Earlier this week I spoke about NC Farmers’ Use of POWs During WWII at The Cardinal which is a retirement community in Raleigh. Because of the farm labor shortage the U.S. government had a program where farmers and others could “lease” the prisoners of war to work on their farms. The pulpwood industry also leased a large number of POWs because there was a paper shortage and trees needed to be harvested.
Because of the paper shortage there were a variety of efforts to recycle paper. The Raleigh Junior of Commerce had a paper drive in 1944 and paper was collected at various locations. A local junk dealer had his trucks pick up the paper and then sold it himself and kept the money. He was sentenced to two years in prison for this.
After my presentation an older gentleman approached me to let me know the paper thief was his uncle and he had never known about this. What a small world!
