BRAGGS, Okla. (AP) — A former German prisoner of war who was locked up in Oklahoma at Camp Gruber has fulfilled what he says was a longtime dream to return to the site.
Franz May found a different scene than the one he remembers from 1944 when he set eyes on the remains of the camp on Friday.
The Tulsa World reports that only concrete slabs remain from the barracks and the guard towers have been demolished.
The 90-year-old May called Oklahoma his second home and said he wanted to return to express gratitude for the hospitality he was shown during the war and before he was repatriated to Germany.
May said he and other captured Germans were afraid what would happen once they surrendered to the Americans. But he says that anxiety was unfounded.