POET FLYER: From Chapter 3: WALKING BY GERMAN POWS

Mr. & Mrs. Forman, the English farmers who did our laundry
and introduced us to English muffins and jam.

WALKING BY GERMAN POWs

Captured German soldiers

Prisoners of war

Laboring in the English potato fields

Near Thorpe Abbotts, England

Population fifty people

100^th Bomb Group Air corps Base

American Combat Group flying B-17s

Were living down the lane

Population five thousand men

Who does our laundry

I had soap and dirty clothes

Thorpe Abbotts had farmers

Living down the lane

We hired a Thorpe Abbots farmer’s wife

To wash our socks

Paid her well

One day I was walking

Down the lane

And saw a dozen German POWs

Working in the English potato fields

With pitchforks, rakes and shovels

I was an American Lieutenant

In uniform

But I was hesitant

Being so near the enemy

With no gun

An English armed guard saw me

He knew my hesitation

"Hello, Yank!

I’ll walk ye along."

So my laundry was done

Courtesy of a Thorpe Abbotts farmer's wife

And my fears were calmed

Courtesy of a British Army guard