When George W. Barnett attended an auction and entered the winning bid for an old trunk back in 2002, he also acquired a piece of Camp Aliceville history. The trunk is believed to have been given by German POWS as a wedding present to Captain Dodge Old and his wife Margaret while Captain Old was stationed at Camp Aliceville. 
Barnett, who is retired from the US government, grew up in Mississippi and, as a young boy, lived close to Camp McCain during World War II. Camp McCain became the POW camp for German captives who were anti-Nazi, so Barnett already had some knowledge of German POWs in the United States. As an adult, he worked on the Apollo program with NASA and on the Star Wars program with the Army. He and his wife Janet now live just north of Huntsville, Alabama, in a small community called Hazel Green.
The trunk, which is made of walnut and lined with cedar, is entirely handmade. It has a hidden drawer behind the trim at the bottom front that can only be opened when the lid is open. The top of the trunk features a diamond-shaped emblem (seen here in photo), and if this emblem is slid to one side, it raises up to reveal another secret compartment. "A very good craftsman had to have built this trunk," says Barnett. 
The handles at each end of the trunk are heavy brass in the shape of a German eagle. One handle is engraved with the initials DHO (Dodge H. Old) and the other the initials MLO (Margaret L. Old).
After Barnett acquired the trunk, he made minor repairs to the lid, which had been forced open because someone did not realize that there were hidden latches under each front corner. Barnett contacted an Old family member and offered to return the trunk, but they were not interested in it, and he has kept it in his home. He did learn from the family that Captain Old had died in a car accident about a year before the auction.
Barnett visited the Aliceville Museum in 2004 and obtained a copy of special military orders that list Captain Old in three places. Those military orders, dated 18 January 1945, refer to the transfer of German POWs from Camp Aliceville to Camp Forrest in Tennessee and to Camp Sibert (sic), which was also in Alabama. Captain Dodge H. Old was a member of the U. S. Army Infantry and is listed in connection with the Prisoner of War Fund, the Camp Working Committee, and the Camp Safety Council.
If any of my readers have additional knowledge of Captain Old and his experiences at Camp Aliceville or knowledge of the German POW who crafted this fine trunk, please let me know, and I will pass the information along to Mr. Barnett. My sincere thanks to him for sharing this information and these photos.
That’s more than snseible! That’s a great post!