Utah prisoner of war massacre

Utah prisoner of war massacre
Part of the American Theater of World War II
Camp Salina in 2018
Location	Salina, Utah, United States
Coordinates	38°57′28″N 111°50′52″W / 38.95767°N 111.84777°W / 38.95767; -111.84777
Date	July 8, 1945 12:00 midnight (MST)
Target	German prisoners of war
Attack type	Mass shooting War crime
Weapons	.30 caliber M1917 Browning machine gun
Deaths	9
Injured	19
Perpetrator	Clarence V. Bertucci
Motive	Anti-German sentiment

The Utah prisoner of war massacre (headlined by Time as Midnight Massacre^[1][2]) took place after the end of World War II in Europe at midnight on July 8, 1945, at a German and Italian prisoner-of-war camp in Salina, Utah. Nine German prisoners of war were murdered and nineteen prisoners were wounded by American private Clarence V. Bertucci, who was on active duty in the camp. After a night out, Bertucci returned to camp around midnight to assume his night duty at the guard tower. Bertucci subsequently loaded the .30-caliber M1917 Browning machine gun on the tower and fired at the tents of the sleeping prisoners. After the massacre, he revealed his motivation was that, "he had hated Germans, so he had killed Germans." Six Germans were immediately killed, two died in Salina's hospital, one died in an army hospital, and nineteen were wounded.

The victims were buried with full military honors at the Fort Douglas Cemetery. Wounded prisoners were sent back to Germany after they were healthy enough to travel. After the massacre, Bertucci was taken into custody with minimal resistance. He was evaluated for a few weeks, before doctors determined that he was "mentally unbalanced". Military officers forwent a court-martial on account of insanity and he was sent to Mason General Hospital in New York for an undisclosed amount of time. The Midnight Massacre is remembered for being "the worst massacre at a POW camp in U.S. history". A museum was opened at Camp Salina in 2016.

It is also the deadliest mass shooting in Utah history.