This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. They were German prisoners of war. They had survived combat in North Africa and Europe, but they died in Michigan. During the Second World War. Michigan hosted about 6,000 enemy prisoners of war, mostly Germans and Italians, as part of a national system that processed 425,000 prisoners in. Prisoners of war started coming to Michigan in mid-1943. They lived in Michigan's system of 32 base and sub camps and worked voluntarily at jobs that were deemed not war related. That included farm labor and working in food processing factories. In 1944, prisoners of war composed one third of Michigan's agricultural labor force. They were paid for their work and scrip redeemable at the camp canteens. One of the prisoners of war camps was Camp Blissfield, located in southeastern Michigan's Leniwee county near the Ohio state line. The war was over, with the prisoners awaiting repatriation to Germany. On the afternoon of October 31, 1945, 24 prisoners piled into an army truck for the ride back to camp for the Raymond Beck farm. The truck approached a railroad crossing a half mile from camp. The truck driver never saw the oncoming New York Central Railroad passenger train. It slammed into the truck at full speed. 16 German prisoners and their American guard were killed. The driver was injured, but survived. An investigation found that weeds and tree branches had hidden the oncoming train from his view. The prisoners had planned a Halloween party for that evening. Back at camp, their homemade masks and costumes went unworn and few of them could eat the special meal that the cooks had prepared. The bodies were sent for burial to the main Michigan camp, Camp Custer, near Battle Creek. Three funeral services took place on November 3rd. One Lutheran, one Catholic, and one for the men who had declared themselves non religious. Funeral services took place on Sunday, November 4th, at Camp Blissfield. Local clergymen officiated and one of the prisoners, who was a musician, played a violin solo of Ave Maria. The German's senior officer then called the men to attention and read the names of the dead. Then an eight man firing party fired three volleys. Nearby, work stopped at the Great Lakes Sugar Company where American and German workers alike paused for a minute of silence. The German soldiers still rest in the Camp Custer Cemetery where mourning ceremonies are conducted every November. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.