To the most astute observer, the 620th Engineer General Service Company may have appeared a bit odd. From afar, they appeared like any other Army unit. But they didn’t wear the right color fatigues. Instead, they wore the obsolete pre-war blue denim fatigue uniform. A uniform that was also worn by prisoners of war. But this unit didn’t have the initials “PW” painted on their uniforms.
They also spoke a little differently. Many had accents, and seemed to really enjoy their German beerhall songs. But nothing for certain could be said about them even though they may have appeared slightly off. After all, they were stationed at Fort Meade, and as far as nearly anyone knew, they were just a regular unit.
However, not everything was as it seemed. The 620th wasn’t a normal unit. Instead, the company was filled with men who were suspected of being disloyal. To be sent to the 620th didn’t require any evidence, suspicion was enough.
The 620th
As the United States entered into World War II, the draft started in full force. By the end of the war, 66% of U.S. armed forces members had been drafted, which accounted for around 10 million soldiers. And very few people were looked over. Which caused a few issues.
One such issue arose when it came to individuals who were to be drafted, but whose loyalty to the U.S. was questionable. On one hand, these men, according to the U.S., could not be trusted. If accepted into military duty overseas, it was feared that they may sabotage the war effort, or defect to the enemy, while taking sensitive information with them.
Excluding these men from service wasn’t an option though. The fear was that by providing a convenient excuse for avoiding service, many would attempt to be granted an exception by using such an excuse. Finding them some sort of duties, of a harmless nature, was a must.
The War Department would eventually find a solution. In a confidential order, issued on October 3, 1942, these “special” organizations would be created. For the 620th, it would be activated at Fort Meade the next month, on November 1st. Only three such outfits would be created in the Seventh Service Command.
While stationed at Fort Meade, the 620th would perform menial duties including making camouflage nets, planting trees, painting barracks, and collecting garbage. Largely, they were employed in busy work that was non-sensitive in nature.
Standing in contrast with the rest of the garrison at Fort Meade, the 620th wore blue fatigues, as opposed to green fatigues. They also would receive little military training, and were not issued arms. But like other soldiers who were stationed at the Fort, they were able to leave the base during their off-duty hours, and they certainly took advantage of that.
The 620th would largely blend in. Few outside of the army would ever know that there was anything special about the unit. While at Fort Meade, they simply enjoyed their time exploring the area.
Suspicion
While the general population of the Black Hills had no clue there was anything different about the 620th, the government would grow to suspect that they were planning something sinister.
In the summer of 1943, a group of men from the 620th began renting a cabin in Spearfish Canyon. Worried that some sort of sabotage, or even espionage was to be planned, the government would go through the trouble to setting up surveillance in the cabin. However, nothing would be found.
But that wouldn’t mean that no schemes would be made. In March of 1943, Dale Maple would be assigned to the 620th. He wasn’t like most of the other members though. While most of the 620th were native-born American citizens of foreign descent, primarily of German or Italian origin, but with a few Danes, Finns, Hungarians, Yugoslavians, and White Russians, Maple was of British and Irish descent.
Maple was a Harvard educated student, a piano prodigy, a member of Harvard’s Reserve Officer Training Corps, and was the top student at his San Diego High School, which allowed him to win a scholarship to his future college.
But Maple was also fascinated with Germany. While he never joined a pro-Nazi organization, it was clear he admired Hitler. His views would eventually lead to him being forced to resign from Harvard’s German Club, and he was expelled from the ROTC program. And it wasn’t just Harvard who was beginning to notice just how far his Nazi sympathies were going, the FBI also began to pay attention.
After college, he would attempt to work with a defense contractor, but was deemed a security risk. Adding to that, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Maple would reach out to the German Embassy in Washington, as it was clear that war would be declared, and begged to accompany the diplomatic staff back to Berlin. He was rebuffed.
Instead, he would join the U.S. Army, in an attempt to get away from the security-risk label that had been attached to him. But it wouldn’t be enough. His past would catch up with him, and he would be shipped out to Fort Meade, to become part of the 620th.
During that same summer that the government would keep surveillance on the cabin in Spearfish Canyon, Maple and a few others would rent an apartment in Deadwood. It would later be clear, as shown in court, that Maple and his friends had spent a good deal of time discussing a way to make a statement against the U.S.
Such an opportunity wouldn’t arise until after the 620th left Fort Meade, and was transferred to Camp Hale in Colorado. There Maple would help two German POWs escape from the POW camp, and travel down to Mexico, where they were caught. But that’s for another article.
The 620th Leaves
In December of 1943, the 620th would leave Fort Meade, as the fort was being abandoned as a military installation. There was really nothing for the 620th to do at Fort Meade, so they were transferred to Camp Hale in Colorado.
With the 620th leaving the fort, an end of an era was at hand. They would be the last company-sized unit stationed at Fort Meade, which made for a strange ending for the garrison. It also marked the closing of the last Frontier Fort in South Dakota.
The Sturgis Chamber of Commerce would attempt to get new troops to be stationed at Fort Meade, but it wouldn’t happen. Instead, the Fort was being changed to medical services. And to help that transformation, POWs would be shipped in, and a branch POW camp was formed. But that story, of those POWs, is also for another article.