Palm trees at Fort Knox may be German POW drawings
Small etchings of a palm tree that appear on dozens of chimneys were believed to be the work of German prisoners of war held at Fort Knox during World War II.
Matt Rector, Fort Knox historic preservation specialist, told the News Enterprise that he's counted 39 such drawings on residential housing on the Kentucky installation, but says there are probably more.
German POWs from the Afrika Korps captured in Tunisia in 1943 were among those who eventually arrived at Fort Knox, Rector said.
Rector explained that the Afrika Korps used a symbol of a palm tree overlaid with a swastika, although none of the palm tree sketches found at Fort Knox have swastikas. But Rector was unable to say for certain why the symbols became etched on chimneys.
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