This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. During World War II, Michigan hosted about 6,000 German and Italian prisoners of war. Few attempted to escape, but one breakout ended in treason charges for two young American women. The POWs lived in 32 camps scattered throughout Michigan. They could volunteer for work unrelated to the war effort, such as harvesting crops or cutting timber. Many did so their employers had to pay them for their work, which allowed them to buy extras at the camp canteens. One employer of POWs was the W.W. roach Cannery in Owasso. Two young women who also worked there, Kitty Case and Shirley Druce, struck up a friendship with some of the young German prisoners who worked in the cannery. The two women planned an escape for two of their friends and persuaded Kitty's younger half sister, Phyllis Case, to drive a getaway car. On June 20, 1944, a Ford sedan pulled up beside the cannery. Gottfried Hobel and Eric Clawson, two 20 year olds from the Owasso POW camp, slid into the car beside Kitty Case and Shirley Druce. Phyllis Case drove them around for several hours before dropping the two couples off at Colby Lake near Corunna. Phyllis rushed home and told her stepmother what had transpired. They went to the POW camp and informed the camp commander, who was embarrassed to admit that no one there had noticed that two prisoners were missing. A short manhunt ended at seven the next morning when the two escapees were apprehended in the woods near Colby Lake. Hobel and Clausen were sent to a more secure facility. The FBI arrested Kitty Case and Shirley Druce, however, and charged them with conspiracy to defraud the government. Their trial, held in January 1945, revealed lax security at the cannery. Guards and cannery foremen supplied alcohol to the prisoners of war and engaged in softball games with them. Female employees, many of them minors, had set up an underground communication system and engaged in late night trysts with the prisoners, often right outside the camp gates. Americans, both at home and fighting abroad were outraged. Case and Druce were convicted and sent to a federal prison. Kitty Case was sentenced to 15 months and Shirley Druce got one year. After serving their sentences, both women left Michigan. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.