The Okie Legacy: Waynoka's Ice Plant & POW Memories - WWII...

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Volume 7 , Issue 28

2005

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Waynoka's Ice Plant & POW Memories - WWII...

"I forwarded the information about the POW camps in Oklahoma to Jim Linder who worked with the prisoners at the ice plant. Jim was in high school at the time. His response is below." -- Sandie

    Thanks for the story about the Ice Plant and the POW's. I was especially interested in the names of the escapees and attemptees. When the one man who slipped away from the Plant was captured just south of the Cimarron he protested vehemently that he was in Mexico and therefore couldn't be legally brought back. They generally had no idea how big this country was, no conception of the distances involved.

    The roster of prisoners approved for work-release at the plant may well have comprised 100 but I'm certain that there were never more than 60 on-site at any given time. Also they assuredly never "operated" the ice plant. That was always the job of American citizens since ammonia (the refrigerant in use) was both poisonous and violently explosive if not handled with due care and caution. All operations involving refrigeration equipment, cranes, compressors, condensers, pumps, cooling towers, conveyors, elevators and electrical switchboards were strictly off-limits to POWs.

    They were used to handle bulk ice in receiving-room, storage, sidetrack dock and the main elevated icing dock and were always under guard by the US army and under supervision by civilians (including me) as well as working in icing crews which included civilian men and boys from the community.

    The folks who operated the plant were Fletcher Kysar, James A Linder, Charles Fry, four stationary engineers, six crane-operators and three conveyor operators.

    The plant itself was built, owned and operated by Railways Ice Co of Chicago who had a longterm contract for icing and services with AT&SF Railways at Chicago IL, Kansas City MO, Waynoka OK, Belen NM, and Needles CA.

    In the view of our army the POWs were undoubtedly 'hardliners' since the bulk of them were elite troops of Rommel's Afrika Korps.

    I certainly remember Gene McGill as he once took me flying as part of his support of our WHS (Waynoka High School) Aeronautics class. That was my first flight and he let me take the stick briefly on straight and level. That's it for the memory bank today." -- Jim Linder
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