Prisoner of War at Peabody created a German tank
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
During World War II, when Mary Olson of Marion was seven and eight years old, approximately 150 German prisoners of war were housed at Peabody.
They helped farmers in the area during busy times because many of their own sons had gone to war.
During their many idle hours, one young POW, Karl Heinz Stegelmann, created a German tank model out of scrap tin. An intricately-carved and painstakingly-painted soldier sat in the driver's seat. A woman's name, Hilda, was written on the tank, and it had a German license plate.
The model had wooden wheels instead of tracks, so whether or not it was a "tank" is debatable.
When the POWs were returned to Germany in 1946, Stegelmann was not allowed to take the model along.
He gave it to Mary's father, Joe Gaines, in hopes of obtaining it later by mail.
The U.S. Post Office refused to send it because of the swastika painted on it.
Stegelmann kept in touch with the family and sent a wedding picture.
He described the dire conditions in Germany following the war.
"Here in Germany," he wrote, "it is hard to get anything, as we are in need of almost all things necessary for a decent living. You can't get no clothings, even no sewing-yarn.
"The rations for our nourishment are very, very small. Do you
