A Happy POW

Another fact that caught our attention was about the immigrants in Arizona in the 1940s. A great influx of Americans into the military service during and after WW II caused severe labor shortages across the country. As a result, prisoners of war were employed in a wide variety of jobs. In Arizona, thousands of POWs worked cleaning canals, harvesting crops and maintaining military vehicles. The POWs were key in helping to alleviate the agricultural labor during the war. By 1945 German POWs in Arizona had harvested nearly 90% of the cotton crop of the state.