Corporal Donald Brommer saw combat in Europe and was captured after the Battle of the Bulge. He was taken to a prison camp in southeast Germany near the Czechoslovakian border. Conditions at the came were terrible, and Brommer saw his fellow prisoners dying around him from lack of proper nutrition and exercise. He volunteered to go on work details so he could get exercise. One of his assignments was to assist in cleaning up rubble in Schwienfurt, Germany created by Allied bombing raids. After his liberation from the camp, he was given time to recuperate and then sent to Camp Algona to guard German prisoners. He was sent to the Storm Lake, Iowa Branch Camp where prisoners worked on area farms as well as in a local canning factory.

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Brommer had his personal automobile with him at the Storm Lake Branch Camp, and one of the prisoners took a particular interest in the car, requesting to drive it in the camp. Brommer made a deal with the PW, allowing him to drive the car in exchange for a thorough car wash.

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He also served as a guard at the Ada, Minnesota Branch Camp.