“A lot of the POWs chose to stay here after they were released rather than go back to Germany.”
I’ve read stories where many of the POWs in the midwest would work the farmer’s fields during the day - iirc they would almost be friends with the family eating with them, etc.
Found an interesting article below. After the German POWs went back to Europe some ended up in harsh camps in England or France. Or in Germany with no food. The farmer received numerous letters from his former POW workers. “Dear Mr. Teichman - It must be time to harvest your peaches - I don’t suppose you could get me back to help you!?”
Things were pretty much the same here as they were in the article you linked. The POWs were treated well - - much better than our soldiers were treated by the Germans.
The Camp Forrest POWs worked on farms and at factories and other businesses in the area. They worked on the farm where I live, which has been in my husband’s family since 1865. The POWs enjoyed working here because his grandparents were still alive and being of German descent, they spoke German and Grandma cooked German food.
Though he was born several years after the war ended, my husband remembers several of the POWs coming by to visit his dad and grandfather for several years afterwards.
When Camp Forrest closed down in ‘46, they sold everything they could sell. My husband’s grandfather and father bought three buildings - one being a hutment POWs lived in. I’ve seen photos of a couple of them, taken back in the day, and they were pretty nice. They were allowed to decorate them and make them feel as much like homes as possible.