271. IPSD 2022: “Every Peterson Has a Story”
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL [PETERSON] PIPE SMOKING DAY 2022! "Every pipe has a story," and for lovers of Peterson that means there are pipes like the Patent meerschaum of John Peterson (Charles Peterson's younger brother) that have made incredible pilgrimages over time yet somehow survived the ravages of political turmoil, war and neglect. For IPSD 2022, I am privileged to present a collection of Peterson stories by blog readers from all parts of the globe, stories stretching back to 1919 and forward to quite recently. While most of them aren't as dramatic as John Peterson's, each reveals the same depth of devotion to the art of smoking our Petes have brought and continue to bring us. In this spirit,I would like to raise my pipe to each of the writers and to you, dear reader: in joy, enjoy this special day! Isle of Man: Douglas Prisoner of War Camp, 1919. I obtained this shape 4 dutch billiard, hallmarked for 1917, from a man who lives in San Antonio, Texas who said he found it in his Father’s things, and that his Father had passed away “some time ago.” There are two engraved silver pieces in the pipe. One is a shield that reads “KD” (the owner’s initials, I assume) and the other has a German cross, and, in German, engravings for a souvenir: Genridmet vom (“Taken From”) followed by a German military cross with D and V on either side (which typically stands for Deo Volente—“God Willing”), and at the bottom “Douglas I.O.M.1919,” which represents Douglas Prisoner of War Camp, Isle of Man, 1919. San Antonio is a heavily-German influenced part of Texas. German-Americans were, for the most part, treated as enemies up to and during World War I—a law forbidding German culture was even enacted in 1918. The same was true in Great Britain, where anyone with German or Austrian heritage was imprisoned on the Isle of Man for the duration of the war, the POW camp closing in 1919. Most of the prisoners on the Isle of Man were civilians whose only crime was that they spoke German. The smaller camp on the island, a converted holiday camp at Douglas, was the nicest, and housed 2,700 prisoners who could afford to pay extra for the privilege. The prisoners at Douglas had shops where they could purchase things, and even ate the same food as the British soldiers who guarded them. An aerial view of the internment camp, which was converted from a holiday resort My educated speculation is that the pipe’s original owner was a recent German immigrant to Texas who decided to leave sometime before the United States joined the war, due to the treatment of German-Americans. He was captured when he got off the boat in England, and sent to the Isle of Man prison camps. He had enough money to pay the upcharge to stay at the nicer Douglas camp, where he bought his new Peterson pipe in 1917 at a prison shop. He spent the…