Center for Louisiana Studies Archival Catalog

Jeff Deblanc, Jason Theriot:
**dates, years, and places mentioned may be confused in his retelling**

-Prior to WWII was a product of the Depression, grew up in that environment; always looking for jobs
-After graduation from high school in 1938 worked in the sugar houses as a bench chemist; was able to go to college through the factory
-Never finished college as the war broke out in 1939; went to LSU
-Was already in training by the time Pearl Harbor happened as there was already a push for trained men
-At LSU had civilian pilot training (CPT) and Deblanc was in it by 1939 when war broke out in Europe
-When war broke out in U.S. Deblanc wanted to make sure he was not drafted into another department, like the infantry; wanted to fly for the Navy
-Brother, Frank, was an engineer and was going to go into the Army but Deblanc feared that Frank would be stuck building bridges in front of the infantry and be killed
-Told Frank to go into the Navy and become a pilot too; flew a four engine plane all through the war in anti-sub patrol in the Pacific
-Deblanc advanced into naval flight training in Oct. 1941 and was stationed in Corpus Christi; wanted to be a fighter as he was able to fight on his own terms

After Pearl Harbor (9:36)
-His class of cadets were assigned to be (?) pilots and Deblanc did not want to so he went and resigned for service in the Navy and was sent into the Marine Corps to be a fighter
-Deblanc’s group were known as the “Omega” pilots, because their training was too little to be actual fighter pilots; they needed bodies out there

(13:11) Describing his plane, M3N (?) plane, a by-plane
-Breezed through his air craft landing training and was sent to Corpus Christi, to what he thought was more training but was put in as reserved pilots and teaching
-Navy pilots had some run-ins with the Navy guys there
-Wore these large rings and would knock on the bar when ordering drinks to be served first—called them “ring knockers”
-Bar would be split by pilots in reserved and ring knockers

(16:49) describing the planes; F3F, they used at the air craft carriers from WWI with no gun wingmen; transferred to OOS2, a low wing monoplane
-Once graduated and passed training for instrument flying, had a total of 250 hours of flying time; sent on a carrier to Guadalcanal in August 1942
-Was given a plane that he had flew the least, less than 10 hours of flying time
-June or July 1942 (maybe he meant 1943?)went over to New Caledonia; 22 days at sea, not on an aircraft carrier as there were planes already there
-Was there to replace those in squadrons that had been killed; saw first combat in November 1942

(25:00) in service training he was given on how to fight Japanese planes in dog fights from older pilots
-While at New Caledonia was renamed as the “Cactus Air force;” those that fought from August 20 - January 23 1943 were a part of this air force in the South Pacific

(28:43) Looking at a photo of a F4F, the Wildcat, mid-wing plane; describing how he used it

First Combat (33:19)
-When he first ran into a Japanese plane was Nov. 10 1942; also the first day at Guadalcanal (maybe he meant New Caledonia?)
-Flew as the last man in the squadron formation, in the very back; were flying with others to see the layout of the islands
-Landed at 11 and then the radio went off about Japanese bombers (this happened everyday); Japanese plan was to push them off the island, literally
-Took off and was flying over Japanese territory; listened to Coast Guard radio on where the Japanese would be in the air and on land
-Had to have short messages on the radio from the Coast Guard as the Japanese could locate where they and the planes were if they stayed on long enough
-Used a lot of British slang and terms for codes

(37.45) Describing in detail of the planes on both sides, islands they flew over in the fight, where his squadron was and who was helping him
-What they were to except from the Japanese; how they lost one pilot, Joe Falcon

Life on Guadalcanal (44:02)
-Knew every night there was to be bombing; always tired
-Washing Machine Charlie plane had the loudest engine in the Japanese and they could always hear them when they were coming
-Ran a few times in patrol in the foxholes on the ground; scared him more to be under artillery fire
-Marine and Natives worked together to keep the base clear enough so the planes could take off
-Natives mostly stuck with the winners at the time, so they were always switching back and forth
-Night was the worst as anything that moved was shot, so no going out to the bushes for the bathroom
-Japanese sometime would ride bicycles down their (US) runway and fire at their tents
-The base was never truly secured until December; able to get supplies easier and Japanese were no longer destroying them
-Flew almost every day for 6 weeks; describing more on other attacks/bombings he was in

-On one flight after some Japanese bombers, 3 out of 8 planes had fuel problems; Deblanc’s plane was one
-2 pilots bailed and went back to the base but Deblanc chose to stay on
-Knew that if he got into a fight he will not have enough fuel to go back
-Decided that he’d fight and then fly back to a certain island and bail there, told his comrades
-Describes certain tactics used; starts talking about how he was shot down (same story in TH1-040)
-Returns to when he was flying back with little to no fuel after the fight; wasn’t his first time to have to fight with little fuel

Cuts off mid-sentence at very end

Francis G. Doerle, Theriot:

End of the War
-Was able to take a break (a leave) in Paris
-Your time on leave depended on how much time was spent on the front and when it was thought you were needed again; could be 5-10 days off
-Served the whole time on the front line; didn’t take time off, even when his foot turned black, helped in unloading trucks
-Did a lot of patrols at outposts during the night to capture German soldiers for the CP
-Detailing the work of the CPs and importance of them

-Everyone carried a backpack and packed what they needed/wanted
-Dorele had 1-2 bandoleers of ammunition, dry socks, dry shirts, 2 grenades but nothing for hygiene
-Used the buddy system; your buddy was the runner for more ammunition; stayed in the foxhole with you
-At night in the foxhole had to know left from right and who was near you
-Never spoke but would whisper to catch each other’s attention when they heard something

-Going across Germany towards the end of the war, all the little towns and cities were bombed out and people were living in cellars
-The Germans were ready to surrender, the soldiers were either really old or too young; most of the SS were dead by then
-Dorele did encounter a SS trooper one night, “I’ll never forget it;” was standing guard at a hospital one night and there was a SS in there for treatment as a prisoner
-Had to lock the man up as was acting like a “lunatic” and was a danger to everyone around him—made sure everyone knew what he stood for
-Never really talked to German POWs; mostly dealt with guarding POW camps of Polish and French POWs
-Couldn’t speak French or German but understood a little bit, used a little dictionary

-They were told not to go into Berlin, stopped at the Elbe River; Americans were happy to let the Russians take Berlin and kill the Germans
-Mostly stood guard at the river to capture any German soldiers that escaped Berlin
-Thinks there was probably a lot of German death at the hands of the Russians when they took Berlin
-The Russians wanted Berlin as payback for what the Germans did to them

After the War (24:17)
-The US never had to worry about war happening on their soil; Pearl Harbor was just a onetime thing
-If war ever did break out on our land, there’s no way Americans could handle it like the Germans, Russians, and English did
-Too many nationalities and politics would cause problems and make it worse

-While at the Elbe River the Russians met them after Berlin; they drank and danced that night; Russians were dirty people
-Stayed there for a week or two after the war ended in May 1945; the German people came up to them and thanked them for ending the war
-They were pulled out and were told they were going home for 10 days and then being outfitted to invade Japan on November 1
-They came home on a luxury-liner ship, the “USS Crystalball;” a nicer ride back than going to Europe
-Dorele’s division was one of the first to go home from the war in Europe after the end

-Docked at Boston by afternoon, but was not let off the ship; next morning they could hear bands and noise from the shore

(39:25) Captain finally comes over the loud speaker and says that Japan has surrender
-The Captain then goes on to say that their division was going to be a part of the first wave in the invasion of Japan—they were the luckiest men alive
-“We’re going home boys, we going home”; they also weren’t let off the ship as they wanted to let Boston have a moment to celebrate without a division in the city
-Had the biggest celebration when they got off the ship; stayed there for one night before being shipped off to Fort Meade, Maryland

-Was asked to reenlist as a sergeant but Dorele had enough points to go home and he said no; Fort Knox got his discharge papers and pay
-Can’t remember what month he finally made it back; his wife and family knew he was back in the states but didn’t know when he was coming home
-Talking about life before the war; where his brothers and brother-in-laws were at; where his German gun might be at in the house

Cuts off mid-sentence

Transcription Begins:

Francis G. Doerle:

I took a leave and went to Paris for 5 days. Your time on leave depended on how much time you spent on the front line and much time they anticipated they would need you.

Almost from the day I went overseas I was in combat on the front line. Even when I got frostbite I still stayed on the front lines helping unload trucks. I spent many sleepless nights at the front on an outpost. But the night patrols were the worse. We had to go into enemy territory to capture prisoners and bring them back to the CP for interrogation. The first thing they would ask is what unit the prisoner was in, because the CP had maps of everything, and they had to know exactly where the enemy was. This was all well planned out. We had to be well organized because you are talking about people's lives. This was not something that the CP would take likely. They were very responsible people. They didn't get in that position being irresponsible. The CP was in a room or a house, or a tent. The CP was the brains of the outfit. You had command people and radiomen in there making the decisions.

I always carried one or two bandoleers of ammunition; that was about 8 clips each. I had a pack and carried dry socks and dry shirts, but no toothbrush; not even a bar of soap. And I always carried two grenades. Grenades were good for clearing out a building. You throw a grenade in there and back away, and that clears out the enemy. Any time you had a need for ammunition you would send a runner or a buddy to fetch more. We used the buddy system. At night your buddy was always in the foxhole with you. Ebiline was my buddy for awhile. They would send word down about where we could get supplies. They kept us informed about all that.

I always knew who was on my right and left at night. We never talked out-loud, but if you heard something you would say, "pist." You would whisper to get the other guys attention. George Allen was always on my left and a fella by the name of Mulberry was on my right. We were close enough to whisper.

When we finally got across to Germany, all the little towns and cities were bombed out. People were living in shelters. We went through a concentration camp and I remember seeing the crematories, but we didn't stay long. We kept moving. There were no prisoners there; the Germans had taken all the survivors with them as they moved farther east into Germany.

Towards the end they were leaving the prisoners there at the camps. And they were ready to surrender. They were ready to call it quits. It was a hopeless fight. The soldiers were either very young or very old. Most of the elite soldiers, the German SS, were all dead.

I ran into one SS trooper one night. I'll never forget it. I had to stand guard at a hospital one night and there was a MF in there. He was a lunatic. You couldn't conduct medicine in there with a crazy person like that, so they took him away and locked him up. He let us know that he was an SS, and what he stood for.

We finally stopped at the Elbe River. We were looking for that wine truck! We were able to take a breather and relax. But I bet there was a tremendous amount of German people in Berlin who were killed by the Russians. That was their payback. I bet they slaughtered the Germans in droves. They (Russians) saved a lot of American lives by doing that. We didn't have to go and take Berlin; the Russians did that for us. But those Russians suffered horribly during the war. The Germans did the same thing to them when they tried to take Russia.

We were fortunate. We didn't have mass murders like that. We had Pearl Harbor and a few ships sunk in the Atlantic, but nothing like those people in London and in Russia. I'll say this- American people would not have been able to handle what the French and British and the German people went through. This country would collapse. Things are different here. There are too many different nationalites.

I think that this was something that Churchill and Roosevelt talked about. I think that they decided that they had had enough. They wanted to save as many soldiers lives as possible. That's why they let the Russians take Berlin.

We met them at the Elbe. We danced and drank vodka with them (Russians). But they were filthy, dirty people. We stayed there for a week or two after the war ended (May 7th 1945).

The German families would come up and kiss our hands and thank us. They said they were tired of war and tired of Hitler. They said they couldn't do anything about him. They claimed that he took over before anybody could do anything. But as a long as the German people were living the good life, and were prosperous, and making money; they just let it happen. They just let Hitler do whatever he wanted because things were so good. We do that here in this country. Hitler came to power because he made things so good for his people.

They pulled us back because my division was scheduled to invade Japan. They were going to send us home for 10 days and then outfit us for a trip across the Pacific and we were due to hit the shores of Japan on November 1st. I came home on the USS Crystalball. It was a luxury-liner.

I've got a great story about that ride home. There were 10,000 soldiers on that ship, living the good life. Going over it was hell, but going back home it was great. I don't know why but they selected us to go back home first. We were one of the first divisions to get home, and the war (in Europe) had just ended. So I'm laying there on the deck, sunbathing, thinking about all of this, when all of a sudden a bird flys over my fucken head and shits right on my face. Ten thousands soldiers on the deck of that ship and a bird shits right in my face, "Splat!" I was sitten there in deap thought thinking about why my group was so special and this bird said, "shit on you." And he got me pretty good. I had to go down below and take a shower. It was all over my hair and my nose and it stunk. I never have forgotten that. Why me? Out of 10,000 men, he picked me.

So we land in Boston and they wouldn't let us off the ship. We stayed the night on that ship. The next day the captain comes over the loud speaker and said that Japan had just surrendered. He said, "Gentlemen of the 35th Infantry, this is General so and so. You men are the luckiest men alive today. I want to tell you that you men were selected to go in on the first wave on the invasion of Japan. Japan has surrendered. We wouldn't let you off the ship last night while all of this was going on. We were afraid that if we put a whole division in Boston it wouldn't be the same!" We started hooten and hollering like you wouldn't believe. Then he came back on and said, "Now we gonna let you all off tonight to celebrate and we want ya'll to act like American heroes. We want you all to be proud of what you have done. The war is over. And we're going home boys…we going home."

There was a humungus party that night. There were bands playing in this big warehouse with food and drinks and all the WAVES and WACS were there. It was a huge celebration. And we were the first division to get back to states after Japan surrendered. That was a madhouse. I only stayed there that one night. I went to Fort Meade Maryland to get processed and they asked me if I wanted to be a sergeant. I said, "Sergeant of what?" They wanted me to reenlist. But see I had enough points to get home quick. I was discharged at Fort Knox and then came home.

I got to New Iberia about 10 o'clock in the evening.

We were lucky that Truman dropped those bombs and ended the war.

Homer Dugas; Theriot; Mrs. Dugas; Hewitt Theriot

Pearl Harbor Day

-Was in Abbeville out dancing with Mr. Zenou Bodie’s daughter (use to work for him)
-When he dropped her off her father told that them the news and that the President was going to declare war tomorrow
-Had never heard of Pearl Harbor and he or the daughter (she was few years younger than Dugas) knew where it was
-“Little did I know that’s exactly where I was heading for! It wasn’t long before I was in Pearl Harbor.”
-Joined the Marine Corps right after as he knew was going to be drafted since he was the right age and wanted to be in the Marines
-Went to New Orleans with Angus Mestayer and Lloyd Broussard (TH1-024) and they were separated the minute they signed up and Dugas went to boot camp in San Diego
-They did this in case men were related so as to spread out the risk of losing all of a family line; talks of what happened to the Sullivan brothers that were all killed
-Thinks he was in San Diego in September in 1942 for 13 weeks; might have been 18 or 19 years old

-After boot camp shipped to New Zealand and their climate was the opposite, left in the summer and landed in the winter
-Rained almost every day and mud on top of mud and it made it difficult to walk
-Camped out about 15 miles out of a town in a field; had a lot of sheep everywhere and eat a lot of them too
-Got together with about 4-5 guys and bought a Model T-Ford to drive around and to go into town easier since there was hardly any trains; but no island hopping
-They were training in New Zealand to land on beaches and knew they were going to islands to fight; was in the 2nd Marine Corp Division
-Trained when approaching the beach on Higgins boats; was told that Hitler was very impressed by the Higgins boats and wanted them

-Wasn’t there for D-day (he is referring to the battle of Tarawa that happens after he leaves New Zealand), but was in a Higgins and his Lt. was on Dugas’s left side and he was on the right with the gate in front of them; both were smoking cigarettes left and right

(9:28) His Lt. looked at him and said, “You’re really enjoying those Camels, huh?” Dugas replied, “Yes sir. I’m kinda nervous.” To which the Lt. said, “Don’t worry, I’m twice as nervous as you are. You’re just an enlisted man and you have to do what I tell you. Me, I have to do it myself!”
-Was probably in New Zealand for about 2 months but Dugas isn’t sure, just knew it was for a good while

(10:15) Mrs. Dugas has a question about the battle on November 20, 1943; they are consulting a book and photos

-It was a big battle and it took a few days, not just one day
-One Navy guy jumped the boat once and went back to the ship; doesn’t think he was punished for it
-Invaded Tarawa November 21st 1943, so he had been in the service for about a year
-Took a transport to Tarawa from New Zealand; they knew they were going into battle but not where, as that was a secret
-Once anchored off from the beach they unloaded down cargo nets into the Higgins boats
-Landed on one side of the island and dug a foxhole in the sand the moment he hit the beach
-Stayed there for a couple of days, standing halfway up in the hole; the first island was Betio

-Was wounded on this island; he was only a rifle man
-When landing their craft on the beach, it got caught on a reef so they had to get in the water and wade to the beach, carrying their rifles above their heads to keep dry
-They landed at the wrong time because the tides were all wrong and couldn’t fight or the rifles would get wet; it was too deep
-The Japanese waited to fire at them the closer they got to the beach; remembers seeing a raft of dead people floating in the water
-The Navy ships and planes had bombarded the island beforehand to help in the landing, near the Japanese airfield

-The island of Betio was nothing but a large airstrip

(20:35) Question: “How were the Japanese fighting you back?”
-The Japanese were in concrete bunkers that were built in 1938, so the only way to get at them was for two men to go on either side and come around to the slits of where the enemy was firing from and throw in hand grenades
-A lot of men were shot doing this; Dugas carried a M-1 rifle; looking at a photo of the island again

(22:33) When Dugas was wounded
-There was an airstrip that they had secured and his Lt. ordered Dugas and another man from Texas to send a message
-They were walking back when a machine gun went off and hit Dugas in the back of the leg and he went down
-His partner came over to help him but Dugas told him to keep going and get the message delivered; he was hit in the leg so he couldn’t walk

-A Marine came by later and saw Dugas was still alive and knelt beside him; Dugas told him lay down on him or the Japanese would kill him
-Just as the guy was laying down a bullet went right through the backside of the Marine’s shirt and left a hole, but the man had no injuries thankfully—he was lucky!
-Then another Marine came by with a jeep and they put him on the hood and left Dugas with some natives in a straw hut on the beach for the rest of the night
-They couldn’t speak English but stayed all night with him nonetheless

-The next day they brought him back to the ship and the doctor was waiting for him
-The doctor was talking to him and asked Dugas where he was from in Louisiana and Dugas answered “How do you know I’m from Louisiana?”
-Told him that the way Dugas talked gave it away so Dugas told him he was Loureauville and the doctor said he knew where that was since he was from Scott—it was a funny thing!

(31:38 - 44:54) recapping what he retold so far since the beach landing to getting wounded and then leaving on the boat
-Referencing the book they’re looking at again and looking at photos

-Was eventually put on a transport ship to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for his wound; doesn’t really know how he got there or how long it took as he slept most of the time

-Afterwards they sent him to San Diego to have surgery done and to recuperate for a year; had to rebuild the leg by breaking it five times to fix it an inch at the time
-The first time he was able to leave the hospital after being able to start walking with crutches was when a Lt. came by and asked him if Dugas wanted to go into town with him that night
-Went to a nice place with girls that would dance with them but he couldn’t dance so there were a few that sat with him and talked

-His mother wrote to a senator in Baton Rouge to ask for Dugas to be moved to a hospital in New Orleans
-His commander came to him and asked why this senator was writing to him and why Dugas would want to be moved to New Orleans—told him that’s where his family was
-Was put on a train the next morning, was given 2 seats so he could lay out and rest his leg
-Had an older lady come on and he tried to give her one of the seats but the conductor told Dugas he couldn’t as the government gave him those 2 seats and no one else could sit there

(55:37) End of interview
-Recapped the battle of Tarawa again; Hewitt Theriot comparing his experiences with the Japanese in-between
-Eventually discharged in Florida later; he was nineteen years old when he signed up; *talking in background*
-Received a Purple Heart medal at the hospital in New Orleans; everyone looking at his medal

-Talking about life; had a replaced hip; Dugas’ children; looking at more home photos
-Debating differences on sweet potatoes and yams; others Theriot has interviewed and exerts of their stories (see TH1-024)
-Hewitt telling them about Theriot and his job and fiancée; Mrs. Dugas and Dugas explaining how she caned their chairs and what type of wood works best

Transcription Begins:

Homer Dugas (3-9-02)
Born: February 4, 1924
903 N. Main
Loureauville, La, 70552
2nd Marines-Tarawa

For Pearl Harbor Day I was dancing in Abbeville with Mr. Zenou Bodie's daughter. I used to work for him. When we got back he was sitting on his front porch and he said, "The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor. The President is going to declare war tomorrow." His daughter was much younger than I was, and I asked her if she knew where Pearl Harbor was. She said, "I have no idea." I said, "Neither me; I never heard of it." Little did I know that was exactly where I was headed for and it wasn't long before I was at Pearl Harbor.

I joined the Marine Corp soon after. Three of us from Loureauville went to New Orleans to join. It was Angus Mestayer, Lloyd Broussard, and myself. The sent us directly to San Diego to boot camp. The minute we got there, they separated us. Boot camp was 13 weeks long.

After that, they shipped me to New Zealand. It's across the equator, opposite of our climate here. I left here, and it was the summer. When I got to New Zealand, it was winter. Mud on top of mud. We were camped out about 15 miles from town in a field. Boy they had a lot of sheep out there. We ate a lot of that too. We stayed there a good while. Four or five of us bought an old Model T Ford so we could get around when we weren't training. We trained to take a beach. I was in the 2nd Marine Corp Division.

When we'd approach the beaches, we were on a ship. Then we'd get out and load into those little Higgins boats. That's the boat that Hitler wanted. Boy Hitler couldn't get over that Higgins boat. He was really impressed with that. It was built in New Orleans.

We took a transport from New Zealand and headed to Tarawa. We knew we were going into battle, but we weren't too sure where we were going. We anchored off a few miles from that beach, and then we started unloaded down this cargo net, down into those little Higgins boats. (November 20, 1943) On the approach to the beach at Tarawa, I was on one side of the Higgins boat and my Lt. was on the other side. He was smoking cigarettes left and right. I was smoking too. He looked over at me and he said, "May you really enjoying those Camel's huh." I said, "Yes sir. I'm kind of nervous." He said, "Don't worry, I'm twice as nervous as you are." He said, "You are just an enlisted man, and you have to do what I tell you. Me on the other hand, I have to do it myself."

On the way to the beach, our landing craft got caught on a reef and so we had to get out in the water and wade through it to get to the beach. When we hit that coral, the boat stopped, and the gate dropped and they told us to move out. We were a good ways from that beach, probably a couple of hundred yards. And the water was pretty deep. We carried our rifles on top of our heads so they wouldn't get wet. Everything was messed up. We came in at the wrong time. The tides were all wrong.

The navy ships and the planes bombarded the island first to soften the landing. The Japs held off their fire right until we got close to the beach. I remember seeing these rafts of dead bodies floating all in the water.

I landed on one end of the island, at Betio. I dug me a foxhole right when I got there at the end of the airstrip, and I got in it. I sleep there in that hole that night. The island was one big airstrip. The Japs were in these concrete bunkers and pillboxes. We had to crawl on the ground to get to these bunkers, and then throw hand grenades in the little hole to take them out. A lot of men were lost that way.

Not long after we landed, we were able to secure the landing strip. I came in from the right corner. Me and this boy from Texas were ordered to deliver a message to the back. When we started going, I was up and running and a Japanese machine gun went off and it caught me right in the leg and I went down. That boy came over to help me, but I told him to keep going, because there was nothing he could do. I was hit in the leg and I couldn't walk. I told him to keep going to deliver that message. So I lay there for awhile. This Marine Corpsman came by and he saw that I was alive, so he kneeled down beside me. I told him that he better lay down on top of me otherwise the Japs were going to kill him. And just when I said that, a bullet passed right through his shirt. You could see the hole in his shirt where that bullet went through. He was lucky.

This other marine came with a jeep and they helped me up and put me on the hood. That night the marines took care of the rest of those Japs right there. They brought me to the beach and I spent the night with these natives in their straw hut. They couldn't speak English. I was coming in and out of conscious, but they stayed with me all night long.
The bullet had crushed all the bone in my leg, and I could see through the hole.

The next day, they brought me aboard ship, and the doctor came and talked to me. He asked me what part of Louisiana I was from. I asked him how he knew I was from Louisiana, he said because of the way I talked. I told him I was from Loureauville. He said he was from Scott. He said he knew where Loureauville was. It was a funny thing.

It's amazing the things that happened during the war. Its amazing how they planned for all this stuff. And we were trained so well for being so young. I was only 19 years old.

Before I left I had saw that we had captured 6 Japs from Tarawa. There wasn't many left alive after that fight. When I got on that ship, I knew that I wasn't going back to that island. I could the island from that ship. They treated me very well.

("There were some forty-five hundred fighting troops and another twenty-two hundred construction troops and Korean laborers on Tarawa. The commander's orders were to fight till the last man. They fought to the last 146; all the rest died."- This was taken from a book that I read. The Pacific Campaign. Dan van de Vat. 1991. P. 299.)

I got to a hospital in San Diego finally. The doctor broke my leg five times, and it was about 5-inches short. They fixed it an inch at a time. They did a lot of work putting me back together. I ate well in that hospital too. I had a pleasant stay in that hospital. I had to walk in a cast for a long time too. I remember when they came and brought me the Purple Heart.

The first time that I was able to walk on my own, I had walked outside of the hospital and I was sitting on the bench. This Lt. came by and so I saluted him. He asked how I was doing and asked if I would like to go to town that night. I told him that I would like that very much. When we left he said, "You wanna go see some girls." I said, "Well, if it's just to look at them, I'd like to go, other than that no dice for me." So he brought me to a place, and it was a very nice place. There were some nice girls and they would dance with the boys and some of them came and told me hello, but I couldn't dance because I was on crutches. I danced when I got back to Loureauville though.

My mom wrote to a senator in Baton Rouge, asking him to get me out of that hospital in San Diego. And one day my commander came and asked me if I knew that senator and I said that I did. I told him that if I were to move to the hospital in New Orleans I would be closer to my family. That commander told me I would be on the train the next morning.
I had two seats on the train; one to sit on and one rest my leg.

Howard Freyou, Theriot, Mrs. Freyou, Hewitt Theriot:
**references the book USS Maryland from Turner Publishing (1997)**

Pearl Harbor Day

-Was at the park in St. Martinsville, sitting in the car listening to the radio; they came across on the radio with the news; was about 16 years old
-After that he left the family farm and went to Baton Rouge for a year; then left to Morgan City to work in the shipyards for another year
-It was around that time that his father called Freyou to tell him that he had a yellow letter—it was a draft notice
-His father was on the draft board and knew that Freyou was getting the letter and asked him if he really wanted to go or he’d take him off; “So I said what the hell, I’ll go.”

-Had already tried once to get into the merchant marines but he wasn’t 18 yet
-Had gone to the docks in January and was ready to board a ship for the marines before the draft board got him; sent him to the Navy July 1943
-Was sent to boot camp in San Diego and then given a 7 day leave so he got married
-Afterwards sent to California to report on the “USS Tennessee” to go overseas to Pearl Harbor
-Once there was told he was not needed on the ship so they put him up in a hotel to wait for when the dock board needed them; there was about 35 guys from New Iberia there

-Then one morning the board had his name and a dock number
-Didn’t know where this dock was and the chief told him to wait at the launch to be picked up eventually
-No one had told him which ship or where to go at the launch
-Once there the chief told a captain that he had Freyou’s orders as an extra man for their ship
-Went upstairs with him and the chief couldn’t understand Freyou’s accent so they sent him out
-Freyou sat on the deck for about 3 days since he didn’t know where to go and no one could help him since none of them understood what he was saying

-Eventually a man from Tennessee came by and asked Freyou what he was doing on the deck
-Told him he didn’t know as no one told him where he was supposed to be or what division he was even in
-The man sort of understood Freyou and told him to talk a little bit slower and went to the chief to sort out where Freyou could go
-Told them he was a farmer from Louisiana

-They put him on “USS Maryland” (this ship had been at Pearl Harbor during the attack and was one of the few ships that survived) and that’s where he stayed till the end of the war
-He was a trey-man on 5”/51 gun as he had to put the trey down to protect the brass around the gun so when the breech was closed it wouldn’t be damaged when fired
-The ship had 10 of these guns and Freyou was number 10
-His ship was one of the first to have these guns and 16” guns, 20 mm, 40 mm, (names a few others in passing throughout the interview) as well as planes; 2,400 men aboard of the ship

(13:20) First Action
-Boarded the “Maryland” in October 1943 and saw action in Tarawa in November 1943
-Last stop was Okinawa; participated in 7 invasions and 2 sea battles—the Leyte Gulf battle and Surigao Strait battle
-They would shell the islands in the early morning hours till late at night before allowing the marines to take the land
-Use spotter planes to find the pillboxes and blow those up with the 16” guns; the shells weighed over a ton each and could shoot accurately from about 20 miles out
-Freyou was on the 5” guns and shot at planes mostly; everything ran on hydraulics
-The first encounter with a suicide plane (Kamikaze), the pilot was going for the stacks and when Freyou looked out his hole window he could see the pilot’s face
-They opened up the 5”, 20 mm, and 40 mm guns on him; took off the wing and the plane crashed onto the front deck
-As crashing the pilot dropped 2 bombs and one however went through 4 inches of steel straight into the bottom deck of the sick bay and blew up—killed everybody
-Had to go back to Pearl Harbor for repairs; referencing the book and an article that says that 31 men were killed and 29 injured in this attack

(19:53) Okinawa Kamikaze Attack
-The plane that hit them in Okinawa happened when they thought they were secured; weren’t too far off from the island but they had dropped back because they thought it was safe
-Freyou was laying out on the deck when he saw a plane leave the island
-Thought it was American plane circling them so no one shot at it since the ship had been firing on the island all day and had finally stopped that night
-Thought this until the plane dropped a torpedo that was going straight towards them
-Freyou jumped up and took off running towards his gun in the back; referencing a photo on where he was in the book

(22:16)
-After the war was over in Europe Freyou’s crew was sent back to the states to get ready to fight the Japanese
-Went on leave for 38 days and when he came back to the ship, it had been remodeled and his gun had been taken off
-(Looking at picture and commenting on how rough the sea was)
-The Philippine Sea was a rough sea and it was where they hit a really bad storm; was hitting 40-foot sea waves
-“Everybody was carrying a bucket. They'd ask me, "Frenchy, where in the hell is your bucket?" I'd say, "My bucket for what?" They said, "You ain't got sick yet?" I said, "Not yet, but when it gets rough I'm gonna get sick." They said, "well goddamn, how rough it's gotta get for you?" I never did get sick overseas.”

(23:36) Talking
-Looking at pictures; Hewitt and Freyou comparing nicknames for guns they used; war reunions Freyou has been too; only radio was from Tokyo Rose

(29:09) Battle of Leyte Gulf
-The worst sea battle of the war was at Leyte Gulf; was apart in the convoy with Nimitz but they were jammed in that gulf
-What saved them was when Nimitz was called back and he arrived with his planes and dive-bombers
-The last night when Nimitz came back they fought till about midnight using radar
-Sunk and messed up a bunch of Japanese ships—including 2 of the biggest Japanese battleships

(30:50) After the War
-Hewitt and Freyou comparing experiences of battles
-Spent his last year in the Bahamas; was left in charge as he was a hard worker
-His nickname was Frenchy; his wife wrote a letter everyday
-His ship could go 22 knots

-Was at a tent city on Okinawa and was there when a typhoon hit; this was after the war and he was there for occupation for 5 months
-Before being transferred the Marines left first and one had left about 5 tons of dynamite
-Told the younger boys to watch out around that tent; one wasn’t careful one day and set it off, the ground shook when it went off and killed a lot of young men from boot camp
-On Okinawa was in charge of shipping jeeps and equipment back to the states
-“Maryland” was being used as a transport to the states when the Japanese surrendered

-Eventually was given his orders so he left Okinawa to Pearl; at Pearl given orders to go to San Diego on a steam ship
-San Diego didn’t have his orders to so they sent him to Frisco, then Bremington and St. Pedro before sending him back to San Diego and the office had his papers
-Walked off the ship and caught a train in Chicago and went to New Orleans; was in the Navy for 2 years and 5 months
-Was given $300 and discharged; asked him to come back for Korea but he refused

(52:12)the group moves away from recorder and the voices are distant and then Theriot thanks Freyou for his service and cuts out

Transcription Begins:

Howard Freyou
Born January 1925
New Iberia
Battleship Gunner-USS Maryland

On Pearl Harbor Day I was on my way to the park in St. Martinsville in the car. I had my radio on and that's when I heard that they bombed Pearl Harbor. I was about 16. My ship was there; it was one of the few that got out.

After that day I left the farm and I went to work in Baton Rouge. I worked there for about a year. Then I worked at the shipyard in Morgan City for about a year. That's when my daddy called me, he said, "You got a yellow letter here, so you better come home." So I came home and it was a draft notice. But my daddy was on the draft board. He knew they were going to draft me. He told me, he said, "If you want to go you can go, but if you don't want to go I can take you off." So I said what the hell, I'll go.

I had tried to get into the merchant marines, but I wasn't 18 yet. I was at the dock, ready to board a ship when they came and got me, the draft board. They wanted me for the draft. They drafted me into the Navy in July 1943.

I went to San Diego for boot camp. Then I came home on leave for a few days and got married. I went back to California and I was ordered to report to the USS Tennessee. I went overseas on the Tennessee and we went to Pearl (Harbor, Hawaii). When we got there they told me that they didn't need me. So the Navy put me up in a hotel and morning I would go down to the dock and wait to see if I had duty that day. There were about 35 of us from New Iberia there. I walked there one morning and I saw my name on the board- 'Howard Freyou report to so and so dock.' So I asked the chief where was the dock. He told me to go down there and wait at the launch to get picked up. I didn't know where I was going or what ship I was assigned to. They didn't tell me anything. So I went down there at the launch and waited for a ship. He gave my orders to this captain and he told him, he said, "You need an extra man, so I brought you this fella here." So I went with him upstairs, but he couldn't understand me at first. There was a lot of difference in the language. I stayed sitten on that deck for about 3 days, because I didn't know where I was going and nobody could understand me.

Finally this one guy from Tennessee came by and he asked what I was doing. I told him I didn't know. He asked me, "Well what division are you with?" I told him, "I don't know that either, nobody come and tell me anything yet." He kind of understood me, so he said, "Just talk slowly and I'll get you to where you need to go." So he went and talked to the chief. He told the chief, "There's a man down there but he's hard to understand." So the chief asked me, he said, "Where you from?" So I told the boy from Tennessee, and I told him real slow, that I was a farmer from Louisiana. The chief said, "He's a farmer, he'll be a good hand." So they put me on the (USS) Maryland, and that's the ship I served on; all throughout WWII. I went aboard ship on October 14, 1943 as Seaman/3rd Class.

I was a trey-man on a 5”/51 gun. That was a pretty big gun; it was a 5" gun. We had 10-5" guns. I was on number 10. We worked in a small gunroom. It took ten men to fire one of those 5" guns. We had ammunition hanging on the racks in that little room. I helped load the round. I had to put that trey down before they loaded it. My job was to put the trey down to protect the brass around the gun so when they closed the breech it wouldn't damage it when fired.

We had the big 16" guns on there too and the torpedo tubes and the spotter planes. We had 20 mm and 40 mm guns too. There were 2,400 men on board that ship.

My first action was at Tarawa in November of '43. I took part in seven invasions and two sea battles. I was in the Surigao Strait sea battle and the Leyte Gulf sea battle (October 1944).

When we'd start an invasion we would shell an island from early in the morning till late at night. Then the marines would go in. We would use the spotter planes to locate the pillboxes and we'd blow that up with them 16" shells. The shells weighed over a ton each, but everything was run by hydraulics. We could shoot accurately from 20 miles out with those big guns.

But I was on a smaller gun, a 5". We shot at the planes mostly. We could shoot 50 rounds in a little while.

(June 22, 1944) One morning off the coast of Saipan we had dropped anchor. I was on the deck lying down. I had put my shoes under my cap and I saw a plane take off from that island. I thought it was an American plane. That plane came around, and he came around, and he dropped a torpedo and then went off about his business. Nobody even shot at him. Boy when that thing hit us, the deck of that ship jumped about 4 foot. (Two men were killed.) I was lying down and the explosion through me up on my feet. We weren't in general quarters at that time, everybody thought it was an American plane. It did some serious damage. It put a big hole in the bow of the ship. They had the new bow already built by the time we got to Pearl for repairs. They chopped off the front-in and welded that new bow on there.

I was in the worst ship battle in the world, the biggest sea battle ever. That was the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 23-26, 1944). That's where we busted up the Jap fleet. We were jammed in that Gulf. The Japs tried to lure Nimitz away and they were going to come from behind, but we stayed right in that Gulf. When they called Nimitz back and he arrived with all his planes and dive-bombers, that's what saved us. On that last night we fought till about midnight. We had to use radar. And we sank quite a bit of them. And we messed up a bunch of ships. Two of the big Japanese battleships were sunk there.

(Leyte Gulf. November 29, 1944.) When that first suicide plane was coming to us, I mean it was coming right for the stack, I looked out my hole and I saw that pilot’s face. We opened up with our 5" guns and the 20's and the 40's. We knocked his wing off, but he crashed on the front deck. His bomb made it through four-inches of steel and went down to the bottom deck and blew up. It killed everybody in sick bay. We were in a hell of a fix. We had to come back in to Pearl for repairs.

“Everything close by was demolished in the area. Bulkheads were torn open, lockers smashed, plumbing, lighting and ventilation ducts were ruined as the ship caught fire. Only a few men survived the tremendous concussion in the nearby vicinity of the explosion. Thirty-one men were killed with one officer and 29 men injured.” (USS Maryland. Turner Publishing Company. 1997. P. 12)

(April 7, 1945) In Okinawa we got hit right on top of turret number three by a Kamikaze. I remember this boy was on fire and they jumped on him to try to put the fire out. Then boys kept firing at him, but he hit us. Seventeen were killed on that attack. Only one sailor made it off that turret alive. His name was Justin David.

"A Japanese Kamikaze plane crashed his plane with its 500-pound bomb into the top of turret III. The bomb exploded and all but one of the men manning these mounts were blown form their stations. The gallant seventeen men who stood by their guns on top of the turret until the enemy plane exploded in their midst, had made the supreme sacrifice." (USS Maryland. Turner Publishing Company. 1997. P. 13)

We ran into a storm in the Philippine Sea. We were in 40-foot seas. Everybody was carrying a bucket. They'd ask me, "Frenchy, where in the hell is your bucket?" I'd say, "My bucket for what?" They said, "You ain't got sick yet?" I said, "Not yet, but when it gets rough I'm gonna get sick." They said, "well goddamn, how rough it's gotta get for you?" I never did get sick overseas.

Before we were set to invade Japan they had sent us back to Washington to get remodeled. The war in Europe had just ended. I came home on leave for 38 days. When I got back to port they had changed everything. They added all kinds of new guns. They had added new 40's (mm) and new 20's (mm). The gun that I was on had been taken off.

On our way back to Pearl from getting repairs in the states the war with Japan ended. We dropped the bomb on them. So they let go half of the crew. I was transferred back to Okinawa. I stayed on the island for five-and-a-half months. I was in charge of shipping jeeps and equipment back to the states. I was there for that typhoon. I spent the night in the mess hall in-between two large iceboxes. I thought it was safe there. That wind blew like hell all night. I bet you it blew 200 mph.

After that I went down to the Marine barracks on the other end of the island to get some dry clothes, because all of my clothes were wet. There was a tent right next to my tent where this marine had stored five tons of dynamite and he they didn't tell anybody. He sat down to heat up his food and he wasn't paying attention. I told them boys to be careful when they were fooling around there, but this one boy he let his fire get away from him and that dynamite blew up. I mean it shock the whole island. So I was making my way back with my dry clothes and I could see these people running away. I asked what was going on. I felt the island shock. They said, "You lucky, because I don't believe there's anyone alive over there." That accident killed I don't know how many of them boys.

I'm lucky I'm still alive.

My wife and I wrote letters to each other every day. I was gone for two-and-a-half years.

One morning I went down to the dock and I saw my name on the board again, 'Howard Freyou report to so and so dock." So I went down and they told me to pack my gear; I was going home. Coming home, that was a tour out of this world. I took a steamship from Okinawa to Pearl then to San Diego for my orders. They didn't have my orders there so I went down to Frisco, then to Bremington, then to St. Pedro, then back to San Diego. I made about five ports right there. I went to the office and they finally got my orders. They gave me my papers, and goddamn it I walked off the ship, and that was it. I came back home.

I caught a train in Los Angles and I went to New Orleans. They discharged me and gave me $300 and sent me home.

Charles Hagan, Theriot:

*picks up on story of battle at St. Lo*

-Hagan went up to the CP and captain at the jeeps the next day to see when they wanted him to cut hair
-Was told once the bombing was over they had marching orders so when dinner was ready he could do it before they leave
-Hagan then went back to his tent by his foxhole to wait and bombs started being dropped and the ground started shaking so he dove into his foxhole
-It was a formation of B-26s with 100 lbs. anti-personnel bombs

-When he came out he heard problems happening all over
-A guy near a halftrack that had been shaving had a bomb dropped 27 ft. from behind him and he ended up in coma later
-People were trying to help others from bleeding out; a radio operator was walking around without an arm and Hagan gave him first aid before sending him to a field hospital
-The captain by the jeep had both legs blown off, one eye was gone and other hanging out but somehow he was still alive and was talking to them, “that shook me up pretty good. That stayed with me for years. If he had been dead, it wouldn’t have been so bad.”

-Once the injured were taken care of and sent away on ambulance, another B-26 formation was seen coming
-So Hagan began looking for a foxhole and leaped into one of the deep German foxholes
-About broke his neck going in head first and then rolling onto his back and cut his nose and leg on a piece of shrapnel—left a scar

(9:55) trying to figure out dates and places where Hagan landed in an invasion; maybe Omaha Beach?
-Then went on to St. Lo that had bad causalities in A and C batteries so both were combined together
-Assigned to the 2nd Armored Division when General Patton went into Brittany and then Failaise
-Attacked at the town Mortain and the Germans were trying to cut them off as the Americans were trying to contain the Germans
-After each battle the British and Americans was gather their dead but the Germans didn’t so when trying to drive on the roads the Allies had to run over the bodies
-If they tried to dodge they might’ve hit a land mine off the road; the stench was terrible and any chance they could they’d try and wash off the halftracks

-Eventually made into Holland after France and Belgium; they were at the Siegfried Line and took part in that siege at Aachen; ordered not to retreat
-Had a group of combat engineers with bazookas so they made booby-traps to take out the German tanks; were given the presidential citation award for their actions
-Made it to Luxembourg when it was Thanksgiving; had a nice party

(21:34) Battle of the Bulge
-Still at Luxembourg when the battle of the Bulge broke out; their division was near the town on Malmady (the Malmady Massacre)
-The 1st Platoon Hagan was in was sent inside the town to stop tanks but were very ill equipped and thankfully never saw any Germans

-One night when it was snowing the Germans were sending down paratroops to booby-trap roads and change post signs to confuse the Allies
-Hagan’s platoon was the last coming out and had the last group with a M-16 and it’s snowing and they had a problem with their fuel line that was dry rotted
-They had to pull into a small town to try and fix the line; was snowing so bad they couldn’t tell when they pulled in that the town was German occupied
-The Germans opened fired on them—somehow made it out

-Was making their way back to Luxembourg to head over to Bastogne to where Patton was at; they were coming to relieve the 101st that were trapped
-Explains their battle tactics and what their guns were able to do
-Went in behind CCA and CCR and the infantry when pushing into Bastogne
-Once the invasion was over Hagan and his outfit was shipped out to Nancy France with the 8th Armored Division

(32:02) Speaking French in France
-Came up into a village that was covered in snow and ice but it wasn’t on the front so the villagers let the men sleep in their homes
-Only knew a little bit of French but enough to get by

-The CP asked Hagan to buy a goose off one of the famers so Hagan when asking realized he had no idea how to say “goose” in French
-The lady had chickens and geese so he couldn’t just say “white bird” or he might have ended up with a chicken (too small)
-So Hagan told her “I want to buy one of those big white birds” and the lady was a bit taken back but he still got a goose
-The Parisian French people were more educated, spoke faster, and used different words than the French words Hagan knew and rural people of France (i.e. airplane)

-Followed the 8th Armored Division into Remagen; goes into a story of when he first met the 8th Armored at Camp Polk
-Their halftrack would conk out on them the whole way there; it was snowing once when the halftrack stopped and they were under fire, had to hide in ditches under the snow
-Eventually made it to their station by a bridge to shoot down anti-aircrafts; stay there about a week

(44:57) Got in trouble at Remagen
-The bridge collapsed after 3 days so they moved upstream to another bridge
-Told to shoot at anything that came down the river or over the bridge—red alert

-They had to have 3 men manning the guns 24/7 in groups of 5 so only 2 got a rest until taking their places
-10 PM one night a jeep driver came up and told Hagan that the captain wanted Hagan to cut his hair
-Told the man he couldn’t leave unless someone could take his place since they were under a red alert
-The driver came back and told Hagan there was no one available to take his place but the captain has now made it an order to come and cut his hair
-So Hagan retorted that the tools he has come from his civilian life and the army did not pay to furnish him or to maintain them
-He had to send them back to the states for his wife to sharpen them when he could
-So unless the captain can maintain and furnish Hagan’s tools then he’s not leaving to cut hair—his tools are going to stay in his halftrack until then
-So the driver and a couple of guards came back and arrested him under court marshal for insubordination
-Locked Hagan up and was guarded 24/7—ironically his guard changed every 2 hours but apparently none could have come and took his place when asked for a haircut the first time

A 2nd Lieutenant in Hagan’s section found out what happened and went to the office of the captain and got in his face for one
-Going over the Lt.’s head with orders for one of his men and secondly, knowing full well that taking a man and not replacing him from red alert jeopardized the mission and the crew
-Then the Lt. threatened to put a court marshal for this captain unless they let Hagan go by 5 PM that night
-After that if anyone wanted/needed a haircut then they had to ask this 2nd Lt. if Hagan was available

(50:10) D-Day
-Hagan’s A Battery was part of the same squad that had the Sergeant Hyman Haas that is credited for knocking out enemy pillboxes on Omaha Beach; sections M-16 and M-17
-Landed that morning between 7:30 and 8 AM; Ernie Pyle interviewed all the men on that halftrack after the battle to release the story; one guy was from New Orleans

-After the war, Hagan went to a few reunions and ran into D Battery twice; Haas (from New York) came to the first one and he and Hagan still write to each other
-They worked together to get a plaque of their names placed on that pillbox but they couldn’t called a battery as the war monument commission only recognized battalions or higher so they’re called the “A Battalion” on the plaque

-Haas had to get all of his actions verified and the war department had to go through the history to document what was done
-Their reports showed that Hagan’s outfit landed at 9 AM (tapes cuts off story continues in TH1-053)

Transcription Begins:

His command jeep and trailer was parked alongside of a hedgerow that ran parallel with the road. There was a halftrack with radio equipment parked right next to him. So at about 11:00 a.m., I went to talk to him to see if he wanted me to give him hair cut. He was sitting on the ground with his back up against the jeep trailer. He had a bunch of maps and everything with him. And he looked at him watch and said, “Well, after this bombing is over, we gonna have marching orders. We’ll have an early chow so let’s wait until then.” So I walked back to my pup tent, which was 150 feet at the most. I got in my tent and pulled out a tablet from my field pack. I was getting ready to write a letter when I heard these bombs coming down. So I dove into my foxhole. These B-26’s were dropping 100-pound anti-personnel bombs. After the formation passed, I heard problems coming from the captain’s jeep, where I had just come from. The driver of the halftrack had been sitting down by the door and shaving when I walked over to my pup tent. An anti-personnel bomb landed approximately 27 feet from where he was shaving. When I got to him, there was crowd around him trying to help him. They were ripping up shirts and everything to try to stop the bleeding. Blood was everywhere. They were telling me different things to get inside of the halftrack to help him. By that time, they had another guy who came walking up with his arm all tore to hell. So I grabbed him and I grabbed a shirt, tore off the sleeve and put a tunicate around his arm. This jeep came driving by and I stopped him. He said there was a field hospital near by, so I said take him and send some ambulances because we got a few people down. But in the meantime, nobody was tending to the captain. You could see that his vehicle was down. So I said, “What about the captain?” They said, “Don’t worry about him, he done had it.” That’s the remark that I remember. When the ambulance came, I walked over to his jeep and he was messed up pretty good. He had no legs; they were all tore to hell. He had a hipbone that sticking out about a foot. He started talking and saying, “Get off my legs! Somebody is on my legs!” But he had no legs. He said, “I want to see my legs.” But he had no legs, and hardly had any face. His eyes were gone and hanging out. That shuck me up pretty good. That stayed with me for years. If he had been dead, it wouldn’t have been so bad.

A funny part of this story was after the ambulance left; here comes another formation of B-26’s. So I start looking for a foxhole. All of those foxholes were deep. I didn’t want to take off running like a coward, but I was walking as fast as most people could run. I heard those bombs coming down and I made one leap into that foxhole, head first. It was only a few feet deep. Man I like about broke my neck. I went over backwards, I was upside down. I had my face in the mud. When I got strait, I had blood coming out of my nose. I caught a piece of shrapnel. I think it tore my pants and cut my leg. It landed in the foxhole with me—a souvenir!

We were then assigned to the 2nd Armored Division after the breakout. Soon after St. Lo, Gen. Patton drove onto Brittany and then to Failaise. But before that, the Germans attacked at a town called Mortain; they were trying to cut off the two peninsulas. They had us in that area of Mortain. We were trying to contain them. It was a seesaw battle. During the battle, we would pull out our dead and wounded, but the Germans didn’t. After the battle, we drove on through that area and we were told to keep on the road. That time of the year it was hot, and there were a lot of dead bodies everywhere and they were blown up and everything. It was terrible. You had to run off of the road to dodge some of them. So you had to just run over and that stench stayed with you. We’d try to find a puddle of mud or water to try to wash off our halftracks.

We followed the 2nd Armored Division all the way to the Seigfried Line and into Holland. We hit the Germans in Aachen and we took part in the siege. We were with a group of combat engineers; they had bazookas. We would booby-trap the Germans and take out their tanks. The Germans were trying to get through with every thing they had. Our unit and that engineer bazooka team got the presidential citation award for action in Aachen.

We went to Luxembourg for Thanksgiving and then came the Battle of the Bulge. We were near Malmady during that time. We were attached to Patton’s 4th Armored Division and drove in support of them to relieve Bastogne. After the siege, we stayed in Bastogne for a few days before heading back to France.

I spoke a little French, so one day they asked to go to this farmhouse near Nancy to buy a goose. I went up there, but I couldn’t think of how in the hell to say “goose” in French. So I went over there and this old women came to door and these geese were big and white, there were chickens too. I couldn’t think of how in the hell to say goose, so when she opened the door I said, “I want to buy one of those big white birds.” So I could get by with my French.

We were with the 8th Armored Division. Before we went overseas, the 8th Armored used to be camp out at Fort Polk. And there weren’t too many soldiers around New Iberia, and these guys would come to here on three-day passes. Our people in this town had sons stationed all over the place, but they didn’t have any stationed close by. So when the town’s people saw somebody who was a soldier, they would treat them like their own son; they’d invite him to their homes to have lunch and they’d treat him to crawfish.

One day when I came back from guard duty on the gun, they told me that there were some people in 8th Armored heard that I was from Louisiana and they wanted to see me. So I walked in there and all these guys are standing around this stove and they said, “Are you the guy from Louisiana.” I said, “Yes.” They said, “What part?” I said, “New Iberia.” They hollered, “Oh! That’s God’s country!”

We followed the 8th Armored into Remagen. We set up our AAA guns to defend that bridge for a week. We shot at everything that flew over and everything that floated down that river. That’s when I got in a little trouble. We were on red alert, and when you are on red alert you need three men on the gun 24-hours a day. We had five men total, so that left only two men to relieve the other three. Well this driver came to me and said that the captain what me to give him a haircut. I asked him if he had somebody to take my place, and he said no. So I told him to go back and tell the captain to send somebody to take my place and I’ll give him a haircut. I said, “We’re on red alert and I can’t just leave.” So he goes back and said that the captain said that there was nobody available. I said, “Tell him when they get somebody available then I’ll come see him.” So he goes back and then comes tell me that the captain said it was an order. So I told to tell the captain that those tools on the back of that halftrack are tools that I bought in civilian life, the Army didn’t furnish them. And when I need to have them sharpened, I have to use my own money to send them back to the States to have my wife sharpen them and send them back to me. So you tell the captain that when the Army is going to furnish the tools and maintain then, then he can give me an order to cut his hair. But other than that, until he sends somebody to take place, my tools are going to stay in the back of that halftrack. So he came back with a couple of guards and they said, “Sorry Hagan, we’ve got to take you in. Your under arrest.” So I come in and I had to report to this captain. First thing that he wanted to know was, did I bring my tools. I told him no. Man he had me down for court marshal, insubordination and I don’t know what else. So they put me in this room and me under guard all day. So this 2nd Lieutenant who was in our unit was a good guy and he found out what had happen. So he went to this captain and got in his face and said that he had taken a man off of a section that he was in charge of and went over his head with him knowing anything about it that could have jeopardized the mission as well as the crew itself. The Lieutenant said if there is going to be a court marshal, he was going to go after bars, not PFC stripes. He said that I had better be back on that jeep by 5:00 that night. Sure enough, I was let out and back on my jeep. From then on, every time somebody wanted a haircut, they would have to talk to him first. Then he’d call me on the radio and said, “Hagan, you feel like cutting some hair today.” If I said yes, then he'd send a man to take my place. If I said no, then he would say that I was not available.

We had two reunions with D Battery. Haas only came to the first one. But he and I continued to correspond. And I can’t remember if suggested the idea to me or not, but since I was the secretary of the battery, I brought up the idea at a reunion about having an plaque placed on the pillbox with our name on it. Those who were in attendance agreed that we should do it. So that’s when I started working on it and we had to fund it ourselves. I wrote the proclamation and send letters to all the members. I was on the committee to collect the funds. Haas, who had knocked out the gun, laid the groundwork by going through the war department to see whether we could get it done through the war monuments commission. We were trying to get it done as a battery, but the War Monuments Commission doesn’t recognize anything less than a battalion for a plaque. So we had to go with the battalion.

5:40-7:00: Charles Adocock talks about white peple in Blues music and how modern blues resurgence is "a white thing"

7:00-9:30: Charles Adcock talks about Sonny Landreth, who was one of the first famous white musician in a zydeco band.

10:29-Charles Adcock first zydeco record was "bon temps rouler" by clifton chenier

16:27-22:00: Adcock talks about Racial diversity and segregation in Louisianian music 

22:00-38:00-: Adcock talks about him growing up and his musical influences

38:00-End: Adcock talks about touring with buckwheat zydeco's band,Touring anedotes (Canada and Europe), Buckwheat's leadership and rivalries among the band members.

Concert hommage a Amede Ardoin (Tribute to Amede Ardoin) et Denis McGee

0:00-Introduction

Bois Sec Ardoin Set (Tribute to Amede Ardoin)

2:19-Le two step de Eunice (Eunice Two Step)

6:44-La Valse du Dimanche apres midi (Sunday Afternoon Watz)

10:47-Allons Danser (Let's Go Dancing)

15:13-J'ai ete au bal (I Went to the Ballroom)

20:00-Michael Tisserand seached in the mormon archives and the US army data bases to find Amede Ardoin's birthdate, which is March 11 1898

21:40-Ti'maurice (Little Maurice Waltz) 

27:57-Le two step de Lac Charles (Lake Charles Two Step)

32:03-Jolie Blonde

35:28-Fond de culotte (Seat of the pants)

38:31-La valse des orphelins (The Orphans Waltz)

41:41-Duralde Ramble

Part two: Tribute to Dennis Mcgee by Eric and Clay Chapman

1:00:58-La reel de Desautels (Desautels Reel)

1:04:37-La valse a pop (Pop's Waltz)

1:08:33-Devillier Two Step with Billy McGee

1:11:23-Chere bebe creole (Dear Creole Baby)

1:14:30-La reel des Millers (Miller's reel)

1:16:44-Adieu Rosa (Farewell Rosa) also called Demain c'est pas dimanche (Tomorow isn't sunday)

Michael Doucet and Beausoleil Set: songs made by Amede Ardoin and Denis Mcgee

1:22:26-Two step a Maman (Mama's Two Step)

1:26:10-Lacassine Special

1:28:57-One step a Chameau 

1:33:37-Madame Etienne also called La robe barree

1:38:17-Two step de Midland

1:43:05-Le blues de la prison

0:30-Chris and his brother Sean Ardoin are often working together, they are used to write songs togeteher. Sean has reggae and rock influences, whereas Chris has rap and rnb inflences.

0.50-Chris Ardoin talks about his new album, he is especially proud of the song Beauty in your Eyes, Gon be Jus Fine and Lake Charles connection.

10:37-Chris Ardoin was 16 at the time of the interview, he wanted to go to college and keep playing music at the same time.

12:26-Sean was 28 at the time of the interview.

14:00-Despite not speaking french, Chris Ardoin recorded a version of "Un dimanche apres midi" originally recorded by his grand-father bois sec

His father Laurence Ardoin influences him to keep his family heritage alive.

Chris Ardoin claims to have a more modern approcah to zydeco.

Part 2: Lawrence Ardoin (Chris's father)

18:00-Lawrence Ardoin explains that the Ardoin has their own pitch of voice, he compares it to a "flavor in the gumbo". Their voice us their signature  spice.

Bois Sec Ardoin already had health problems at the time, Lawrence seems worried about it.

0:58-Chris Ardoin played at Carnegie Hall in 1985 at 8

1:32-Chris Ardoin started the accordion at 3

3:05-Chris Ardoin started triple note accordion at 10

4:27-Chris Ardoin talks about his new album at the time "Lick it up"

5:30-The students in Chris Ardoin's school at the time pretented to not like zydeco but he saw them at dances on the weekend.

7:30-Chris Ardoin explains that he wanted to release his album as quickly as possible to enter the music industry

11:21-Sometimes Chris wanted to be more fluent in french like the rest of his family

11:54-Chris talks about his future

13:45-Lawrence Ardoin explain how crowds react differently and how he ajusts his setlist and playing style accordingly

21:53-Chris says he records songs everyday

23:29-Chris thinks young people are still going to like zydeco in the future

24:40-Michael TIsserand asks about the differences between the people who go to hip hop clubs and the people who go to zydeco clubs.

26:00-Tisserand talks about the book he is currently writing (The Kingdom of Zydeco)

31:15-Lawrence thniks the mixing on the last Ketih Frank album is bad

35:20-Lawrence says that all the cajun music today comes from Amede Ardoin. Lawrence does not like Iry Leujeune because he got the credit (and the copyrights) for Amede's songs. 

Morris Ardoin was the oldest son of Bois Sec and Lawrence Ardoin's brother.  

In this interview he talks about his childhood, his family and the mardis gras celebrations.

0:46-The interview took place the day after the Centennial Olympic Park bombing

Morris Ardoin worked in a farm where he felt exploited by his boss, he struggled to feed his family.

12:40-Morris Ardoin's father (bois sec) worked in the cotton field.

17:40-He had five brother and nine sisters

18:19-Morris opened a music club, called the cowboy club

26:17-Bois Sec had a club at his house for two years

30:30-Morris talks about how people lost interest in Cajun music when 

36:10-Morris talks about his mardi gras celebrations

54:05-Morris explain what the mardi gras dances were like at his time

1:08:00-Morris started playing music with the guitar but moved to accordion soon after.

1:11:40-Morris talks about Amede Ardoin's incident in Eunice

He says that Amede Ardoin never got married but he had an affair with a woman. Officialy, Amede does not have any children.

1:19:35-Morris Ardoin tells Michael TIsserand about Milton Ardoin (the last nephew of Amede Ardoin at the time) and where to find him.

Sean Ardoin and his sister Erika Ardoin are talking about zydeco dances and creole culture

4:08-Sean Ardoin, talks about timing in Cajun and Zydeco dances.

6:50-Sean Ardoin talks about dancing, he gives advices to michael tisserand and explain how a zydeco dance works. 

White people are welcome to zydeco dances. Nevertheless, black people are not welcome at Cajun Dances, Sean and his Sister get stared at and feel like intruders.

28:40-Sean talks about the rivalry between Beau Jocque and Boozoo Chavis but also between the Ardoin Family and the Delafose Family. 

37:12-Sean says Beau Jocque stole ideas from other musicians he even stole a song from the Ardoin's.

50:50-Sean says that Cajun music comes from european music, zydeco comes from RnB and Afro-Caribbean music

Lynn August was in Lafayette, he was coming back from a  tour on the East Coast.

2:15-Lynn talks about cooking and food he eats on tour.

4:53-Lynn always carries hot sauce with him

5:15-Lynn August talks about his diabete and cholesterol, his wife has to cut on fats and sugar when she cooks

10:15-Lynn talks about the origins of zydeco (snao beans)

16:30-Lynn says gumbo tastes bad elsewhere in the US because they do not season as much as in Louisiana

Former Accession # TI1-001

0:00 Happy with how new album turned out. Hoping it goes a long way with Rounders capability to push nationally and internationally. Hopes people get to know him through his music.
1:45 Guys in the group call him a perfectionist. Doesn't read or write music, writes songs. Took music since sixth grade but used ear.
3:22 Reflection of blues/spiritual in music, wishes was a better singer. Ray Johnson- guitarist, Chuck Bush- bass, Stevie (18 years old) drummer.
9:17 What you gonna give me for a porkchop
10:20 Hopes to make another album every 6-8 months. People steal songs, record gig from back of club.They can steal the songs but they can't recreate something that's not their style.
13:13 Porkchop added 'What you gonna give me for that porkchop' gives extra rhythm. When band goes from Porkchop into Cornbread, he laughs that people think he wants to sell everything he's got. Gets crowd in good humor, mood to have fun.
15:15 Played Zydeco Festival for the first time ever. Everyone said to Tisserand 'you have to hear Beau Jocque'.
16:14 How music career began. Started playing around 7 years ago and got into accident about 10 months after started playing, just when things were starting to happen. Started playing on accordion. Dad said 'You might as well put that down. Not something like a horn you can pick up and play.It's very hard to learn. Don't fool with it.' Dad wouldn't play much. He tied the accordion to drinking and having fun and it would tend to get out of hand so he left it alone. Dad lives near Mamou. Joque bought his own accordion then about 10 months later got some guys together and started playing. That was around '87, accident was in '86. The accident was an explosion at work at Texas Gas where he was an electrician and welder. Fell sitting down on concrete, broke back and left legs partially paralyzed. Had three surgeries on lower back. Couldn't get around for 9-10 months, can't lift anything.
19:30 Dad conned him into playing accordion by telling him he couldn't do it. Dad laughed afterwards and said 'works every time'. There's a lot that dad can do on accordion he'd like to do. Would like to play with him every once in a while. Marc Savoy told him he'd like for him and his dad to go on tour to Rhode Island where somone is looking for a father and son group that could represent Zydeco and Cajun--dad plays Cajun.
21:13 He played for a while and then the insurance company and attorney said to let it go or they would regard it as an occupation. He couldn't afford that, wasn't making a living from playing. It was just something to keep him from depression. It's hard being laid up doing nothing. He had to shut it down and leave it alone for about 5 years. But during that time, he and his wife would got to shows. Would see Boozoo Chavis and listen and pay attention to what the crowd reacted to most. They would go out and listen to different groups: Zydeco Force, Nathan Williams, Terence Simien. That experience gave him the chance to get out within a year's time. He says he's been out a year this past Christmas. Staying very busy drawing people of all groups. Playing around Opelousas, Lafayette. It paid off studying other musicians and analyzing things. Got a lot done that way.
23:50 Does some of Boozoo's music. People love Boozoo's music. That particular style people love to dance to. Clear beat, good dancing beat. Boozoo's timing is real bad. But his son plays drums in the band and knows his dad so well that he can cover him so fast audience doesn't realize. The whole band can. Boozoo's timing is not good but his style is, so Jocque developed a style like his. Beau Joque's original name is Andros Espre. Dad is Sandrus Espre.
26:24 Beau Joque is a nickname he always had meaning Big Jocque. Grandfather and brothers would tease him because he was so much bigger than he was supposed to be for his age. He would play with high school boys when in elementary school. The nickname was just a family thing for a long time. Then wife said 'why don't you use that name when you start playing again?' Wife thought people would like it. It's unusual. A name is more important than people realize--especially in music. Has to have flair, be catchy, draw a picture. Beau Jocue means big guy. He's 6'6".
29:28 Used to try to sit down with father and learn some of his songs but he's hell to learn from. Very, very strict. Nothing ever right with him. Dad came to Kermon's place for wife's birthday and Kermon asked dad 'what do you think of your boy now?' Dad replied 'he's coming along.' Kermon said 'Coming along?! The place is packed!' Dad replied 'Yeah, but maybe they didn't have no where else to go.'
30:48 Dad and friends used to jam out in the piney woods where parents are from out near Oakdale. They would start around 2pm and play until 1 in the morning. Beau Jocque would go listen. They played music he'd never heard before that had never been recorded.
32:45 We speak Cajun French dialect. Around Lafayette they speak a Creole French. Totally different. The first time he heard Creole French was when he enlisted in the service and met guys from Lafayette. They spoke French but he couldn't understand it. He grew up speaking French and English. 37 years old right now.
33:44He grew up around Mamou and Oakdale area. He sings Cajun French. Cajun French is regarded as the formal French in Louisiana. Creole French is a broken dialect of French. They can understand Cajun French, but he can't understand Creole French. Creole French not broken down from Parisian or Canadian French. Just a dialect from that area, a regional thing.
35:30 Style dad plays is Cajun French but lots of the old stuff he plays is not Cajun. Don't know what it's called but it's not Zydeco either. Soulful bluesy style that's hardly known. Similar to what Canray Fontenot plays on the fiddle. Heard Canray's very sick. But he's still playing. Came to New Orleans a couple of weeks ago. Still doing shows, has cancer. He speaks Cajun French but his music style is often called Creole. Plays Cajun music but gets into bluesy style like Amede Ardoin.--bluesy style of French music. Marc Savoy probably knows more about that history.
38:40 Beau Jocque never listened to Cajun or French music growing up as a kid. Listened to stuff on t.v. Would go to Mardi Gras with other kids and listen but it was never something he considered doing. Maybe the injury made it all possible. Stuff comes to him so easily, like he inherited it. Dad would make up songs on stage. He does too. Unless his wife has a tape recorder, he'll never know that song again. The guys in the group will say he pulled another rabbit out of the hat. Feels like he's done it before in a former life. Didn't start playing at a young age. Would have ruined life. He was a very excitable person with few limits. Had to mature before God let him go on to do his thing. He lives for his wife and kids now. He's more responsible and predictible than he was in his teens and twenties. Parents wouldn't allow them to have any instruments in the home. He was raised to think that musicians were bums and drunks and womanizers. But he says it's not the music that makes you do those things. It's the person. Dad and friends would get together and drink too much and mom didn't like it. When his oldest brother was born, his dad put away the accordion. The first time he really heard him play was the day he got married. It made him cry. He played that well. And he could see his dad loved it so much.
43:58 Drove to Memphis about two weeks ago. Don't like driving, loading and unloading. Had to stop outside of Jackson. Too tired. Always try to make it back to catch Sunday gig in Mamou. Hoping to get a bus and a driver. It's too dangerous being on the road tired.
46:38 He writes a lot of songs. Kermon asked him to make a song up about Richard's. No one has and it's the oldest Zydeco club around. He made up about 4 different Richard songs. One came together and they played it one night. Kermon loved it. He was dancing behind the bar. Kermon said 'If that's not a hit I'll eat my hat.' Beau Joque said 'but you don't ever wear a hat.' Kermon said 'Well, it's gonna be a hit anyway.'
49:22 Cornbread--old, old song. Willis Prudhomme put out a version of it. That's wear Beau Jocque heard it. Don't know who did the original. Scott said it could be regarded as traditional. People would ask for Cornbread. Beau Jocque changed it around, polished it up. No one plays it that way. They break it down and put a spotlight on each band member. Chuck didn't want a spot--afraid he'd miss a note. Wilfred Pierre is the scrub board player. Everybody calls him 'Caveman'. Vocal style on song comes from John Lee Hooker. He likes his style. Nobody can duplicate his style. It's a laid back style. Very effective.
54:00 Tisserand asks if he describes his music as Zydeco. He says 'Yeah. It's Beau Jocque Zydeco". He tries to put as much heart into it as he can. Strong kick, a lot of drive. At the end of the night you've had a good workout. He wants to create a lot of excitement. Beau Jocque asks if it would damage his image if he went up there and recorded a few x-rated songs. Scott says yes. They are funny and make people laugh. He uses a rap style. He says it's more effective when people aren't talking so fast you can't understand them.
58:37 People who have never been to Louisiana will hear the new album. He thinks they will appreciate it.
59:34 He wanted to use a piano accordion on Brown Skin Woman because it has more notes to playbut he got rid of his piano accordion and couldn't get one for the recording.
1:00:09 He switches accordions on Damballah, Beau's Mardi Gras, Beau's Boogie. Damballah is just some words. Stevie and Chuck watched the movie Chucky. In the movie, a guy is practicing voodoo saying 'damballah'. Beau told them he didn't believe in it and thinks it's evil and told them to cut it out. Stevie and Chuck told Beau they thought he was scared of it. Beau said he wasn't scared. He'd make a song out of it. One night while playing in Vile Platte, he came out with the song and the people covered the floor. The band just looked at each other and laughed. He said he doesn't know if it's some kind of evil and they acted a fool and recorded it. It comes from that dumb Chucky movie.
1:04:26 A couple of the songs are basic, stripped down Zydeco one-chord songs. Some are in minor keys. You can get more bluesy in minor chords. He decided he wants to get into the blues with a blues harmonica when he gets good enough. When he was 8 or 9 years old, he played the blues harmonica very well. People would come listen to him play during recess. He would play some low-down blues that he had heard his brothers play on old records they had at home. He is thinking about bringing the blues harmonica into the material.
1:06:24 One song, Creole Queen, that he wrote has a lot of words to it. Tells a story and starts out serious. In the end the guy falls out of bed and realizes he was dreaming. He gets pissed off because the dream was just getting to the good part. John Lee Hooker is Beau Jocque's favorite blues singer. He's a natural, has a style nobody can copy.
1:07:29 Beau's Mardi Gras. They have been playing it over and over this week. It's been a while since he played a trail ride. Problem with trail rides is that they always cost him money. Dust gets into power amps and they have to be repaired. He's going to do two this year for some old friends that pay very well. Sort of a family reunion. Serious money. He will go by Vincent's and rent some power equipment and save his.
1:09:04 For Mardi Gras he played an old-fashioned Mardi Gras run at an old-fashioned place in Eunice that used to be a warehouse for feed storage. A guy made a club out of it and opens it for special events. He's been down to play there for Mardi Gras for 6-8 months. They had a good time, played an hour over. Just about all older musicians have a version of Mardi Gras song. Each region, different areas have their own story. Usually a similar melody. Sing for charity, a duck or a chicken or anything you care to give, a piece of fat meat or something that would help the feast tonight. We mean no harm we just come once a year to have a good time. If you would like us to dance we'll dance a while for you. And then captain says it's time to move on. Let's go to the next neighbor down the road. That's basically what all the songs say but melody is different.
1:11:10 The melody for Beau's Cajun Two-step came from the theme song for Jambalaya. They play a similar song. He changed the tempo and added a double kick. Gives more time to dance, a more kicked up beat. Dancers like it. If you can't create a groove, something's not right.
1:13:18 Tisserand tells Beau he has a real strong deep voice he hasn't heard on other Zydeco records. Asks him what's the secret? He doesn't know. For a long time was convinced he'd never be able to sing. He was always told--don't even try. Just play the instrument. He was told that by his rude brothers. He has one sister that has always been really good to him. They wouldn't dare put him down in front of her. She told him that he could do anything he wanted and better than them. That's why they are always on you. He has two brothers. He is the youngest.Neither can play. They like to dance. Wouldn't give themselves enough time to learn to play. When he would sing they would tell him to please just put the harmonica back in his mouth or just hum.
1:14:59 He prays a lot. Asks God to bless him to become as good a singer as he'd like to be. There are lots of things singers do that fascinate him. One guy that no one knows or has heard of from Palmetto has an unbelievable tone in his voice but has no ambition. He also plays blues guitar well and sings B.B. King music--makes his guitar sound like Lucille. He had recorded a demo with a con artist who took him for a ride and that finished him off right there. He's Chuck Bush's father-in-law. I told him I'd like him to do 2-3 songs in my show.Told him I couldn't give him much money but I draw 500-600 people to the show that would give him lots of exposure and let the audience find out who he was. One night in Breaux Bridge He sang with Beau. Sang Rainy Night in Georgia. Beau considered adding him to his show, adding that B.B. King sound. But older club owners told him not to add him. Said don't ever do that and that people pay to see Beau Jocque and hear Zydeco music, not this other stuff. Clifton Chenier never added anyone and that's why he stayed number one as long as he lived. People don't like an added feature. They feel like they are being cheated. Beau can't remember the guy's name.
1:19:30 He says he'd like to sing well enough to make somebody cry. One old man said if you can't make 'em cry and you can't make 'em laugh, you ain't done nothin'. If you can make them go from one extreme to the other extreme, you're doing something.
1:20:07 Beau says his wife is always in his corner. She encouraged him all along. She's always been a very good friend to him. He wrote the song "Shelly Shelly" for her. She didn't like the idea of him singing "Brown Skin Woman". She'd say 'Who you talkin' about?! You should say something about Shelly'. He decided not to put Clifton's song "I'm Coming Home" on the album.
1:22:05 Nonc Adam is a part of a song his dad would play when mom wasn't around. It's a dirty joke about an old couple. The old man bought himself a long banana. When he peeled it, it just fell down. Madam was excited but in the end let down. Mom would catch them on the porch playing that song and get mad.

Former Accession # TI1-003

0:00 Talks about his children. Oldest boy, 3, pick up accordion. Youngest will probably be drummer and singer, beats on everything.
0:54 Tisserand talks of new raw, horse Zydeco singing style. Joque noticed a lot of folks doing that. Thinks it's because they don't train their voices. Big scream/ no tone. Would like to become better singer and have a teacher or video. Loves to sing
2:50 Richard's Club--sounds like a place you want to go.
3:13 Family background cross German/Coushatta Indian/Black. Mom's mom full blood Coushatta . Mullato, dad's family has some Coushatta too, multi-racial family. Wife's family Cajun and Coushatta. Want everyone to learn to like each other. Too much hate in the world. Teach kids love, not hate/predjudice.
6:13 Hate/predjudice is a sickness in the South. Bad seems to overpower good. Heard old man say "empty buckets bring the most noise"
6:40 Chere d'Allien is an old traditional song. People love to dance to it. At the gigs, sometimes songs last 4 or 5 minutes because dancers like longer songs.
9:13 Beau talks about the Saturday dances. Some people have gone to Zydeco dances their whole life. No matter how bad things are, they go to the Saturday dance and it makes all the hardships of the week alright. A good dance and church on Sunday morning and everything's alright. He loves the older people coming up to him and complimenting him. They are bigger critics than the young folks.
13:27 Wants to do Brownskin Woman with a B3 sound and add keyboard sound to some of the other slow songs. He plays octaves on the accordion, get a fat sound. Dad always told him if you're gonna play accordion, learn to play in octaves or don't say you play accordion.Talks about difference between single row, triple row and and piano accordion.
16:20 Talks about Richard's Club being their regular stop. They mostly play there twice a month. Says it was Kerman and his wife who encouraged him most. Kerman said he learned from his father and being in the business over 40 years how to spot a sure thing. Kerman told Beau that he'd be number one by Christmas and was right. By Christmas, he was outdrawing Boozoo and Zydeco Force. Kerman said there's a certain electricity in the air when a band is right.
20:00 Tisserand asks Beau what he wants people to know about him and his music. Beau says his music is a mixture of things he hears and things he wants to hear in Zydeco music. It's a cultural and traditional thing. He inherited a lot of talent from his father. He says nothing is more effective than playing and singing from the heart. Wants people to listen to the music and expect something to happen. They will feel part of his heart--compassion, happiness, excitement, peace of mind--things he cherishes most and tries to reflect in music.Wishes he knew more about spiritual/gospel music. He wants to write songs with more meaning and feels Zydeco music is missing out on a lot of that.
24:00 He talks about the song Brownskin Woman and how it came from him goofing around at home with his wife. Tells a story of his parents showing up at his house after church while he was in the middle of playing it.

0:00 Michael Tisserand and Beau Jocque are traveling in the car on the way back from his performance at the House of Blues in New Orleans

1:50 To stay awke on long rides Jocque says he keeps thinking and planning. Down the oad he'd like to own his own club.

8:18 Talk about the show at House of Blues earlier that night.

10:35 Jocque watches B.E.T. to get ideas and study what makes people popular.

17:15 They talk about imitators and people sampling Jocque's music without permission. Rounders had attorney write letter to Fred Charlie in Eunice who produced Keith Frank, Preston Frank's son who recorded the song "Yesterday". They toldhim to pay royalities or pull from shelves.

23:36 Todd Mouton, writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune wrote a negative article about Zydeco and Cjun music where he called Beau Jocque the Michael Bolton of Zydeco.

26:10 Willis Prodhomme plays the song Cornbread. He and Jocque are friends and Jocque says he is going to teach him how to play the triple node accordion.

33:24 Jocque has another nickname "Juke Jack" given to him by Warren Ceaser back in high school at W. W. Stuart High School in Basille. He and Warren had a band back then that would play pop music around DeRidder. Jocque played tuba this was long before Warren played with Clifton Chenier. When Jocque enlisted, Warren went on to play with several big names including Isaac Hayes. Jocque says Warren was arrogant. But that he and all the guys in the band were like family.

38:12 Jocque met Clifton Chenier once at Chenier's house with some friends in 1979. He has played Margaret Chenier's club once. He wanted to buy one of Clifton's accordions from Margaret. Someone offered her $40k for the one that he wanted. It was a Petosa. Jocque spent $10k on a Gabbanelli he felt was just as good.

43:38 Jocque says there's only one King of Zydeco--Clifton Chenier.

47:18 Jocque says he was exposed to neurotoxic gas while in the military. He had top secret security clearance.

52:00 They talk about an incident at Hamilton's when Jocque threw Hamilyon against a wall when he was reaching for a knife in his pocket.

55:00 They talk about the new album coming out. He says he records what feels right to him. Says he wants to record and release the song "Yellow Moon" soon as a single. Michelle Espre wakes up and speaks occasionally throughout the rest of the interview. Jocque says his favorite Zydeco musicians are Buckwheat and C.J. Chenier.

1:06:30 Wolfman Jack

1:09:50 Jocque was asked to call if he ever wants to play Mulate's in New Orleans. Steve Riley plays there every Friday night.

Former Accession # TI1-017

1:09 Brasseaux begins by telling the history of the populations of South Louisiana as a whole and says it's regarded by anthropologists and cultural geographers as the most complex rural society in rural U.S. Most outsiders believe that the French speaking culture is monolithic but it is anything but. The French speaking population arrived from a multitude of regions. The second largest free black community was in this region of south central Louisiana, the first being in New Orleans. He talks about the manumission of the mistresses of white planters and their children. Many of the free black were prosperous and some even owned their own slaves. During the Civil War, their sympathies would often lie with the Confederacy.
8:20 Land among the Mississippi was a premium during the 18th century and the free blacks migrated to New Orleans or this region where there was more available land. Transportation was waterborn. A long-lot system was adopted from Normandy and Canada. This gave the land owner access to the stream, which was their means of communication, and the more fertile land. In the 19th century, a large black community emerged from the surplus slaves from the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee being brought in from slave merchants. The French speaking black population was tied to the French speaking white population by culture and religion.
13:00 Students did a research paper on Allons Danser Colinda. The Calinda dance originated in Africa and brought in by slaves from the West Indies.
15:00 There are differences in areas where there were nodules of settlements along Bayou Teche and Bayou Vermillion. The geographical area where Zydeco originated forms a triangle from Ville Platte to Crowley to Cankton. That's the region where three cultures came together--the free black community, white creoles and prairie Cajuns. The crossing of the cultures is represented in the music and in the cuisine.
20:00 The musical distinctions came in the 40s and 50s when Cajun became more country and Zydeco became more Rhythm & Blues, and with the introduction of Swamp Pop.
22:00 Going back to the 19th century, it wasn't usual for black musicians to play white parties. Amede Ardoin and Clifton Chenier were successful at melding styles. The country dances early on were a form of entertainment and a way to renew community ties. They were mostly free from violence prior to the Civil War, but became increasingly violent post-Civil War. Dance Halls also faced issues of violence--especially when people from other communities would gather. The people in the area were self-isolated socially and culturally due to negative stereotypes.
25:15 There was a multitiered society in the beginning of the 19th century with white Creoles being the top aristocratic tier, followed by the Acadians, the free people of color, and then the slaves. After the Civil War, the region was seemingly third world with small elite and middle-classes and a large number of dispossessed. There was a large migration to E. Texas by economic refugees at the beginning of the 20th century. under the tenantry system, people of all backgrounds worked side-by-side in the fields which was a source for cross-cultural exchanges.
38:57 There were staggering acts of violence in the Cajun prairie areas in the early part of the 20th century. There was an attempt to establish a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Lafayette until the newspaper published a member list which led the group to disband.
43:00 Cookie and the Cupcakes played at the Southern Club in Opelousas but were not allowed in the club itself, only the bandstand. This was common up through the 1950s. Mrs. Hebert, a war widow in New Iberia, transformed her house into a dancehall in the wake of the Civil War. He says Tisserand should contact Shane Bernard about stories at the Southern Club when black musicians crossed the line.
47:30 They talk about violence in the black community at the turn of the century in the region.
53:20 There are some myths dispelled such as one that Mallet refers to mulatto. The talk about influx of migration from Santo Domingo.
57:00 Only in the last Census is there a category for Cajun. But there is none for Creole. Brasseaux grew up in southern St. Landry Parish. There was little Creole and Cajun music performed when he was growing up because it was a time when those communities were under extreme stress. Cajun culture was publicly denigrated in the Opelousas newspaper as late as 1964. Most of Clifton's shows were on the road, particularly East Texas. It wasn't until the first Cajun Music Festival in 1974 that young Cajun activists insisted that Creole musicians be included. The members of the Cajun elite (including Barry Ancelet and Jimmy Dimaggio) who were part of the CODOFIL establishment were adamantly opposed to their inclusion. The festival provides a forum for these people who had been shoved aside during the 40s and 50s. Had it gone another decade. Brasseaux believes both musical forms may well have disappeared. It attracted a new following of younger generations.
1:05:55 They talk about efforts to stamp out the local cultures in the mid 20th century by educators. This trend was reversed in the 70s for the Cajun clulture, followed by the Creoles in the 1980s.
1:09:40 Tisserand asks about social functions and institutions in the late 19 and early 20th centuries. The Cajuns had a social function that enforced a sense of community called la ramasserie, which was a communal harvest of people gathering to help out those who were shorthanded. They was another institution called a boucherie, which was a weekly butchery for people in the community. The dances were for community ties as well but also included courting rituals. It was discovered only recently that many Jewish families of German and Eastern European consciously changed their identities and converted to Catholicism to integrate into the community. There were instances of a need to look for outer marriages in some Creole communities like Natchitoches due to the small population. There were high instances of genetic problems in areas where there was horizontal marriage. This was more common in bayou areas than in the prairie areas where people could move around more freely.
1:15:57 The talk about the genetic presence of Native American blood in the Cajun and Creole cultures. Brasseaux believes it is exaggerated. He said the natives in the region were sparce to begin with and that the Attakapas Indians were cannibalistic. The last full-blood Attakapas died before 1910. There was a western influx of Coushatta Indians in the 1790s but their co-mingling was limited. The Chitimacha intermarried but is was largely confined to the Charenton area. Within a decade of their arrival, the Acadians formed commercial ties with the Attakapas with a smuggling ring that extended into central Texas.
1:22:60 The term 'bright' is often used by the darker-skinned black community to describe the lighter-skinned community. The tension between the two communities and lingering hostility is discussed.

0:00 After the Civil War, there was no longer a legal distinction between free people of color and slaves. The free people of color were a de facto elite due to their land holdings. Below them was a large population of former slaves, which within, also contained a small minority of descendants of while planters and their slave mistresses who were not manumitted. It is this minority population, for the most part, who are responsible for the Creole revival movement and are the musicians playing Creole and Zydeco music.
5:00 The majority of these descendants would have been from the original wave of slaves brought in from West Africa, the Bambara, from what is now present day Mali. Brasseaux sees the inference that there was a large population from Haiti as an exaggeration. He says it would be nice if the Saint-Domingue connection was true as it would solve some riddles, like the population of Creole speakers, both white and black, stretching from Parks to Cecilia. There's an all-white Creole speaking population on the fringe of LaFourche/ Terrebonne Parish. But he believes it's the case of parallel developments. Because the slave trade was a monopoly handled by one French company, you see a population of Creole speaking people in the French islands in the Indian Ocean that were colonized at the same time as Louisiana. The community of Creole speaking people in the West Indies even has a variety of music they call Zydeco, a term believed to be a French corruption of the Wolof infinitive for "let's dance".
10:34 In 1964, the Opelousas newspaper wrote derogatory remarks about Dewey Balfa and others who were playing at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island. Tisserand brings up the Opelousas newspaper covering a 1929 accordion contest that was pro-Cajun music. Brasseaux says there were many things happening simultaneously at that time. The release of the film 'Evangeline' in 1929 was followed by a movement by the elite to establish the Evangeline Longfellow National Park. Dudley Leblanc was the spokesperson for the community. At the same time, The Bayou Pom Pom radio program was the Cajun answer to Amos and Andy and French language was being suppressed in the schools.
14:55 LSU was at one time a hotbed of Cajun and Creole research when James Broussard was there. They pride themselves on being a center for Old South Studies. But there's not much of this information there or at Tulane. Most you will find here in the folklore and folklife collection here that Barry Ancelet administers(at UL). He says it's a wonderful resource that's going to waste and is not staffed. Brasseaux suggests Tisserand try to contact Alan Lomax.
17:52 The free people of color adopted some of the elite's attitudes towards poor whites during the Antebellum period. The term Cajun became associated with white trash by the civil war and was used by blacks themselves as an insult in their own community. Queen Ida muddied the water by using the name Cajun for herself. Tisserand says that in California there seems to be a resentment to be told you play Creole music, as if it infers that you can't play Cajun music. Joe Simien. Brasseaux agrees that that dynamic doesn't exist here. The Creole Newsletter is published in Simi Valley. They talk about resentments by parts of the community towards the infusion of other genres into Cajun music.

Former Accession # TI1-011

2:12 Bebe talks about having a fiddle with rattlesnake rattles in it. He would put two or three rattles in the violin to improve the tone. One day he realized someone had taken the rattles out. They had been in the violin for years and he never figured out who took them out. He got the idea about putting the rattles in by some old friends.
5:20 There weren't many musicians around where he lived when he was young so he heard music from records. There were house dances with accordion players. He heard a record by Amede Ardoin. Eunice Two-Step. Bebe played bass with Amede at a Creole house dance around Lawtell. Bebe was asked to play a house dance in Ville Platte but didn't want to go. He said Ville Platte was too rough. He went anyway and it went alright. He said he'd played a party once in that area when someone was shot and he had been in the line of fire.
12:03 Bebe played his first club with his brother at Richard's in 1940. He played when Eddie Richard ran the club. He played other clubs around Louisiana around Welsh and Iowa. Bebe talks about one night he played in Iowa at a time it was forbidden to have whiskey. The club owner picked Bebe up from his dad's house in Welsh where he'd been working in the rice fields. They went to get a load of whiskey and were stopped by Lake Charles law enforcement and got arrested and had to stay in jail for 4-5 days. He says it was the first time he'd ever been to Lake Charles.
17:28 White Mule was the bootleg apple punch Bebe had on him when he was arrested. He talks about making white mule in the 1920s in Lawtell.
22:25 They talk about the old house dances. Bebe said that the young girls would ask the older people if they could use their house and they'd take all the belongings out of the house and put them back after the dance. Sometimes Bebe would play solo for the dances.
25:30 Bebe talks about drinking lemon juice and taking his medicine. He says he was diabetic but a doctor in Beaumont took him off the meds and he doesn't have it anymore. He mostly just has pain now.
27:20 They talk about dancers back then that danced swing and waltz dances. The men would extend a white handkerchief to ask a woman to dance. Bebe talks about playing with Douglas Bellard. They didn't call the music Zydeco back then. They called it Lala. He first heard music called Zydeco a few years ago with Clifton Chenier. Bebe played the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. Kentucky Waltz. Bill Monroe. Jimmy Rogers. Bob Thibodeaux wanted him to play dancing songs in church.
34:18 Bebe wrote the song Blue Runner. It was Bebe's biggest song. It's a fast snake that whips you with its tail. Bebe likes hillbilly music. Jimmy Rogers. Bill Monroe died about a month ago. When clubs like Richard's opened, the house dances discontinued. The clubs drew people from all over whereas the house dances were just people from the neighborhoods.
38:50 Bebe started playing the blues on the violin and would listen and learn from records.
41:19 Bebe says he was brought up on a farm planting cotton, corn, sweet potato, etc. Then his first wife left him when he didn't want to go to Lake Charles. He was raised in Lawtell. Bebe's dad played the accordion. He says he learned violin playing one made from a cigar box. His dad bought him a real violin in Church Point when he was about 12. Bebe talks about tuning his violin in different ways for different music.
46:38 Blues of Bebe. Baby Please Don't Go Back to New Orleans.
48:20 They talk about alcohol and musicians drinking. He says even the doctors would recommend alcohol.
50:38 Beb didn't make his first record until about 1978. Amede was the first to record in the area after he was discovered at an accordion contest in Opelousas. Bebe and his brother started playing together around 1965 and played clubs. Madame Faielle was written about a woman who lived outside Lawtell.
56:03 John Delafose passed away at Richard's. Geno is taking over the band. Willis Prudhomme. Leo Thomas.
59:09 Nathan Abshire.

Former Accession # TI1-007

0:00 Barres de la Prison, Bonsoir Moreau. Canray talks about funny rules that the older folks had.
5:23 Creole music. Canray says he didn't know the term Zydeco coming up. He says Zydeco is nothing but a snap beat. If you were white, you played Cajun. If you were black you played Creole. Back then, it was an insult for a black person to call a white man Cajun. The music was different, but not much. Black people played more from the soul. With Dewey Balfa in D.C., the saw a man from Mississippi, Johnny Shine, and asked him how he likes the white guys playing the blues.
10:02 Talks about difference between Creole and Zydeco. He said Clifton changed the speed.
13:59 Talks about racial tension in 1950s. Talks about white musicians singing in French but not speaking French.
15:53 Nonc Adam
20:20 Canray says that Dewey Balfa went to Philadelphia and had some people make him feel bad because they called him prejudice when they asked him to play one of Canray's songs and Balfa said he could not. But Canray told him he should play it his way and so Balfa did play and record the Prison Bars. Michael Doucet recorded it too. Douglas Bellard wrote Prison Bars, but Canray is often credited with it. It's one of the first songs Canray learned to play.
28:00 In D.C. and Pennsylvania, some older folks asked the band to play a Mazurka. Only Canray knew how to play one that an old man, Olivier Edward, had taught him on fiddle. There's a distinct dance done to a Mazurka that they did that Canray saw for the first time.
29:50 Canray has been playing all kinds of music with File. He says the best way to learn music is to relax and not strain.
35:11 Talks about working at the Feed Store for 14 years. He has six children. Some went to college. They all finished high school. One of his daughters is a lawyer. When Canray went to school, they only went for three months a year. He started school sometime in 1938 or 1939. He only went as far as the 5th grade.
41:28 He went to Belfast, Ireland and was impressed by the fiddlers. Canray tells the story of playing in Ireland and how an Irish musician responded to his music. Canray celebrated his 71st birthday in Belgium, Ireland and London during that trip.
45:30 Canray said he likes to play with Bois Sec but that Bois Sec can't play like he used to since he had his stroke.
51:15 Edward Poullard
56:45 Canray says it's funny that the song that everyone likes best is the one you hate to play.
58:12 Canray wrote 'Joe Pitre'. It's an old song but he put the words to it.
1:00:53 La Jog Au Plombeau (Jug On The Saddle Horn)-- Canray recorded it but doesn't play it anymore. His wife and another woman got into a brawl one night while he played it. They talk about songs having sad or happy memories attached to them.
1:05:13 Canray talks about his father. He says his dad never wanted to record and didn't like the idea of his music still going after he was dead. He says he has recorded all of his father's songs. There was one he couldn't remember but was reminded of it one day by Shelton Manual, an accordion player from Eunice.
1:12:20 They tlak about Canray's father's religious beliefs and superstition and about Canray's sickness and recovery.
1:25:20 They recall more stories about Amede Ardoin getting into trouble.