J.C. Alpough, John Stewart Rideaux
Palmetto 1/29/85 VETS
(WWI Vets. #2)

***There is a dub cassette Maxell Communicator Series C60***

J.C. Alpough:

-Drafted in the service in June 1918? He can't remember;
-Camp Funston, Kansas, then overseas in France. He got lost. He got pneumonia, then the flu. Transferred back to the states. Discharged in Camp Shelby, MS? Camp Lee, Hoboken, NJ;
-He didn't see any battles, he was lucky. Rained everyday. He's just lucky to be here;
-First time he left home, left his family;
-3rd hospital in New Orleans? Back with a hemorrhage, no good since;

-Brest, France;
-Weather was bad, cold and wet. Kansas tent/pup tents, where he took the flu;
-Meeting French people. He can understand French, but he was lost because they talked so fast. They treated him alright, he wasn't mistreated at all;
-$30/month was all they got. He didn't care if he got a penny, he just wanted to come back and be with his people. Money doesn't mean a thing. He's 90 years old;
-Wounded soldiers, none he saw killed. War was over, coming back. Some in the hospital where he was. Terrible. In danger anywhere over there;
-German prisoners. He didn't know what was going on in there;
-Meeting German prisoners, no talking with them though. Talking English as good as he can. Concerning? Eating in a kitchen, mud around the stove. Tough. Contrary?;
-Cleaning up different places. Truck. Different things everyday day. Told what to do early each morning. Paid once in French money when he was over there?;
-Meeting French people. He understands French, but they talk too fast for him;
-Worked everyday, no day off?;
-Very seldom being able to visit town. Lost in town;
-X-rays, putting him in the bed. Transferring to a big building with others. Getting in the ambulance. Transfer to U.S. Coming in back in 8 days, took 2 weeks to go. Coming back on a German ship, 60' high, 60' wide;
-Morris? Breaux. Uniform?;
-Coming home in March on a train from Camp Shelby. Paid his way to Eunice. Bought a ticket and got off at Palmetto. $60 bonus and something you couldn't do anything with for 10 years?;

-He farmed before going into the army. Walking to school, raining. Managed getting to 7th grade (15:50);
-Good parents, Catholic. 90 years old now. Live quietly, peaceful. He's got a soul to save and he's the only one who can do anything. Daughter died Jan. 2nd, it's a burden on him. Daughter was just like his mother;
-Going back to farming and got married. Public works to get a job, $100 was plenty money. Things were tight, but things were cheap;
-WWII vets;
-Not being able to vote when he enlisted into the army. Colored soldiers, coming back mixed up. Separated White and Black soldiers. He just wanted to come back home to his family and friends. Thanks God for his age;
-806 Pioneer Infantry, Mr. George Holmes was in 816 (Natchez, MS). Company #27. Here in Palmetto, Lebeau now. Birthday was June 6th, 1894, not the 16th (possibly his baptism?). Birth certificate. Old people didn't tell you too much in those days;
-Never heard a law suit;

John Stewart Rideaux:

-Seeing plenty on the news;
-Colored registering for the service. Man from New Orleans came to a meeting and got beat up and died from the injuries. Not in Opelousas;
WWI;
-Born in Jackson, LA on September 6th, 1888. Drafted, no choice but to go. Farming? Railroad fireman after the army. When he was 18 yrs old, he worked on the railroad, then army and came back to the railroad;
-Father was a cotton farmer, he'd pick cotton until he couldn't;
-Drafted and sent to Camp Funston, Kansas by train from Donaldsonville, LA. Drilling/training at camp. Tear gas training, mask leaked and messed up his eyesight. Rejected because of his hip?;
-806 Pioneer Division. Rainbow Division? First men overseas. 806 took over. Stayed in Kansas because he got rejected;

-Drilling and training the whole time he was there (31:35);
-White soldiers in his company and trained and marched together. Otherwise, separated;
-Food was plenty. Paid $7.50/month while he was there;
-Not getting along? Paying someone day and night to do for him. Taking money. He needs every dime he can get. He does the best he can. $420 from the veterans, now $362?;
-Coming back from Kansas in 1918 after the war was over and going to work. Worked until 1920, coming to Baton Rouge to work for Standard Oil until 1924, went to railroad fireman;
-Not too hard for him to find a job. Going back to his same job;
-Leaving the army, he got a bonus and paid his way back home. No camps in Louisiana. Hattiesburg, MS. Happy to get back home;
-Mr. Skip told him to go into the army and do what he was told/do the right things. Never had any trouble, never missed role call. It was like a job for him. Wanting to go back, but they wouldn't take him;
-Leaving family and friends at home, they didn't have any choice. He got his draft card, mother felt a little bad, but there was nothing she could do;
-Not being able to vote when he left for the army. Felt alright going into the army. Following orders, not doing what you wanted to do;
-Happy to see his family and friends when he got back. They didn't know anything about the war. Young people know more about the war, trained at home?;
-He wasn't scared to leave home;
-Family didn't meet him. Hattiesburg, MS. People waiting for him in New Orleans;
-Ending up in Palmetto, coming from Baton Rouge/Plaquemines. Used to have a big mill in Palmetto. Need of fireman for the boiler;
-Family in Palmetto?;

-He remembers things pretty good. No whites left at all? (44:46);
-Fireman at the Brewer's? sawmill until they closed down. Working some in Texas, coming home in 1952 on the Friday before Labor day;
-Hospital, operated on. He can't stand up on his leg;
-Tested with the gas masks, running through the tear gas. Not being able to see out of one eye, going to the infirmary to see about it;
-Stayed in Kansas, disability prevented him from doing things. Discharge papers;
-He left all his papers and everything;
-Stories and jokes. Rabbits, raccoons, opossums, deer. He hasn't hunted since he's been in Palmetto;
-Left Jackson in June 1908?. Picking cotton;
-Born in East Feliciana Parish;
-Nothing to do in the old days. Working 10 hours a day for 10 cents an hour ($1 a day). $6 a week?;
-Parents. Father never served in the army. Civil War time. Hearing about how it was;
-This country was like the other country? Texas and Mississippi as countries? United States was divided, they had to unite together. Civil War;
-Not remembering anything and not counting his money?;
-First memory he has, first welfare? in St. Louis, Missouri. 3 days to St. Louis? "Can't keep a good man down.";
-High waters/floods of 1912, 1922, 1927. He was in St. John/St. Jules for the flood of '27;
-Fireman. Mr. Dixson;
-People working in the mill/railroad sang songs while working. Happy making money. He remembers the songs, but he can't sing or recount the lyrics;
-Still a deacon in the Church (which church?);

J.C. Alpough, John Stewart Rideaux