Leo L. Lafleur:

-Born not far from Ville Platte, L'Anse des Cavaliers. Like L'Anse des Bélaires. L'Anse aux Chaudières;
-Explanation of "Anse/Cove";
-L'Anse aux Pailles named by his great-great-grandfather. Lee's army, Fredericksburg. Jean-Baptiste Lafleur;
-Between L'Anse aux Pailles and l'Anse des Cavaliers, a lot of hickory trees. Building wheels for automobiles;
-Buick dealer, wooden bodied-cars and wooden wheels. 1922;
-Going to school, father sold that place and bought a doctor's home in Plaquemines Point, near Church Point/Opelousas. Pitreville Road;
-Opelousas to Eunice (Hwy 190?);
-Big timbers. Boards were called "singles." Before Lawtell was built;
-Western? Pacific from New Orleans to Houston, frisco railroad;
-Moved to Opelousas in 1908. Creole ponies ride and swim better;
-Rasing animals. Physician and a surgeon. 1st coroner of Evangeline Parish. St. Landry Parish has a narrow strip, politics. Mamou, Chataigner, and Ville Platte in Evangeline Parish;
-Model T days;
-Living in Opelousas when the war broke out. He volunteered;
-Parents separated and mother came to Opelousas. Jersey cows in Plaquemines Point near Lawtell. Saddle horses;
-1902, (he was 5 years old). Slave to the Chachere. First cotton gins. Planting cane for syrup and giving the mill a percentage as pay;
-Adobe smokehouse always had something hanging, hams, ribs, bacon, etc.;
-Uncle Fred, had 7 girls and 7 boys;
-2.5 miles to go to school. Making it in 0.5-0.75 miles by cutting across fields;
-Moving to town when he was 4 years old;
-WWI was declared April 6th. He was a mechanic studying internal combustion engines and running a picture show on the side. Learning how to make engines run;
-Direct current;
-1919, coming out of the war. Quit his job when it was declared. Good garage. Graduate engineer from New York was an alcoholic. Promising his grandmother he'd never drink and he's kept that promise to this day. His father and brother killed themselves drinking;
-Grandmother's family drank too much, the Lafleurs drank too much. The Fontenots (from Grand Prairie/Ville Platte) were good people, but drank too much;
-Going to the 9th grade, mother got sick and he went to work. $9/week, then $15/week. Average was $12/week or $2/day;
-Labor cost 75 cents a day and he'd bring his lunch. A bucket of meat for soup and T-bone steak was 3 cents/pound. Cattle around Mamou Prairie;
-Selling timber;
-19.5 years old (born 1897). 1917. Bought his ticket and told everyone bye. Brother working a taxi. Wanting to remain a mechanic. Walking to the depot Monday evening after Easter and getting on the train;
-Getting his discharge papers;
-1909 - Boy-scouts and Episcopal Minister. Old priest from Holland, nothing to do with religion (he's Catholic);
-Discharge;
-Jackson barracks in New Orleans. Riding bicycles around the depot with Stanley Guidry (Noah's oldeest brother - Farm Bureau). Joining the Marines with Stanley;
-Driving Model T Fords, came out in 1904. Never drank, married twice. First wife (honeymoon never got good and started) died. Mrs. John White was his second wife, their best friend. Building garage and concrete building;
-1922;
-Joining the army in Jackson barracks, 12-14 Louisiana boys together on the train. Drilling in Houston, 15 cents a day April-May. 28th/29th of April, first-class privates in the marine corps.
-October, raise from 4 cents a day to $1 a day ($33/month). Corporal, first-army air service;
-Built Kelly Field?;
-Joining aviation corps. Top sergeant, old war soldier. He knew what war was. One of the best companies at Kelly Field;
-August 9th, 1,500-1,800. Cooks. Complete companies;
-Hauled them off without telling them where they were going. Walking to the coaches, baggage cars. 4 companies were going to Canada for training. St. Louis by daylight. Heavy clothes August 12th;

-Passing through Chicago (21:39);
-Toronto, Canada, Camp Lee side. Drilling for 2-3 weeks, like an English soldier;
-Drill sergeant in American/British Army;
-Stanley got to be a rigger;
-Planes made like kites out of good wood;
-Before he left, castor oil because thick and pretty. Told his boss that castor oil can't be good. Father was a doctor and would prescribe that all the time. Heating castor oil and water. Using castor oil in engines;
-Crew chief. New York and crossing on a boat. They were supposed to get to France for Christmas, but someone got measles and they were quarantined;
-Left New York Jan. 31st. French boats coming in to serenade them. Marseillaise. He understands some French, not much. He can't sing;
-Training? English or American good, not halfway;
-19 more boats in Halifax had to have icebreakers. Crossed the North Sea route. Drill around the decks so many days. Nurse and doctors on the upper decks. Adriatic (name of his boat);
-1,500 nurses and doctors. Soldiers stayed in the holes. 3 naval hammocks on top of one another. Couldn't turn over;
-Drilled 30 minutes to 1 hour a day. Each company took its turn;
-Irish Sea. Life preservers. Submarine. Englishman telling him they were entering the "green" Irish Sea. Landed in Liverpool on Feb. 17th. Liverpool was one of the 7 wonders of the world with its docks. River;
-Landing at high tide. Unloading at low tide, steep (17-18'). 4-wheeled trains and whistles. Rode to 7 miles out of South Hampton. Drilling to get their sea legs off. Getting food to the soldiers;
-Crossing over on a lighter/ferry boat. English Channel 20-somewhat miles wide (narrow);
-Weights on mines to hold them underwater. Ticklish because not knowing how to swim that good? Landing in France;
-3.5 miles of winding road and light snow after dark. Separating men (30-40 men). Taken to a camp in Dunkirk;
-Stanley and him got separated;
-Long-range gun. Trench warfare and some cavalry (but not much);
-Repairing trucks engines in Dunkirk. Staying there for 60 days, bombing 57 days out of the 60;
-He could speak French, they put him in charge of convoy. He could read some signs. Truck sergeant with the British. Royal Naval asset. Scots were there;
-Germans capturing men an mutilating them;
-Covering the front wasn't so good for the Germans;
-Stanley and him and went out on a volunteer trip to Dunkirk. Wanting to see the country and driving trucks, 25-30 people for 4 days;
-Killed company commander and soldiers after they left;
-Deans on the English Channel. Vincent Mosley (rich) was attached to the Air Force. Oxford College, England. Serving with the Americans. Post-Commander of the V.F.W. He died, a little older (90 years old now);
-Leo will be 88 years old in August. He's been a fireman all his life;
-Not meeting French people while there. They weren't supposed to associate with them, but they were nice people;
-Planes were still in use. Armistice Nov. 11th?; Sending some home around Christmas time;
-Château-Thierry/Paris. Marines and company there. Springfield rifles and ammunition. Never taking a shoe off during the battle. 8 men/squad was all a truck could fit. Arming planes and taking off to the front;
-His bunch killing a wild boar;

-Having a good time after the war. Holding together. Not going to kiss women and get drunk (he's never taken a drink in his life) (39:31);
-Mother telling him not to take any bad habits;
-Two younger brothers, one ran off to the Navy at 17 years old. Boys scouts fighting for their country;
-They (Germans) sunk a boat and they were against us. Kaisers were pretty rough to the English;
-Garage is a good garage, studying mechanics;
-Castor Oil;
-Crew chief. 5 gallons of Mobile Oil 40? to break in the engine. Really sticking pistons in those days. Various brands and various mechanics;
-No oil in the base of an airplane. No oil when going upside down/acrobatics;
-Meeting with the engineering officers. Gasoline doesn't affect castor oil, except water, it comes right out;
-His knowledge of oil helped win the war overseas. He was a good soldier, ready to go. Going to the other side of the trenches, he had a plane down the hill;
-As a boy scout, he knew the bullets couldn't pass through the hills. Eating out of cans;
-No man's land. Plane shooting down Germans;
-He could speak and read French. Working as a mechanic during the war. Wild rides/drivers making his hair go through his hat several times. Soldier from Rochester, NY;
-Getting afraid a little bit;
-Seeing some air fights, just like in the picture show. We had the best airplanes. SPAD with two 50 lb bombs, it was a pursuit plane;
-First time planes had been used in war. Kelly Field and fixing planes/motors in Canada;
-Killing more Germans. He just wanted to win the war;
-Famous fights during the war. Rickenbacker? Caching up;
-Red Barron, he knocked in down. Dough-boys killed him;
-Leo used to have a book on that;
-Preparing officers. Had to be a lieutenant to get into a plane, Cadet until then. College degree, good-hearted man, not afraid/courage;
-Flying all which ways, pilots had control;
-Seeing people get killed. German and English fighting. Crash landing in the English Channel. North Sea blow it to pieces;
-Numbing man who died shortly after (he told him he would make it to console him). Die flying a plane;
-Jumping from observation balloons;
-Between Paris and Château-Thierry. Serving with the British for a long time. Americans not being taught how the British fought;
-Shooting soldiers. Marines killed and moved on. Night fighters too. Old men;
-English Sailors. Only 19 miles from Newport/Dunkirk. Belgium was almost all under German control. Fought to get into Dunkirk;
-Shell-shocked soldiers (those who were afraid) were immediately moved out of the camp. Slapping a young soldier, he got mad and started acting like a man;
-57 air raids out of 60 nights in Dunkirk;
-Americans wanted 20-somewhat volunteers to go to Belgium. All the Americans stepped out. 50 somewhat who stayed got killed. All Americas went to the front;
-Fixing broken trucks. He didn't work on tanks. Patton in WWI;

-Tanks rolling across the trenches was a turning point in the war. One jug of gas. The tanks wasn't going too far (01:00:24);
-Meeting Germans after the war. Knocking some down in planes during the war;
-Sergeant with a 45-automatic with extra clips. Shooting wild hogs;
-Armistice was Nov. 11th, 1917, but Leo didn't come home until June 1919. They didn't have the boats. German boat that could bring 12,000 people a load. U.S. Louisville brought 3,000 back;
-Left at Brest, not going back;
-Not meeting too many civilians. Waking up early for drilling. Keeping the men straight on the way back, but not drilling too much. Coming back to New York and 12 men leaving for Fort/Camp Pike in Arkansas and then the train to Opelousas;
-$50 bonus when he got out. Ticket home;
-No reception. Just Stanley and Leo. Everyone was so excited to see them home;
-After the whole experience, he was just himself, an old Cajun. Fire department before he left for the war. Boy scout helping out before the war. Getting a job with his old boss, mechanic;
-People were trying to get organized. Good job offered in South America as an airplane mechanic, but his mother said no. Building his own garage in Opelousas. 1922. Sold it in 1960. School Board;
-Staring at THI trade school?;
-So unreal/happy coming back from the army. Given 89 pints of blood. Good fireman and gentleman. No dirty jokes/words around him. Mother wanted him to stay that way, she died in Nov. 29th, 1960 at the hospital of cancer. First wife died Oct. 7th, 1960;
-Leo had cancer, he had a hernia and found cancer after taking the x-rays. As big as a grape fruit. Apple cider vinegar and honey is good medicine. He attributes that to the cancer coming out all together in one piece;
-Giving 3 pints of blood a month;
-Serving his country;
-Times were tough when he came back from the war, no money. 1921, all the banks were broke. Opening his shop, paying $10/month. $200/month now. Leo just wanted to work. 75 cents/hour as a mechanic;
-Bootlegging - millionaires selling whiskey. Telling his mother he was a liability because he only gets enough to get by and paying rent while she takes care of him;
-House built for an ex-sailor, boy scout;
-Stanley Guidry died in 1942 of a heart attack. He ate too much. Dying going on a call to go to a fire. He loved motorcycles and chased women, Leo didn't Stanley was married twice. They were fishing buddies. He drank a little;
-Contact between Americans and French. Honky-Tonks, bootleggers made money;
-Promising his mother to come back just as he did. Dying young;
-Leo will be 88 years old this year and he eats anything he wants. He's been operated on;
-Jumping out of a boat. Miller's lake, Ville Platte. Dredge boat;
-Testing machine guns. Bombing. Shelling the road, hitting the trucks? Leo was in charge of that truck;
-Using gas. Getting mean and putting out a good gas barrage. Wind blowing back on them and killing themselves;
-Caught up in barbed wire;
-Living in the trenches terrible;
-Americans didn't stay in the same trenches long. Moving the trenches up;
-That winter was horrible, so cold. Water trucks going 10-12 miles to get fresh water. One truck got stuck with 4-wheel drive. Walking out there and not being able to push it out. Draining them and pushing them out by hand. Carrying water by hand for about 12-15 hours non-stop;
-Having to do things, not sitting on your butts;
-We were better men, could take care of ourselves;
-Heater and light he just bought;
-Leo offering Barry some coffee;
-"Too green to burn. Too tough to freeze. And if you kill one too, you got too many kills anyhow. You don't miss 'em";

Leo L. Lafleur