In the quiet, early hours of July 8, 1945, a tragic and unexpected event unfolded in the small town of Salina, Utah, forever marking it as the site of the largest massacre of prisoners of war on American soil during World War II. Among the victims of this senseless act was Fritz Stockn, a 24-year-old German prisoner of war. He, along with his fellow prisoners, was housed in a camp that had been established in a former Civilian Conservation Corps facility.
The prisoners, mostly from the German Afrika Korps, had been working as agricultural laborers on local farms, filling a void left by American men who had gone to war. By all accounts, the German soldiers had been peaceful and willing workers during their time in Salina.
The peace of that summer night was shattered shortly after midnight by the violent actions of a single American soldier. Private Clarence V. Bertucci, a guard at the camp who was considered unfit for frontline service, had just returned from a night out. Harboring a deep-seated hatred for Germans, he climbed into a guard tower overlooking the sleeping prisoners. He then loaded a. 30-caliber Browning machine gun and unleashed a spray of bullets into the tents where the men were sleeping. The brutal assault lasted less than a minute, but its devastating consequences were immediate and profound.
In the aftermath of the horrific event, the camp was a scene of chaos and tragedy. Six prisoners, including Fritz Stockn, were killed instantly. Several others were wounded, with three more succumbing to their injuries in the following days, bringing the total number of fatalities to nine. Nineteen other prisoners were wounded in the attack. Private Bertucci was taken into custody with minimal resistance and, when questioned, openly admitted his motivation was a simple and chilling hatred for Germans.
An investigation into the massacre followed, and military authorities determined that Private Clarence V. Bertucci was "mentally unbalanced." Consequently, he was not court-martialed for his actions. Instead, he was sent to a military mental institution, where he remained until his death in 1969. The slain German prisoners, including Fritz Stockn, were buried with full military honors at the Fort Douglas Cemetery. The families of the victims were not informed of their deaths by the American government until 1948. Today, a museum at the former Camp Salina stands as a memorial to the tragic event that took the lives of nine men on that fateful night.
