***Date unknown***
***Continued on AN1-232***

Circa. 1984

Claude Hebert, Scott I
WWI Vet 1895

-Claude Hebert, born 5 miles southwest of Youngsville, a real country boy. Born Aug. 30th, 1895;
-Finished 8th grade in Milton, high school in Abbeville, 1 year of Commerce at Southwestern (certificate in 1917);
-Volunteered in WWI to be a baker. 400 bakers from New Orleans, 14 from Abbeville volunteered. Peck's Bakery in Lafayette and Wilfred David became bakers;
-They put him in an office when they found out he took a book-keeping course at Southwestern;
-Lining up and following commands in the barracks. Weeding out those who could work a typewriter, book-keeper. Digging ditches at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans;
-San Antonio, they put him in an office taking care of shoes. Then, hats, coats. Making him a Corporal and putting him with Sergeant Kennedy in the finance department writing checks;
-Captain caught a mistake of paying one guy $5 too much, paid another guy too little. No third mess up because he didn't want to lose his job;
-Armistice (Nov. 11th) until March. Writing checks based on mileage, (5 cents a mile) back to San Antonio;
-Asking the Captain to write his discharge. Promoting Claude to sergeant. Claude wanting to go back to school. Writing to his old job to get an affidavit, working for the superintendent of education in Abbeville. Working there a few months and going to LSU as a freshman until Christmas;
-Transferring credits to Southwestern and finishing 2 years later in Agriculture. Diploma. LSU;
-$100/month to go to college or to work on a farm (from the Veteran's Administration). June-Aug, living on a rice farm in Welsh. A.E. Lyon.
-Driving cattle to the dip. Offered Claude a job to run his cotton farm in Opelousas at $100/month + 5% of the crop. Claude wanted his college degree;
-Drilling and living in the barracks;
-Veterans standing up in a bunch drilling, waiting to get their checks. Don't have to drill you spent 2 years in the army, go see Sergeant Hogan. He brought his discharge.
-Barracks for the young boys, going live in town with Sam Garbo?, a man from Broussard he took Chemistry with at Southwestern.
-He worked most of the time and was hardly home because he was working in the lab late at night;
-He wanted to finish in Commerce, book-keeping, CPA;
-Cousin worked at Dr. R.O. Young's hospital in Abbeville. Head nurse Ms. Bass asking him what he'll do. Claude had $150 and would work until he had $500 and then go to college (1919, $500 paid for one year of college).
-Working a year and working a year, it would've taken 10 years. Borrowing money from Dr. Young? Meeting with Dr. Young.
-Dr. Young wanted to know what major, what college, and how much money it would cost;
-Dr. Young suggesting he take Agriculture because he speaks French, the language of the Cajuns. Coming back and helping them. He was a chairman of the agriculture board. Putting agriculture in all high schools in the state. Claude could get a job teaching;
-Mr. Casanova, Vermilion Parish, telling Claude to go to college in Mississippi. Teaching in Youngsville ($125/month), promoted to Carencro ($175/month);

-September, Preston Guilbeau in charge of vocational agriculture for the state. He spoke with a French accent (16:10);
-Mr. Courvin? an assistant in Haiti. Getting a man who can speak to the locals. Asking Mr. Guilbeau and interviewing Claude and Pierre Hernandez. Hiring Claude to go to Haiti for 6 years;
-Mr. Guilbeau picked Claude over the other because he was taller by 2-3 inches. Already short men in Haiti, he didn't want Haitians to think all Americans were short;
-Director of Extension in Haiti (Agriculture agents, 32 over the republic and 120 agriculture teachers). Building schools. Some teachers lived in the schools. 1925-1931;
-People were real nice, they weren't fighting like you read about now. Living cheaply. Claude always lived in hotels traveling.
-They never had kids, his wife could speak a little French, but not too much. Never renting a house. $150 a month, for room, 3 meals a day, and garage;
-He's traveled the most in the republic. Botanist studying plants;
-First month, he was put in a large room/office shared with other people. Professor of Greek and Latin asking why Dr. Freeman brought him here. Voyager (on land) vs. Naviguer (on water);
-Learning Creole words/phrases;
-Traveling on foot, donkey, horse, sailboat, steamer between ports. Going into the mountains on horseback;
-Setting up agricultural programs, running schools;
-Fairs in May. Printed catalog with different prizes. 2 fairs in one day at different places. May 1930, he slept only 5 times at the hotel. 17 days of no English, white men in the mountains;
-Living on an island off of Haiti (Grande Cayemite). Dr. Summers was stationed there. Man with leprosy, he only had two fingers left at the joints.
-Him, his baby and his wife, slept on the ground/dirt floor. The baby was in a hole. He smoked tobacco, but he didn't have any. Claude gave him some tobacco. Taking his picture with a Kodak. -Sending the picture, but the doctor didn't get to him. It got "lost";

-Why Americans were in the World War, he doesn't know. Marines occupied Haiti, 2-3 years prior to his arrival. Germans went to Haiti to buy coffee during WWI, also buying liquor and staging a mini-revolution on the other side of the island so the Germans could steal the coffee;
-English and French told the Americans the Germans were giving them trouble in Haiti. Antoine Simon (Haitian President) executed some prisoners. Murdered him, he ran away to the French Embassy.
-He was between two mattresses, but his belt was hanging out, the dog was barking, the horse and buggy was parked outside. He grabbed the wheel as he was dragged out, they cut it off.
-Then, they cut off his head and put it on an iron picket;

-Claude didn't see that, that's what the locals told him (31:28);
-Old woman took his intestines and put it on her face. Another man took his hands and put it in his mouth and said, "Look my pipe";
-Fairs at the school close to there the president was buried. Voodoo ceremony, candles, yelling, singing. Claude and the mayor received the delegation.
-White goat. Man in charge cut the goat's head and drank the blood. Claude didn't drink any blood because they could've poisoned him. He just put it to his lips. The only voodoo he attended.
-Danced, yelled, sang in Creole;
-Native chauffeur, asking Claude if he could drive. Americans teaching Haitians to drive. Returning with the mayor and his councilman. Fair next day;
-As a civilian. Having natives planting more coffee. Growing some sugar for themselves. Coffee was the main export.
-3 cents per tree from the government. 2 more cents for living trees after a couple years. Claude had to pay out that money.
-Wrapping 100 gourdes (20 cents USD. 5 gourdes to the US dollar) in newspaper;
-Leaving with 7,500 gourdes ($1,500) to go around and pay people. Inspector, assistant. Going up on the mountain to farmer's hut on a young mule who didn't know the route.
-Agent was on an older one. Trying to pull his donkey. Whipping the donkey, started to kick back. Claude fell about 15' back and he thought he broke his leg, he couldn't walk.
-Lying down next to the stream. Sending the guide to the farmer's house. 1.5 hours to get a horse for Claude to go back + 1.5 hour to come back. 4 hrs total, past midnight when he got there.
-Foot would hurt if he'd let it hang, tying it to the horse where it wouldn't hang. Women wrapped his foot in a plastic made of sour oranges and ashes.
-Sleeping on the old man's bed, brown pillow on a board. Not sleeping until 7 am the next morning.
-Having to go back to his car where he'd be picked up by a motorboat. Going in the mountain. A day to come down;
-Native carried him down on his back. White man's heavy, he eats well. 10 gourdes ($2) to pay the man for carrying him. Motorboat;
-Sending a telegram in Haiti. Telephone office (1 in town) to get a motorboat from Les Gens d'Armes/Les Guardes d'Haiti. It took a day to go get him. Getting to his car, native chauffeur waiting for him;
-Getting to the hospital in the first big town, taking his x-rays. Bones were set;

-Going to pay some money when it was raining. Agent ahead of him, he didn't have a poncho. They saw a little light and followed the trail until they got there about 9 pm. Ate a can of pork and beans (44:49);
-Dirt floor, thatch roof, mud walls. 8 other natives sleeping there. Bed in the corner (pile of banana leaves). Mr. Scott (agent).
-Sleeping next to the wall near the hole so he could get some air from outside. Using the saddle (English saddle) as a pillow, it was soft. Mosquito net about 4' high;
-Pig came through the hole because it was raining outside. Sleeping with Claude, he'd throw him out and he'd keep coming back in.
-Tying the pig outside, the horse got loose just as the he began to fall asleep and it woke everyone up. Horses were not castrated;
-Tropical storm in 1928 devastated. Farm had a landslide, on the other man's farm. Bananas and coffee together? Government sent aide by motorboat.
-Marines kept peace, Navy assigned "nurses", Claude had seeds to replant gardens. Codfish as food. Marine had a marmoset/monkey.
-Captain Swenson chewed the codfish. The monkey threw the fish off the boat. The Swede and the Cajun eats the stuff, but the monkey throws it overboard;
-Coming back to his car. Boat belonged to a Frenchman. Native lawyer standing on the boat, leaning against the side, Hitting a log and the lawyer fell overboard.
-The Frenchman put it in neutral and went get the lawyer. "Takes his bath early" conversation between Frenchman and lawyer;
-Claude joined because he was going to be drafted. Volunteering as bakers;
-Germans sunk U.S. ship (Titanic?), cause of the war. Bringing food to the English, the Germans thought they were armed. Lusitania;
-American woman and German woman at the hotel in Haiti. German woman borrowed $200 from Claude's first wife to bring her son to Haiti from Germany.
-Diamond ring for security. Husband gave Claude $100, they never finished paying on it so Claude took it and used it as his current wife's engagement ring;
-English and France in the war. Italy and other European countries fought with Germany. U.S. going to war because Germany sank U.S. ships;
-President Wilson;
-Morman from Utah, Bill Brandon on K.P. Serving time in K.P. Acting up after supper, President Wilson didn't know how to fight the war, French and English didn't know how to fight.
-Getting over there and joining the Germans, finding a German girl. M.P.'s came the next morning and arrested;
-Barry didn't go to the service;
-Broomstick with a nail to pick up paper. Soldier behind him. He wrote to his Senator, dishonorable discharge. Pictures (he was a mail clerk on the train before) back on his job distributing mail.
-Stealing. He got his job back. Talking like that scared Claude, shooting;
-Claude didn't know anything about Germans before the war. Good German friends after the war in Haiti;
-Other Acadiana natives. Claude and Mr. (Fernest?) Crochet were in the same outfit, but they got separated in San Antonio;
-Claude enlisted in New Orleans, Quarter Master Corps. Each outfit has it's own corps. New Orleans, San Antonio (Fort Sam Houston). 5 days waiting in San Antonio. Kelly Fields, airport south of San Antonio. Airplanes were unarmed (no bombing), just observation planes;
-Going to boot camp/basic training. Jackson Barracks, never drilled, just waited to get assigned and put in an office. Not drilling his outfit until after the war/armistice;
-Knowing anyone who went over, they were not in the same outfit as Claude. Never training for battle. Training once, wanting them to apply for officer training. Only 3 were high school graduates, the others didn't;