Post #1 by Sherman Brennan

This was my first post but was done on the Buildings for All of Us blog Prof. Boeck has attached to his account.  I thought I had better re-post it here otherwise he might miss it.

This is a church located on the grounds of Ft. El Reno, which is west of Oklahoma City.  The church was constructed by German POW's (prisoners of war) after they were captured during World War II.  It is a Lutheran Church so its' facade is fairly nondescript, keeping with Protestant tradition of not adorning churches too heavily, if at all.  Its' meaning as a place of worship comes across fairly clearly, possibly due to the tower, double doors, and gold-frosted windows.  At first the building had very little affect on me but when we spoke to a guide/museum curator she told us how it was constructed by the German soldiers as a gift to their captors for the hospitality shown to them.  After hearing that I was astounded that any soldier, especially members of the army of the Third Reich, would be so happy to captured but it was towards the end of the war and being imprisoned in Oklahoma must have been much better than fighting on either of two losing fronts.

We were in the El Reno area to attend a Cheech & Chong concert at a local casino and after leaving our motel rooms the next morning the couple we were traveling with wanted to go see Ft. El Reno.  At first I was reluctant but after we arrived I walked the grounds, checking out the small barracks, museum, and other buildings from the forts past.  I have not had a chance to visit many of Western Oklahoma's tourist sites, even though I have lived in the OKC Metro Area for years, so I was happy to have seen the fort grounds.  It wasn't until we entered the church and saw the interior that my underwhelmed impression of the church changed.  

Again, the muted tones and colors of the church stand out in contrast to the handcrafted woodworking.  All of it, the pews, the rafters, the floor, and everything else you see were done by the German POW's.  Some even stayed on after the war and as a courtesy for having given the fort a gift like the church they were allowed to be buried in the fort's cemetery.

post 1 by Sherman Brennan