Valentine's Day 1943 Remembered

February 14, 2020

Indianapolis News Newspaper article

Szubin, Poland 1943

On Valentine’s Day 1943 (77 years ago) Kriegy Bill Sharpe (above with daughter, Cindy) was captured at Faid Pass near Kasserine Pass in North Africa. He was a “guest” of the Germans in a POW camp in Szubin, Poland until January 1945. Nearly 1500 American officers joined him there and together they shared their skills, talents and zest for life establishing a patriotic community. Due to the uniqueness of the camp and its prisoners, we are seeking to build a museum on the site to commemorate and preserve their experiences for generations to come.

Szubin, Poland 1943

Indianapolis News Newspaper article

Szubin, Poland 1943

2Lt Wilbur B. Sharpe Jr. posing for his POW identification card.

Bill was merely 20 years old at the time of his capture and "celebrated" his 21st birthday in Oflag 64 on June 24, 1943. He relates that there was no cake with candles that day.

Indianapolis News Newspaper article

This excerpt from an article published in the Indianapolis News in December 1944 was clipped by his mother, Mrs. Olive Sharpe and kept in her personal scrap book. Note the reference to Col John Waters, General Patton's son-in-law.

What We have accomplished

2019 Recap

Recap of a very productive 2019 regarding establishing a Museum of POWs in Szubin.

• April 2019 - The Polish-American Foundation for the Commemoration of POW Camps in Szubin was officially registered in Poland and is making phenomenal progress. www.szubinpowcamps.org

• June 2019 - Friends of Oflag 64, received the IRS Employee Identification Number and in

August received Letter of Determination establishing nonprofit status as a 501(c)(3)

A proposed budget was submitted from June 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019 with the expectation of $25,000 in contributions.

The Friends established a Board of Directors to include Chairman Cindy Sharpe Burgess,

Treasurer Anne Hoskot Kreutzer and Secretary Nancy Thompson Wyatt; all relatives of ex POWs.

An Artifacts Committee was formed headed by Dave Stewart; son of an ex POW

Began developing a Strategic Plan to span 4-5 years (2024)

• September 2019 – Commissioned a design expert to develop the Friends logo

• November 2019 – A significant number of artifacts were personally delivered to Szubin

Please consider sharing your family artifacts by completing the Artifact Donation Form.

• November 10, 2019 – the website for the nonprofit was launched. To date over 400+ views have been made to the website.

• December 31, 2019 – At the end of this fiscal year (12/31/19) $51,000+ has been donated to

the nonprofit. According to our Strategic Plan, the goal is to amass $400,000 by 2024.

• Based on the Strategic Plan we are actively seeking passionate and skilled members to join

the Board of Friends of Oflag 64 in the following areas: social media, marketing and accounting.

Please share your skills with us!

NEWS

Friends of Oflag 64

Update

501 (c) (3) nonprofit EIN: 84 -1889226

Friends of Oflag 64 has been officially recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit on August 19, 2019 and is listed under the Guidestar website with the NTEE code A54, History and Museums!

The Board of Directors:

Cindy Burgess (daughter of ex-Kriegy Wilbur Sharpe) Chairman

Nancy Wyatt (daughter of ex-Kriegy Robert Thompson) Secretary

Anne Kreutzer (daughter of ex-Kriegy Nathaniel Hoskot) Treasurer

The Artifacts Committee:

Dave Stewart (son of ex-Kriegy Don Stewart)

Claire Anderson Bowlby (PhD student at George Mason University)

Rosa Lee (daughter of ex-Kriegy Vincent Di Francesco)