|
|
I remember that Troop trains
leaving to embarkation
points had their blinds down
when they went through towns
n cities. |
|
Other things I remember are
that the men got paid in
cash at the end of the month
and that we used to ride our
bikes to the camp. |
|
- Dave Longetti |
|
|
Ellsworth “Bud” Lineman was
stationed at
the Camp. He later went to Europe
where he
got wounded in Anzio, Italy.
He was in a fox hole with 4 others
and
it was hit with shrapnel
metal. Two soldiers were
killed and Bud and one other
soldier were seriously wounded. |
|
- Brother Neal Lineman |
|
|
I remember
roller skating at one of
the Recreation halls after
the camp was closed. |
|
- Don
Smith |
|
|
I
remember an obstacle course behind the water
towers area and when the
Covered Bridge was the only
bridge across the Shenango River while the
camp was in operation. |
|
-
Mickey
McKnight - Local Resident |
|
We lived on a farm just
North of the rifle range. I
remember soldiers coming to
help around the farm. Some
of the soldiers wives may
have stayed at our place. I
remember Sgt. Warren's wife
sewing a dress for me.
George Woods was another
soldier I remember that our
family got to know. |
|
Another memory I have was
when a stray bullet from
from the rifle range almost
hit me while I was riding my
tricycle on the cellar doors
on the south side of the
house. I saw the bullet drop
on the cellars doors after
hitting the side of the
house. I took it to my dad,
boy was he ever mad. He went
straight down to the rifle
range and gave the officer
there a piece of his mind.
|
|
-
Rhonda Reichard - Local
Resident |
|
|
While I was attending Penn
high School in Greenville,
PA I worked at the camp when
I was 16 while it was being
built. I worked when I
was off from school and was
on the labor gang which
followed the carpenters
around picking up scraps, it
was a boring job. It was not
the most exciting Christmas
and Easter breaks. We worked
10 hr. days and were paid 75
cents an hour. I remember
the mud and the POW
Stockade. |
|
I also remember that I and a
lot of others guys who were
infatuated with daughter of
Colonel Sale, the camp's
Engineer who attended Penn
High. |
|
- Tom Hodge (1944 Penn High
School Graduate) |
|
|
I remember going to dances
at Camp reynolds' Service
Clubs. One in particular I
remember that our dance
cards were on apples on a
decorated tree that was part
of the decorations for thr
dance. |
|
- St. Paul's
Resdient |
|
|
When I was teaching
elementary school in
Greenville PA at the
Columbia Ave I remember
having several soldiers
children in my class. |
|
I also remember being at the 1944
Memorial Day by Brigidier Gen Ladd, the
Camp Reynolds Commander which was given
on the West steps of the old Penn High
School. |
|
- Former Greenville
School Teacher |
|
|
As a young girl I attended Hickory High
School. I remember seeing the barracks
and soldiers as I rode with my parents
as they rode past by the camp on Route
18 headed to Greenville, PA. I also
remember seeing the fencing around the
POW stockade. |
|
-
Ginny Haspel |
|
|
I was an alter boy at St.
Michael's Church in
Greenville, PA. I was in the
7th or 8th Grade around the
year 1944 or 1945. In the
summer, Two Priest, Father
Johnson and Cronin would go
down to Camp Reynolds on the
weekends to hold mass for
the POWS. There were roughly
20 to 25 POWs who would
attend the mass. The priest
would give us alter boys a
dime and we would go into a
PX and buy a larger
Hershey's
candy bar. It was quite an
experience for a young boy. |
|
- Don Perrotti |
|
|
We worked
the summer of 1946 tearing down the
camp. Orville was a laborer making 75
cents an hour and Eugene was a
carpenter's helper, he had his own saw,
and made 1.25 to 1.50
an hour (Eugene's dad helped build the camp). He
measured the sides, cut them and loaded
them on a truck and took them to the
train station and they were shipped out.
They also took urinals and stoves to the train
station. |
|
They had to join the union
and were in cash. They also remember
that the government subsidized
their salary, the contractor paying
$1.00 and the government paying 10 cents. |
|
They
remembered that nails were saved and
Orville spent his first 2 weeks
straightening nails. |
|
While
working they remember the saw a big chimney blown up. |
|
Another
memory they have is pulling out the
pillars that supported the barracks.
They needed someone to pull out
the pillars and since they had a truck
with a wrench they volunteered. The
pillars with 6"x6". They would wrap a
long line to the pillar and pulled them
out one at a time. Their attempt to do
several at a time was unsuccessful. |
|
They lived
in Fredonia and remember they could hear artillery
being shot. They also remember that one
of the barracks was used as a school
room for the elementary kids. |
|
-
Eugene Mecklin & Orville Patterson - Orville was
Eugene's brother in law |
|
|
My dad, Leonard worked at
tearing down the camp as a carpenter. He
was a blacksmith by trade. He used
to take me to lunch occasionally and I
got to see the soldiers. |
|
-
Gordan Urmson |
|
|
When the
camp was being built I remembers trucks
hauling gravel to the camp. I'm not sure
where they got the gravel but they came
from Fairview Township down through
Fredonia. Since they got paid by the
load they would move along pretty fast.
Police received complaints and set up
speed traps but the drivers caught wind
of it and set a system with flashing the
lights that let the others know that
there was a speed trap ahead. Finally
the police just give up and let them
run. |
|
-
Former Fredonia Resident |
|
|
This is a
story I heard about a man was taking his
12 year old boy out hunting for the 1st
time in Jefferson Twp near Mercer. While
hunting they ran into a couple of guys
who were looking for food. The man told
them that there were some apple trees
near by and they went on. The guys were
wearing jackets with PW on the back. It
ended up that the guys were escaped POWs
from Camp Reynolds. They were later
arrested hiding in a barn in the area. |
|
-
Charles Thrope - Area Resident |
|
|
I worked at the camp while
it was being built in 1942
as a water boy until winter
before school and weekends.
I quit at Christmas. |
|
- Glen Clark
(Worked at CBI) |
|
|
During Judy Garland's visit
to the camp I remember
seeing her at the Riverview
Hotel and she had been
drinking and her clothes and
hair were all messed up. |
|
-
Jack Brown (1944 Penn High
School Graduate) |
|
|
I lived in Camp Reynolds
sometime between 1946
and 1954 after the camp was
closed. |
|
- Julis Mifchnowski |
|
|
I worked at the 7th Street
PX and sold Cage Beer. |
|
- Bob Parce (Former
CB&I Emplyee) |
|
|
Her dad volunteered to paint
the water tower tanks (red &
white). |
|
Her husband worked at a PX
in the camp (he
called it being a glorified stockboy) before enlisting
in the Army Air Force. |
|
Heard that POWS were coming. |
|
- Mrs. Reimold (New Hamburg
resident) |
|
|
Remembers soldiers
guarding the railroad
exchange at Osgood Also
remembers the soldiers
marching through Hamburg and
his sister having to wait
till the soldiers went by to
get to school or back home.
Remembers the heavy
equipment clearing the ice
in GV His mother was a plane
watcher? at Love’s house on
Leech Road |
|
- Paul LeBarron |
|
