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No Pampering, Bonner Finds Rumors Exploded By Congressman’s Visit to POW Camp German prisoners of war that are housed in the tent-camp at Ahoskie and who, under the supervision of a United States Army detachment, are furnishing labor for log-woods, sawmills, farming and other war-essential industries in this area are not pampered, over-fed, or permitted to waste the food that is supplied them by the officers and men of the United States army who are their guards. On the other hand, the Germans are as well-housed in their tents as are the United States soldiers who are their guards. The Germans are given enough of good, substantial food to keep them in good physical condition for the labor they perform. Rations for the 213 Germans housed in the camp at the present time are issued to the German cooks by the sergeant in charge of the American soldiers’ mess, and these rations are accounted for carefully according to the Army’s accurate supply accounting methods. The German cooks get enough reactions to feed their men, but not enough to waste. Bonner’s Conclusions These were the conclusions of Congressman Herbert C. Bonner who, with a reporter from this newspaper, made a personal inspection of the Prison of War camp at Ahoskie last Thursday. The personal inspection, a purely unofficial visit of which the camp officials were not notified in advance, was made by Congressman Bonner to see for himself, he said, how the German prisoners were being treated. In recent weeks he has received many letters and telegrams from this section complaining about the soft treatment of German prisoners, together with complaints that German prisoners were enjoying bountiful supplies of rationed foods that civilians are unable to purchase in the store, and that the Germans were wasting good food while American civilians went hungry. Many of the letters he has received were bitter in their complaints, Congressman Bonner said, particularly in recent weeks since it has been revealed that American war prisoners have been under-fed and mistreated in some German prison camps that have been recaptured by the Allied armies advancing into Germany. “The resentment of the mothers and fathers of American boys who are fighting in Germany, some dying in battle and others held in German prison camps, may well be expected when they read in the newspapers about the mistreatment and starvation undergone by American soldiers in prison camps in Germany and they compare this treatment with that being given to healthy, well-fed German prisoners in their midst here in America. They, the mothers and fathers themselves, are rationed on many items of food and they can’t get many of the small luxuries they used to enjoy. It is natural that they should resent the treatment of Americans by the Germans, and they have a right to question the manner in which we handle the Germans here and to complain when they see or hear of waste or pampering or coddling of these prisoners,” Bonner said. Treated as Prisoners “But the facts, as I have found them on this visit, indicate to me that these prisoners are receiving only what prisoners of war are entitled to receive under the international rules for treatment of prisoners of war under the Geneva convention. They are being treated as prisoners, treated humanely, and in strict conformity with this country’s agreements. They are treated just as American prisoners of war in Germany should be treated, no better and no worse. “Like the mothers and fathers of the American boys who have been writing to me, it makes my blood boil when I hear of the suffering and mistreatment and starvation of American prisoners by the Germans. That means that the Germans are not keeping their agreement with respect to treatment of war prisoners, while here in America we are. But I think we want to continue to keep our agreement and treat these men, although they are prisoners of war and our enemies, as human beings and send them back to their homes when we have finally crushed Hitler so that they will have respect and understanding for the United States and of democracy, a country and a kind of government that keeps agreements and where men are treated as men, not as brutes and slaves.” Bonner said after he had concluded a detailed inspection of the camp. The inspection included garbage pails, kitchen, storage rooms, the camp exchange where the Germans buy cigarettes, candy and toilet articles, and the recreation tent where the prisoners have a single pool table, a few American newspapers, a phonograph and a few books in the German language. Some of the Complaints Among the complaints and rumors that had reached hims in Washington and caused his decision to use a short vacation from his duties in Congress to get first-hand information on conditions in the Prisoners of War Camps, the Congressman said, was one that the German prisoners had received a solid carload of condensed milk and were issued a can each day while babies in this section were starving for lack of milk. There were reports also of bountiful rations of meats and beef and of waste of food by the Germans. Bonner checked the garbage pails carefully, one by one, finding little evidence of either of waste from the kitchens or scraps left by the men. But he did not stop with looking, he checked over the camp records of supplies and the daily menu. Then he called for the prisoners’ “spokesman”, a German who speaks some English, and with him and the Army’s own camp interpreter, Sgt. Guttu, he questioned German cooks, the camp’s mess sergeant, and all concerned. Bonner apparently was satisfied that there was no waste and that the Germans were not over-fed. On the other hand, it was apparant that the Army was giving the Germans enough to eat and keeping them in good physical condition. Warns Prisoners At the close of the questioning, Bonner turned to the German camp “spokesman” and told him the reason for his visit to the camp. Speaking slowly, but with earnestness, so that the German could understand his words, Bonner told him about the resentment of the people of this section toward the German Army for its treatment of American prisoners, and warned him that the best thing he could do for the Germans in the camp would be to tell them to do a good day’s work in return for their good treatment; to and impress on them appreciation for the fact that United States keeps its promises and would continue to keep its promises, but the conduct of the Germans would also determine the action that the country would take in the future. Bonner had inspected the prison camp at Williamston the day before coming to Ahoskie. They Didn’t Dance A recent rumor concerning the Ahoskie camp, which on investigation proved wholly unfounded, was that German prisoners of war had been given a dance in the Ahoskie municipal building, with young ladies from Ahoskie as their dancing partners. This rumor, reported to Washington and to Army authorities, brought on an official investigation by the Army which proved it to be without foundation. A dance was given, under the sponsorship of St. Thomas’ Catholic church, at the Ahoskie municipal building for the United States Army personnel at the camp and attended by a number of Ahoskie people, young ladies and married couples. No German prisoners were allowed out of their enclosure at the camp that evening, the investigation by Army officers sent to Ahoskie from Camp Butner and Atlanta revealed, and the dance was attended only by the officers and men of United States Army. Several Ahoskie citizens who attended the event, including Father Giles Wade, pastor of St. Thomas’ church, who arranged for the entertainment, were questioned by the Army officers. Statements that the Germans at the camp have a plentiful supply of candy and cigarettes were found to be unfounded, according to Bonner’s investigation. Cigarettes and candy may be bought in the prison enclosure from the camp-exchange whenever these are available, but under rationing rules in effect at the camp no prisoner is allowed to buy more than one package every two days. The prisoners also are allowed to buy one bottle of beer per day, a brew of 3.2 alcoholic content, which is the allowance permitted under the Geneva convention, it was learned. The prisoners are permitted to have radios and listen to all American news broadcasts.