strange days of roanoke German POWs in Roanoke ON THE NIGHT OF of October 25, 1944, the switchboard at the Roanoke Times was flooded with calls seeking information as residents feared a Nazi invasion of Virginia was underway. The callers were responding to a radio alert that had been issued that afternoon for members of the local Virginia Reserve to immediately report for duty at the Roanoke armory due to an undisclosed " emergency. " The emergency was the search for an escaped German prisoner of war who had slipped away while working in an orchard near Troutville. During World War II, the Roanoke Valley had two German prisoner of war camps, one at Catawba and the other at Salem. Some two hundred German soldiers were temporarily relocated to the area having come from Camp Pickett. The first prisoners arrived in 1944 primarily at the request of the Roanoke County extension agent, J.B. Williamson. Williamson had 10 MAY/JUNE 2020 been lobbied by valley orchardists of the need for laborers given most local young men were in the military. In addition to harvesting apples, the German prisoners also worked for the Roanoke water department clearing the land that would become the basin for the Carvins Cove reservoir. According to water department documents at that time, the prisoners worked eight-hour days for fifty cents per hour. There was to be one guard for every ten prisoners. While army regulations clearly stated there was to be no conversation between the prisoners and civilians, this was not strictly observed. Gordon Saul recalled interacting with the prisoners as a water boy at the Watts Farm during a wheat harvest. " Me and two ten-year-old buddies...worked for several days carrying water to the thirsty workers. Being naturally curious boys we wanted to know TheRoanoker.com COURTESY OF THE SALEM MUSEUM The Roanoke Valley had two prisoner of war camps during World War II.http://www.TheRoanoker.com