***Date unknown, circa 1984-1985***
***Copy of AN1-221, time code may vary slightly***

Louis Delhomme (1895)
Scott WWI Vet

-Trip to Panama in hit teenage years, spending summers in New Orleans to his father's first cousin who kind of adopted Louis. The year the canal opened;
-Trip during WWI quite different, army trip. About 2 years away;
-Born in 1895. Last trip to Monte-ray, California. Going to the hospital. March 24th, 1895. Doctor didn't believe his age;
-Born and raised in Scott, worked at the post office for 45 years. Retired since 1960 (24 years ago). Wife died 13 years ago. Family tried to pull him to Lafayette, but he didn't move;
-Education: Scott High School to SLI (now USL, 1909/1910). 4 year academic course.
-After the first four months (first term), you chose French or Latin. He chose Latin. Graduated SLI in 1914.
-1st grade teaching certificate, about 20 years old at that time. Taught school for one year, but didn't like it;

-Civil Service Exam the following summer for the Scott post office. Got the notice in October, he was teaching at the Martin school. He quit and started at the post office in 1915;
-Leave of absence when the war broke out. Signing up because he didn't want to go into the infantry;
-Finding out about the war through the press. Drafting. It was 1917. Opening up a night school at SLI 2-3 times a week, prepare you to join the Single Corps. 8-10 of them attended and 2-3 singed up/enlisted;
-Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Not the penitentiary. Completed the course there and shipped him overseas. Frank Daigle and 1-2 other from Lafayette;
-Louis spoke French, connections in France. New York to Bordeaux on a French boat, horrible;
-He was aware of German U-boats. Bordeaux to Single Corps Battalion in Cour Cheverney, France;
-99% of American soldiers could not speak French. Louis and Alcé Breaux from Carencro (brother to Mrs. Vianney? Mouton) helped out to find place for the soldiers to stay. Billeting soldiers;
-Letter from the Mayor of Cour Cheverney 2 years ago, he couldn't find it. Kept contact. Mother kept contact with Mrs. Labbé until his mother died. Louis got married when he came back in 1918.
-Mrs. Labbé came over for the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976. Letter from her, her husband had died, daughter married and son.
-She wrote Louis a letter from New York, she visited for the International Exposition with a group. 2 yeas after, she came down with her daughter and son-in-law and visited Louis. Coming back to Louisiana 2 years later;
-2 years ago, her son's daughter came to Louisiana with CODOFIL, stationed in New Iberia.
-Ex-post master from Lafayette, Ned Arceneaux and the ex-post master from Carencro, William Broussard, they and their wives visited France and met Mrs. Labbé;

-Attitude about the war. They didn't worry about it, it was overseas, not domestic (14:16);
-Louis just made up his mind, he had to go in the service. 21-22 yrs old single, no reason to not serve his country.
-He never used his knowledge from the Single Corps school. He served as an interpreter to the U.S. army;
-He has a hazy memory, he's 90 years old. WWI is a ways away;
-SLI for 4 years, getting the newspapers and keeping up with the war;
-America was in the war to stop Germans from taking over the world, threatening France. Necessary to fight Germans. No resistance to the U.S. declaring war against Germany;
-No going-away celebration, landing in Bordeaux, transferred into the Loire Valley. Alcé Breaux in the 10th battalion (neighboring towns). Louis was in the 9th. Alcé transferred to his outfit;
-First Sergeant. Corporal on the boat, crossing. Sergeant, then first class;
-Officer was an engineer, commanding officer for Cour Cheverney area. Offloading many Americans. Finding vacant French buildings to house the American soldiers. Paying rent to the French;
-Night of the armistice, Alcé Breaux got pneumonia, T.B. hospital, died a few years after at home? Empty buildings, part of the war;
-Wounded coming back from the fronts. Hospital in Loire? He was a patient with the flu just before he came back. Not seeing the very worst. No freshly-wounded soldiers. Interior of France. No gas. Shell-shocked soldiers?;
-Almost having to give up driving. Only son, Louis Jr. died?;

-Daily life in France during WWI. Not in army barracks, in French homes, 2-3 rooms upstairs. No military supervision. Billeting. Big celebration the night of the armistice. French people were very friendly. Brunet family. Welcome anywhere in those homes;
-No contact with the French or English army, no reason. Mostly American soldiers where he was.
-Meeting anyone who happened to be in Cour Cheverney. Louis always felt welcome, no resentment from the French people. 2 francophones in their outfit;
-Billeting quarters, keeping record of payments;
-French knew the Americans were there to defend the French from the Germans. U.S. President helped turn the tide of WWI;
-Not familiar with British tanks;
-Food in the trenches. U.S. government fed soldiers. All the wine they wanted in France. Developed a taste for wine over there. Drinking wine instead of water. No available water, musette bags. -Youth drank wine too. Difficult to wash up? Well water to shower;
-Pretty happy when he heard the war was over Nov. 11th. Came down with the flu in January, worked ceased;
-Outfit moved from Cour Cheverney to meet his original outfit to come back to the states. Left in the early spring (March) of 1918. Came back on a U.S. Navy boat, entirely different from the

-French boat they went over on (30:58);
-A couple of weeks to cross, food and atmosphere was rough. Summer time, left New York. Coming back was so different, pleasant;
-2 years in France, 1917-1918. Discharged in Shelby, Mississippi. Got $60 bonus, New Orleans then Lafayette by train;
-Bordeaux to New York, then discharged in Mississippi (by train). Pass to New Orleans, $60 pocket money. Pass to Lafayette or bought a ticket?;
-No reception in Lafayette, maybe not even in New York. The war was over. Celebration when the armistice was declared, none after;
-Immediate family picked him up at the station. Mr. Arceneaux went back to work where he was before. Farming for his father. Leave of absence from the post office, coming back to his old job. -Unemployment was bad after the war;
-Mr. Arceneaux's $60 didn't last. Louis barely got a decent suit, getting money from home since his father was still living.
-Mr. Arceneaux was in the army. Single Corps a branch separate from the infantry, Mr. Arceneaux was in the infantry;
-No trouble readjusting to civilian life. Model-T Ford from storage. Horse and buggy before, pre-ATV going through water, mud, etc.;
-Going back on the job. Coming back in early spring, marrying Jacques Mouton's daughter in August. Sister of George Touchet?'s mother.
-He knew the family well, older sister. Staying with his parents until they bought their home in 1920. Son, Louis was born not long after they moved;
-Experiences in the war changing him? Drinking wine. Louis was ready to settle down. Louis Jr. born in June.
-Facing the unknown gave him food for thought. All in all, it was just a regular adjustment. Army detach service. Pretty lonely. Flu in early spring of 1918, anxiety;
-Life more or less stable at that stage. Day to day army stuff;
-Flu epidemic after the war in the U.S. Louis got the flu in France. His battalion moved before he left the hospital, came back with his old outfit;
-Locals in the war. American Legion Post #69 in Lafayette. Saint Martin Dupré's American Legion Post. Meeting veterans he didn't even know in the service. Active in the Legion after WWI;
-Louis had his Civil Service job waiting for him when he came back. He wanted to go to LSU after teaching for a few years. War put him in the army;
-Mutual Life of New York insurance company. Trying to leave the post office to go into life insurance.
-Thankful for 45 years at the post office, retirement. He wouldn't have gotten that from selling life insurance;
-Scott veterans. Moving to town or going back to the farm?;
-Cajuns that were drafted, some could hardly speak English. Reading and writing letters for them, in Fort Leavenworth (infantry). Claude Hebert, retired school teacher;

-People knew he was in the service, parents visiting him in Kansas before he left for France. Just a memory today (47:49);
-Boot camp, infantry branch. Single Corps Foundation Training in Fort Leavenworth. Boot camp, college backing, not much military training. Telegraphy, Single Corps work, Studying;
-Seeing men walking their boots off. Camp Pike in Alexandria saw the Dickens;
-Barry was born in 1951, between wars. He's only 33. Father still living;
-Louis' grandfather came from Bayou Lafourche, surprised to find Delhommes in Scott area.
-Close to the Scott Delhommes. C.J.'s father, Mrs. Dallas Hebert's father also. Not the same Delhommes;
-Country. Farming. Father had 50-acre farm. Walking to school, coming back and working in the garden. Louis' older brother milked the cows. Selling milk in Scott. Hitch up the horse and buggy and deliver milk in Scott before school;
-Before Dr. Prejean?;

-Interviewed Ulysse Arceneaux and wants to interview Claude Hebert. Louis was on the interior, he shot at no one and no one shot at him;
-Finding lodging for soldiers and paying rent to the French people. 5-10 Francs for each person each night.
-Quite a few billeting officers, U.S. soldiers sent over so quickly, needing to find lodging for them. Traveling little wars, like around the parish looking for vacant buildings. On their toes;
-Dog tents, two-man tents. Maybe on the U.S. side?;
-Officers in homes, paid more for their lodging. Louis didn't think it was just to pay rent, they should've gotten it for free.
-French demanding rent to be paid for lodging American soldiers. Lodging once they got to the fronts, but finding lodging in between;
-Château district;
-Visiting after he had the flu and waiting for the boat. 2 weeks to Paris (just another city) or Pyrenees mountains on the Spanish border. 16 of them went to the Pyrenees, wonderful vacation;
-Grotto of Lourdes, pilgrimage. Feast of the Annunciation (March/April 15). Taking the train, 5-6 Catholics going back to celebrate La Procession des Flambeaux, The Procession of the Candles. -Book about the 3 stages where the apparition was, very sacred place;
-He never saw Paris. He saw a little of Bordeaux and the Pyrenees mountains;

Louis Delhomme