Walter Sabrowsky

We had 14,000 POWs in Lethbridge [Alberta]. Many of the people didn’t even know that we had people at home, didn’t know about that. They had another camp. They had quite a number of those camps in this part of the country, in Alberta-Saskatchewan. I was posted to the POW camp in Lethbridge [Prisoner of War Camp, Camp No. 133] and I looked after the vehicles in there. We had to make errands to the bus and to the train. In case anybody got sick within the POW camp, we had to take them out to the hospital, if there’s any operation to be made. My first trip, I got in, I got a sheet of paper there from the office. They sent me in and I come back, I knew where I had to go. I come back with the prisoner; and I went through the gate, they waved me on and I went to the hospital, unloaded my prisoner. They said, well, where’s the guard? Kind of late. I’m surprised that they let me go without a guard because we always had to have a guard. But that was my first trip. So then they sent a guard up there in a hurry, but then I knew the next time what to do, so. Yeah, I took a chance there. Everybody was staring at me. I was just a young kid, 20 years old. I didn’t feel very comfortable, but I found the man that had to come out and they took him into the hospital. He didn’t escape; he was a good man too. I enjoyed listening to their band. What a good band they had. I hadn’t heard a band like that for a long time. The POWs were playing [in] that band. They had some good musicians; I couldn’t believe it, yeah. My hair would stand up. I had some hair then yet, so. Even one of the fellows that made a little boat for me, called the, now what did they call it? I thought I’d remember. Yeah, and he had it in a bottle for me. That was my souvenir from one of the guys there, from the POW. Yeah. Of course, he said, you know, I’d like to have a souvenir from you, something like your shirt, I’d like your shirt. Yeah, I might find one for you, so I gave him a shirt. I gave him two. So he got a souvenir from me and I got one from him. It was nice that we met like that. And I remember where he comes from and I lost his name. I was going to write to him after the war. He come from Breslau [Poland].