POW Camps: Oklahoma BRAGGS, Oklahoma -At one point, thousands of German prisoners of war were held in Oklahoma during World War II. One of those former POWs on Friday made a special return to Camp Gruber where he spent some of his time during the war. At 90 years old, Frank May is enjoying a birthday present from his niece and nephew. He's traveled all over the world, but always wanted to return to Oklahoma to Camp Gruber. "I felt like it was very good for me here and we got very good treatment," May said. May was a young man fighting for the Germans in North Africa when he was captured by the British, eventually ending up at Camp Gruber as a POW. For decades, he's wanted to see it again. May spent a year at Camp Gruber, which had an operating POW camp from 1943-46. The internment camps were capable of holding up to 4,000 prisoners. He worked as an electrician and on other projects. But he remembers the experience in Oklahoma fondly, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted to return to a place where he was a prisoner. "I had to work, that's OK," May said. "We had our food, we had our rest, and we had our sports later on inside the camp." May is thankful he ended up in Oklahoma instead of being on the war's eastern front with the possibility of being killed or captured by the Russians. "Everyone knows that it was a very, very hard time and most likely you wouldn't come back," May said. "That's a fact. That's the way it was." As he toured Camp Gruber, he shared many of his memories. The place has changed a lot over nearly seven decades, but there is still enough to take him back in time to an important part of his past. "I had to come back and say ‘hello and thanks a lot,'" May said. "Thank you so much." May was also held as a POW in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.  But he's only visiting Camp Gruber because of the way he was treated in Oklahoma -- even as a prisoner.

Dr. Seuss: Political Cartoons "What This Country Needs Is a Good Mental Insecticide" PM (June 11, 1942) In the early 1940s Jim Crow laws remained upheld and racial segregation was prevalent in schools, sports, labor and the military. Many of Dr. Seuss's most powerful cartoons attacked race prejudice and anti-Semitism. At the time, these topics were rarely discussed in the mainstream media, and were seen as highly controversial.

"Waiting for the Signal from Home..." PM (February 13, 1942) Dr. Seuss¹s portrayal of the Japanese and Japanese Americans was not unlike other racist portrayals in the media during the Pacific War. This cartoon was drawn just days before the Roosevelt administration decided to put all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast into internment camps. This offensive cartoon pointed to the Japanese Americans as saboteurs for which there was no proof. Neither PM nor Seuss ever spoke out against the American concentration camps and there were no letters to the editor protesting this cartoon.

"Wipe That Sneer Off His Face Buy War Savings Bonds & Stamps" PM and others (October 13, 1942) Supporting the war bonds effort, Dr. Seuss drew a set of Liberty bonds "cartoons" which appeared in many newspapers. Sold by the U.S. government, the bonds raised money for the war and helped the public feel they were doing their part. In Dr. Seuss Goes to War, historian Richard H. Minear, writes: "...it is a surprise that a person who denounces anti-black racism and anti-Semitism so eloquently can be oblivious of his own racist treatment of Japanese and Japanese Americans.... to realize that the cartoonist is the same Dr. Seuss we celebrate today for his imagination and tolerance and breadth of vision: this is a sobering experience."

End results of the World War II Japan Iwo Jima (picture on right) Okinawa Potsdam Conference U.S. (Truman), Soviets, and Great Britain 17 Days long Japan gets ultimatum Atomic Bomb Germany original target Manhattan Project- 1st- August 6th Hiroshima 2nd- August 8th Nagasaki Sept 2nd 1945 V-J Day

Results Beginning of an Atomic Age U.S./ Soviets = Superpower Bipolarization of Europe Two different visions of post WWII Creation of United Nations War Trials “Crimes against Humanity” Nationalists movements Decolonization of Europe