The Wooden Elephant A German POW Carved Now Tells A Story At A Sauk Rapids Museum [AUDIO]

SAUK RAPIDS (WJON News) -- A wooden elephant carved by a German prisoner of war while he was in a camp in Kansas is among the artifacts you can find at the Benton County Historical Society and Museum in Sauk Rapids.

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Executive Director Lacey Fontaine says she dug into the history of the wooden carving while working on the new military room at the museum.

John Will of Sauk Rapids served as a translator at Camp Phillips.

A German prisoner, identified as Hohn, carved a detailed wooden elephant from a simple block of wood.  When we were donated that item, John Will of Sauk Rapids was the translator.  He spoke German fluently, so he worked very closely with the prisoners.  One prisoner had promised John that if he could obtain a harmonica, he would carve a wooden elephant for him.

The wooden elephant sat on Will's TV for 50 years before he donated it to the Benton County Historical Society. He said he never knew what happened to that German prisoner after the war.

Fontaine says the new Minnesota Military Museum, which is opening this September near Camp Ripley, is interested in displaying the wooden elephant on loan.

Fontaine says the carving connects Benton County to one of the most overlooked chapters of World War II.

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Between 1942 and 1946, the United States became home to hundreds of thousands of enemy prisoners of war. About 425,000 Axis prisoners were held in the United States, including nearly 371,000 Germans, about 50,000 Italians, and several thousand Japanese prisoners.

The camps often featured athletic leagues, orchestras, libraries, theater productions, and educational classes. Prisoners were also allowed to work. They harvested crops, cut timber, worked in canneries, and filled labor shortages.

Minnesota didn't have a massive camp, but it did have a network of 21 branch camps throughout the state, including at Camp Ripley.

Listen to the full conversation between WJON News Director Jim Maurice and Fontaine.