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

by Paul N. Herbert, Flint Whitlock (Foreword)

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.

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

Published November 7, 2016

Reviews

[Roo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I live in Colorado, I thought it might be good to learn a little about my state during wartime. Herbert keeps the tale moving, and explains not only Dale Maple's treasonous behavior, but gives stats about where WWII prisoners of war were held in the US and for how long; what they did while in the prison camps (cheap labor), and what became of them after the war.
The book gives insight into Camp Hale, and almost the humorous placement of interred Germans, Italians, etc within steps nearby of the US soldiers encampment whose loyalty to country was suspect. Maple fell within the latter because of his Nazi sympathies.
In retrospect, what could the US have done with those drafted into WWII who had relatives in Germany, who weren't even citizens here, or who glorified Hitler? At Camp Hale and other locations, they were used for manual labor, which roused bitterness, because some of them wanted to do more for the war effort.
An interesting read

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read. Some interesting aspects.

[Leah Angstman · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Review forthcoming in the Pedantic Literary Historian column on The Coil.