Though one of funnier events happened on the train while I was traveling from Ramstein to Marseille. An older German couple shared a breakfast cubicle with me and the German guy asked me if I was English, I told him no, I'm an American. He scowled at me and said, "I don't like Americans - took me a prisoner in 1942 - made me harvest corn in Tennessee!"
I told him, "sure beats the Russian Front". He smiled at that point and agreed and he paid for breakfast.
I recall going into a gasthaus in Erlenbach, small town north of Stuttgart, and inadvertently sitting at the stammtisch. When I realized my mistake and took myself to another table, the lone “Stammer” waved me back and bid me sit.
Another time, we had been posted as convoy road guides and about the same instant that I hopped out of the five quarter ton, the convoy roared past in the correct direction, no thanks to me. We were bivoucing and the opportunity was too good to pass up, so we went to the local gasthaus to get some decent chow, at around 11:30 AM. When we went in, in muddy boots, and the grandma snuck us a worried look through a partially opened kitchen door, which quickly closed. A minute or two later a tall fit looking elderly man appeared, presented himself at our table and smartly saluted, “Ich war auch Soldat, mit Luftwaffe in Greichenland!” He set gramma to work whipping up our Kalbsschnitzel mit Spätzle, and brought us Bier. Schmeckt gut!
“I don’t like Americans - took me a prisoner in 1942 - made me harvest corn in Tennessee!”
I go to a 4H camp here in Crossville, TN, that was a POW camp for German POws in WWII. It’s on POw Road.
We’ve heard that some of the prisoners were treated so well here, and they liked the area so much, that after the war many returned here to live.