WILL ROGERS MUSEUM — Prisoners of War of Oflag 64 will spend an evening in Claremore while they are in Tulsa Oct. 11-14 for a reunion.
They will be at Will Rogers Memorial for a business session, dinner and entertainment Friday, Oct. 12. Keynote speaker will be Michael Gonzales, curator of the 45th Infantry Museum, with an appearance of Native American dancers.
Oflag (Offzierslager) 64 was established by the Germans in World War II in Szubin, Poland, to hold captured American ground officers, the first of which arrived in the camp on June 6, 1943. Initial occupants numbered about 150. By the time the camp was evacuated in January 1945 their ranks had grown to 1,400.
One of those men was Maj. Ralph J. Ball, grandfather of Jay Wagner.
The men are aging and when it looked as if there may not be another reunion, Wagner and his wife, Shonda, started making this year possible, according to his mother, Maggie Wagner of Tulsa.
Jay had attended a few reunions with his grandfather, she said. “My father is gone now, but Jay enjoys the history and stories that they tell. He has attended the reunions on his own,” and wanted to keep the tradition.
When the Poland camp was evacuated in advance of a Soviet onslaught, men who were physically able were force to march about 400 miles deep into Germany, eventually to be held at Oflag 13B in Hammelburg.
In late March 1945, a secret and controversial World War II task force was arranged by U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton. They were given the task of penetrating the Siegfried Line into Germany and liberating the POWs in Camp OFLAG XIII-B, near Hammelburg.
Information provided by Wagner said controversy surrounding the true reason behind the mission may have been to liberate Patton’s son-in-law, a POW in Oflag 64 since being taken captive in Tunisia in 1943.
The men of Oflag 64, their families and guests will reunite at Tulsa Southern Hills Marriott. It will conclude with a memorial service on Sunday morning by Tulsa Police Department Chaplain Danny Lynchard.
For information about the group visit the website at www.oflag64.org.