Treason in the Rockies: Nazi Sympathizer Dale Maple's POW Escape Plot

by Paul N. Herbert

Overview

A look at one U.S. Army private’s attempt to free Nazi soldiers from a Colorado prisoner of war camp during World War II.

Harvard honor alumnus Dale Maple had a promising future, but his obsession with Nazi Germany led to his downfall. Classmates often accused him of pro-Nazi sentiments, and one campus organization even expelled him. After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, only to be relegated to a unit of soldiers suspected of harboring German sympathies. He helped two German POWs escape imprisonment at Camp Hale and flee to Mexico. The fugitives ran out of gas seventeen miles from the border and managed to cross it on foot, only to be arrested and returned to American authorities. Convicted and sentenced to death for treason, Maple awaited his fate until President Franklin Roosevelt commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. Ultimately, he was released in 1950. Paul N. Herbert narrates the engrossing details of this riveting story.

“A well-documented . . . account . . . of Maple’s escapade, set against a background of World War II’s treatment of POWs and German sympathizers.” —The Denver Post

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625858085
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	04/13/2021
Series:	Military
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	131
Sales rank:	891,233
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Paul N. Herbert has spent decades ferreting out fascinating history, researching and telling stories about Richmond's historic Jefferson Hotel, a legendary dancer, the Radium Girls, the impeachment of a Supreme Court justice (yes, it happened) and Abraham Lincoln's personal finances, among others. Herbert's books will keep your interest and teach you a few things along the way.

Table of Contents

Foreword Flint Whitlock 9

Preface 11

Acknowledgements 13

Introduction 15

1 Harvard Graduate to Army Private 19

2 Prison Camps 41

3 Escape 59

4 Jellybean and the Vagabond 67

5 The Best They Could with What They Had 81

6 Leavenworth 101

Epilogue 105

Notes 113

Bibliography 121

About the Author 125

Editorial Reviews

"During World War II, hundreds of thousands of German, Italian, and Japanese prisoners of war were held in the United States. One of these domestic POW camps, at Camp Hale near Leadville, was the site of an escape plot. Dale Maple, a Nazi sympathizer enlisted in the Army, nearly made it across the Mexican border with two German soldiers.
Author Paul N. Herbert, who writes about this history in his new book: "Treason In The Rockies," ..." Colorado Matters - Colorado Public Radio

From the Publisher