Drawbar
06-22-2008, 03:38 PM
Back during World War II, my Great Grandfather was quite the farmer, having one of the biggest potato farms in Waldo County. Well his boys were off fighting the German's and there was no real help to get the potatoes in. So he called up the War Dept and got some German POW's to come down from Bangor that were in a POW camp up there.
No hard feelings on our part. They did good, worked hard and were amazed by how our country was so immune to the war raging overseas. Anyway the potato crop was in, and like most years when the potatoes were in the barn, the cider barrels were rolled out and a good time was had by all.
Now these POW's, they had not had booze for quite some time, to say nothing about White Lightning of the quality my Great Grandfather could produce. It went down as smooth as silk, but kicked like a Clydesdale. Well about 9 o clock they were pretty well lit, but decided what the heck, minds well roll out some more. So they did and I guess they did not get back to the POW camp until the wee hours of the morning.
Now there was no way to hide this. The guards were pie-eyed, the prisoners were pie eyed and the commander of the base wanted to know what was going on. Fearing the POWs had caused Holy Rucuss and Mayham he put the questions to them until they said it was all my Great Grandfather's fault.
So down he comes, over an hour ride to ask what happened the day before. He asked if my Great Grandfather had rolled the cider barrels out, and he quickly informed that he had.
According to family history he said "What in blue blazes are you getting some POW's drunk for? You got 7 boys fighting them over seas and you are getting them drunk."
My Great Grandfather said "Yes I did, because my boys are overseas and I would not have got the potatoes in without them. They worked hard, did a good job and when the potatoes are in the potato house, we did out the cider barrels and enjoy ourselves, and that's just what we did."
Well now as they talked, the Commander of the Base and my Great Grandfather naturally had to taste this cider. Apparently when the commander went back to base he was as blitzed as the POWs and never once said a word to the War Dept on what happened at the potato farm.
Now this is an interesting story because people in town really hated my Great Grandfather. They hated the idea of POWs being treated so good when there were people dying over seas from the enemy. Ourselves, out of 7 boys that fought in world war two, only six came back. One of my Great Uncles was killed when his B-17 bomber was taken out over German.
Its been said that the way Americans treated the German POW's did a lot to foster later relations with Germans. I hope in some small way, my Great Grandfather and his insistence of rolling out the cider barrels that day, helped in that. :)
No hard feelings on our part. They did good, worked hard and were amazed by how our country was so immune to the war raging overseas. Anyway the potato crop was in, and like most years when the potatoes were in the barn, the cider barrels were rolled out and a good time was had by all.
Now these POW's, they had not had booze for quite some time, to say nothing about White Lightning of the quality my Great Grandfather could produce. It went down as smooth as silk, but kicked like a Clydesdale. Well about 9 o clock they were pretty well lit, but decided what the heck, minds well roll out some more. So they did and I guess they did not get back to the POW camp until the wee hours of the morning.
Now there was no way to hide this. The guards were pie-eyed, the prisoners were pie eyed and the commander of the base wanted to know what was going on. Fearing the POWs had caused Holy Rucuss and Mayham he put the questions to them until they said it was all my Great Grandfather's fault.
So down he comes, over an hour ride to ask what happened the day before. He asked if my Great Grandfather had rolled the cider barrels out, and he quickly informed that he had.
According to family history he said "What in blue blazes are you getting some POW's drunk for? You got 7 boys fighting them over seas and you are getting them drunk."
My Great Grandfather said "Yes I did, because my boys are overseas and I would not have got the potatoes in without them. They worked hard, did a good job and when the potatoes are in the potato house, we did out the cider barrels and enjoy ourselves, and that's just what we did."
Well now as they talked, the Commander of the Base and my Great Grandfather naturally had to taste this cider. Apparently when the commander went back to base he was as blitzed as the POWs and never once said a word to the War Dept on what happened at the potato farm.
Now this is an interesting story because people in town really hated my Great Grandfather. They hated the idea of POWs being treated so good when there were people dying over seas from the enemy. Ourselves, out of 7 boys that fought in world war two, only six came back. One of my Great Uncles was killed when his B-17 bomber was taken out over German.
Its been said that the way Americans treated the German POW's did a lot to foster later relations with Germans. I hope in some small way, my Great Grandfather and his insistence of rolling out the cider barrels that day, helped in that. :)