Dr. Rae Noyes, Salinas only doctor. Then She went into the compound and helped the U.S. officers care for the wounded. They were taken in trucks to the hospital, where there was no room to care for them. The prisoners were treated in the hall, waiting room and on the law n of the hospital. In the commotion frightened prisoners cried out in pain. One young man kept crying anna, Anna. Guards encircled the hospital yard and townspeople gathered to see what had happened. The town newspaper editor said that there was blood running out the door of the hospital. There were several men who werent even able to be brought to the hospital. They were outside on stretchers, some were crying and some had passed away. It was a sad sight. Doctor Noyes was. ..taking care of these people as best he could. ..all night long, said Mr. Crane. were sent from Ambulances northern Utah to carry the 29 injured and dead prisoners to Camp Kearns and Bushnell Hospital, Brigham City. Soon after the remaining prisoners werc allowed to attend the burial service of eight of their friends at Ft. Douglas Cemetery. The surviving prisoners suffered from fear and pain. One of the things Ill never forget is for several nights after German Prisoner of War Camp, both based in Salina many years ago. the shooting the prisoners of war never went to bed. They were out in the compound all night long walking around. Y ou could feel for them being aw ay from home and having this happen. It is the saddest thing that could have happened...," said Mr. Crane. Soon the day came that they had been hoping for: the war ended in Europe, and all the surviving prisoners went home to Germany. They left just as they had come, quietly, without celebration, but far fewer in numbers. On August 17, 1945, the Ninth Service Command announced - after an investigation - that the private, was mentally unbalanced" when he had committed the act, noted the Tribune. Later Burtucci was discharged from the army. No one but Burtucci himself may ever know why. Something must have happened to him, said Mrs. Marry Bertucci, adding that she could not understand her sons action, the Deseret News explained. The Great American Frontier was not kind to eight young German soldiers. These men entered this frontier as prisoners of war and left as bodies in But 31 years later no forgotten graves one on the staff at Fort Douglas knew the circumstances of the deaths. No one remembered..., the Tribune concluded. Alumni from Dixie Dixie College, St. George, is seeking alumni of its program bureau for a 20 year reunion to be held April 16, at the college. during The reunion is being held to honor the recent retirement of Roene DiFiore, who completed twenty years of teaching music at Dixie in 1987. Mrs. DiFiore also taught music in Sevier County for many years. Names and addresses of alumni are needed. Anyone having information that would help locate them are asked to contact Dorothy Bailey, Dixie College Alumni Association, extension 324. 673-481- T I I I I I I I I I I REPAIR AND SERVICE! ! I I I I l! Bicycles I Lawnmowers Small Engine i I Toro & Snapper Lawnmowers in Stock! 1 1 I I I I I I L Natural Gas Your best energy value. NEW Energy Efficient Censible 5 Gas Water Heaters from State INSTRUCTOR SOUGHT Gas Mooets 40 50 gallon Snow College is seeking an Instructor of Chemistry. M.S. or Ph.D. in Chemistry with related work experience required. Desired starting date September 6, 1988. Application deadline is April 29, 1988. Interested persons send resume, transcripts, letter of application and three (3) letters of recommendation to : Personel Office, Snow College, 150 E. College Ave., Ephraim, UT 75 m 20 30 ana 100 capacities NATURAL GAS SAVES! ANNUAL COSTS NATURAL GAS 165-19- 4 'Based upon producing watorperday OTHER ENERGY SOURCE ' 386-43- 1 64 gallon of J.J.W.D 425 South State Salina, Utah 529-748- 8 hot |