Lyle Slade Interview, December 3, 1979

Lyle Slade discusses working as a Border Patrol officer and guard at Fort Missoula in Missoula, Montana, during World War II. Slade recalls his duties as a guard, and life for the detainees at the camp, most of whom were Italian seamen, as well as few Japanese and Germans. Slade describes Fort Missoula as one of the more pleasant detention centers, detailing the meals and daily life of the detainees, who occasionally worked as hired help in the town of Missoula and in the Bitterroot Valley. Slade discusses detainees with whom he was friendly, and recalls his other wartime duties, such as transporting high-risk prisoners to different detention centers. He discusses his time in the Border Patrol after the war, working on the Mexican and Canadian borders, and credits his knowledge of Italian language, which he picked up while interacting with Italian detainees, as helping him learn Spanish during Border Patrol training.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/fortmissoula_interviews/1001/thumbnail.jp