That it does.Makes for a good story don't it ?
Not sure about the Nazi gold bars, but Camp Croft did have 500 AFRIKA CORP POW's they loaned out to local farmers.
I stayed awile in Spartanburg South Carolina in a nieghborhood that once was Camp Croft.
I helped in ordinance removal (Anti -Tank rockets, grenades, live and spent ammo etc etc.)
I helped several people locate and remove live crap that was buried in what was now the front and back yards after a pile of hand grenedes were found piled at the base of a tree... anyway... I had to do alot of homework on this place and I was talking with a guy that was not on the base but had a buddy that was and sent me off to a tobacco / pipe shop where the old guys "hang out"... I needed info on locations of the BIG STUFF.. tanks etc that were supposably buried in swimming pools.
So.. I walk in and I ask for the guy and they all point at him... and he says "Oh no not another one looking for that damn Nazi gold and crap"... And immediatley I said "what" no I am here for the ordinance locations for removal... BUT since you mentioned my favorite word... what gold
SO.... here goes... he procedes to tell me of one of the most intricate massive underground bunker system at its time... UNDER where I have been walking for days...
NOW... this story rocks me... but not like the one what he begins to tell me after he warms up to me...
He continues on with " I helped shut that camp down... they made me throw all that new stuff away"... "war effort".
He then begins to tell me how all the confiscated stuff the G'I's were briging back and that its all in a well....
THEN he says he saw a boxcar FULL of artworks... THEN bags of stones... and finally about the gold bricks that were shipped there and stored in the bunkers... from what I understand this bunker system could be driven into.
When the war ended they immediatly bulldozed in bunker entrances and closed the base... pushing tanks with bulldozers in to the pool (olympic sized)... filled wells with unopened greased boxes of guns and everything from brand new walkie talkies etc etc... this guy went on and on...
then he tells me that the guy who had the locations wanted to give them to someone before he died... but he did not know if he had the chance or not... guess he was some high ranking guy.
So... here I was ... my mouth open... looking at this guy who looked 102 telling me that he personally with his own hands drove one of the dozers... and directed.
When I asked him why they did this his only reply was... "war effort".... I of course said what the hell is that... he said... the millitary re-used nothing... standard procedure... if they need it.. they will pay... keeps the workers working that supply the millitary.
He said.. remember son...we had just emerged from a depression... and the millitary has never been recyclers.. they buy new.
Oh and this is the last and wierd part... when I asked again about the gold and what happened to it... it replied... "not just gold but diamonds as well... all Nazi stolen and looted and I know for a fact it is still there."... I immediatley said "still there"... he said "yes and thats where they want it to stay... thats why the millitary gave the lands were those lands to the state so no one can dig for them".
I wanted to share this so to all you diggers in the foothills who know exactly where Spartanburg is can maybe "hook up" with some knowledge based info from some residents that own over 100 homes directly on top of the main part of base...(the barrack areas)...
Believe it or not... most houses in development have concrete stairs in the middle of their yards leading to nothing... these were the old building steps.
Check it out... requires some digging... before posting this I did a quick search and found this...
Were you told there were (pick one or more): ammunition, M1 rifles, canons, tanks, motorcycles in crates, chemical weapons, works of art, gold coins, buried German PWs, V-2 rockets, or B-17s? I have heard most all of them and all I want someone to find is a bunch of paperwork (see FAQ #1). There is undoubtedly unexploded ordnance which infrequently turns up. Most is found on the firing ranges but sometimes an entire crate or a small stash of mortar rounds, 30.06 ammo, or other items is uncovered. More than one veteran has told me it was very difficult to turn in ammo, so if you didn't expend it during the training session, you dug a hole and buried it or otherwise got rid of it. That certainly accounts for some of the larger finds. There are only two "underground bunkers" I know of. One was a "gun shed" in the 28th ITB area which was used to store 37mm and 57mm antitank weapons. It is still around, but the current owners have no idea if it is empty or not. The entrance was sealed and it appears to have partially caved-in. The other, more commonly talked about "bunkers", were actually metal ammunition igloos that were covered over with earth as a means of fire protection and (probably) aerial concealment. I am sure these were empty when they were turned over to the state park system in 1949, and they remain so today, except as storage for the park and the UXO cleanup contractors. As far as other items, there are many who say they have either seen or were part of efforts to dispose of or store military equipment at various points within the boundaries of the camp. I have yet to see real evidence of anything to date
My uncle was a tank jockey with Patton's Third, he didn't bring back any gold bars, but a room full of Lugars, P-38 Mausers, K-98 rifles, Schmeissers, , knives, bayonets, flags, uniforms, leather map cases and assorted odds and ends. Always wondered when he had time too fight the war.
