"In the first book-length treatment of the German prisoner-of-war experience in Florida during World War II, Robert D. Billinger, Jr., tells the story of the 10,000 men who were "guests" of Uncle Sam in a tropical paradise that for some became a tropical hell.". "Except for the servicemen who guarded them, the civilian pulp-cutters, citrus growers, and sugarcane foremen who worked them, and the FBI and local police who tracked the escapees among them, most people were - and still are - unaware of the German POWs who inhabited the 27 camps that dotted the Sunshine State. Billinger describes the experiences of the Germans and their captors as both sides came to the realization that, while the Germans' worst enemies were often their own comrades-in-arms, wartime enemies might also become life-long friends.". "This book will be of great value to scholars and historians, as well as all readers with an interest in World War II. Those with an interest in Florida history will also find much to admire in this account of a barely known wartime episode."--BOOK JACKET.

National Context -- Uncle Sam's Smiling Workers -- U-boat Men and Other Naval Prisoners: Special Breed, Special Problems -- When the Afrika Korps Came to Blanding: Riots and Repatriations -- The "Worst Camp in America": Clewiston Escapes and a Suicide -- Escapees: The Individualists, the Threatened, and the Alienated -- MacDill Menus and Belle Glade Beans: The Press and Coddling Charges -- On the Threshold: Reeducation Efforts in the Blanding and Gordon Johnston Camps -- The Long Way Home: Repatriation -- Epilogue: Graves, Alumni, and Memories -- 1,250 Miles through Florida.