Concordia Parish’s World War II Casualties

I don’t write much about Concordia Parish, which is a shame considering the Stark branch of my tree spent considerable time there.

So, when I saw a list of World War II casualties sorted by parish on the National Archives’ website, I decided to see if I could tell the stories of the Concordia Parish boys who went off to war and never returned home. There were only a dozen. Excuse me while I dive into newspaper archives.

Side note: Wondering about those acronyms in the list of the dead? So was I! Here’s a quick explanation:

DNB: Died non-battle

DOW: Died of Wounds Received in Action

FOD: Foreign object damage

KIA: Killed in action

Moss, ferns, palmettos and flowers decorated the stage at Waterproof High School in 1938 when the sheriff awarded high school diplomas. John Abel should have been among the 18 seniors laughing as “Aline Jeannette delighted the class with a few ‘Memories of the Class of ’38,'” but he skipped his high school graduation. He’d left Waterproof after exams for a job.

In 1940, when he filled out his draft card, he was working at Planters Supply Co. in Ferriday. Just a year later, he was in the Army and trained in California and Texas before joining the fight overseas.

The first word his family received was that he was missing after being shot down in the skies over Berlin. Three months later, the Army confirmed his death. Abel was buried, age 26, in Natchez.

The eulogy written by the “Tensas Gazette” when Robert D. Calhoun Jr. died in France is a tribute to the closeness of small towns.

“We have known him throughout the days of his fine, young life, and our grief over his sacrifice to the ravages of war overwhelms us beyond the power of expression,” the newspaper wrote.

Certainly, Calhoun seemed to have been a shining star, a credit to a family well versed in success. His father was a lawyer, an author and the parish treasurer. His grandfather was a judge.

Young Calhoun attended LSU and got a job with the English department at a Georgia university. In 1942, he joined the first invading forces in North Africa. A sniper’s bullet killed him in France just two years later. The War Department sent his mother a telegram breaking the news.

Calhoun left behind a wife and a baby son.

James Culpepper was a doctor’s son who grew up in Concordia Parish and found work in the wholesale grocery industry. He married Dora Nelson in 1940, took a short honeymoon and settled in Ferriday.

He would die on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean. Judging by his death date, he was likely among the first casualties of the Battle of Peleliu. The island of Peleliu was occupied in 1944 by thousands of Japanese soldiers, who’d boobytrapped the beaches with mines and explosives. Complicating matters even further, it was extremely hot that September when the invasion started. Landing on the beaches, U.S. troops faced mines, explosives, heavy gunfire and heat exhaustion if they were to succeed in overtaking the airfield that was their ultimate destination.

His mother’s obituary said Culpepper died in the beachhead landing invasion. He’s buried in the Manila American Cemetery.

Sidney, I’m confused. Why are you listed as a Concordia Parish resident when you’re buried in Jefferson Parish? Even more baffling, Dardar is a south Louisiana name and you seem to have lived in Jefferson Parish most of your life.

I think this one’s a mistake unless there’s a Concordia Parish connection I’m missing.

David Dixson is buried in the same French military cemetery as my great uncle. Also like my great uncle, he was awarded the Purple Heart.

Sadly, I could find very little about David – just a scant mention in the newspaper of his death in 1945.

Details were scarce when the War Department notified the Fairbanks family of Ferriday that their son had been killed in action in 1944.

Clay Fairbanks had been a high school football star, known for his enthusiasm and personality. Although he grew up in Concordia Parish, he was born in New Orleans. His parents named him Henry Clay Whittaker although he seemed to go by Clay or C. W. He joined the Army in 1942 and achieved the rank of sergeant.

A few weeks after his death, more details emerged. He’d died of a heart attack in Hawaii.

There’s an unhappy footnote to this story. His father, who worked as a railway conductor, died just a few months later after being struck by a moving train.

…

George S. Heyen and A. J. Hickingbottom are a mystery. I’ll try to come back to them.

Just a few days before his death in 1945, Harry Hodge received a certificate for bravery. After his death, he posthumously received the Purple Heart.

He died in action against the enemy in Germany, according to the local newspaper.

Harry came from a fairly prominent family. His mother’s cousin was a congressman. His grandfather was a civil engineer.

His parents, Harry Sr. and Betty Dickson, married in 1910. They had three sons and a daughter before Harry Sr. died age 53 in 1924. Harry Jr. would’ve been just 13 at the time.

In 1940, Harry was living with his mother’s sister, who was married to a doctor, on Sycamore Street in Vidalia. It was a large household filled with extended family. Harry was working as a rodman.

…

Alas, James W. Johnson is a mystery for now.

I had to look up the town of New Era. It’s on the western edge of Concordia Parish.

New Era is where Vernon Reeves’ parents were living when he enlisted into the Army in 1940. Vernon came from a huge family. His sister Hattie would later name her son Vernon.

Vernon died a prisoner of war in Italy. While I don’t know the details, I feel certain that he died a hero. According to his grave listing, he was awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and the Prisoner of War Medal.

…

Sam Turner is another mystery.

The day my ancestor was caught by Union soldiers

In January 1865, the 11th Wisconsin Infantry undertook an expedition from Brashear City to Bayou Sorrel. Brashear City is what we know today as Morgan City.

Today, that route would take you 46 minutes by car. According to the National Park Service, it took the 11th Wisconsin Infantry two days. The infantry was fortunate enough to have a gunboat, making the trip easier than it would’ve been on foot.

The purpose of the expedition was to find rebel soldiers who were said to be in charge of a torpedo. Those rebel soldiers included William Duvall and John S. Hebert – both of the 26th Louisiana Regiment, Company B. John S. Hebert was my ancestor.

John S. Hebert – really Jean Severin, but he embraced the American version of his name – was my great-grandfather’s father. John S. enlisted on March 27, 1862, in Berwick along with two of his brothers.

John S. was captured in Vicksburg and paroled in 1863 after promising never to take up arms against the U.S. again. Yet, there he was with Union soldiers in pursuit of him two years later.

Perhaps it was a huge misunderstanding. After all, the Union soldiers never found the torpedo. They did find John S.

In the report submitted by Lt. Richard Caddell, all that was found in the search for the torpedo was a small anchor and a palmetto tent. Concluding the anchor was meant to be used to sink a torpedo, Caddell had it tossed into the bayou. Still in search of that torpedo, he headed to John S. Hebert’s house and left four men to stand guard while he searched a neighbor’s home.

Coming back to Hebert’s house, he found his men had located my ancestor. Caddell also apprehended Cleopha Penisson, who was the uncle of John S. Hebert’s wife, rowing a boat down the bayou. The prisoners were taken to Brashear City. The war would be over within a few months.

Free Stuff Friday: Civil War

We may not know who our next president is, but you can find out if your Louisiana ancestor fought in the Civil War.

With this link: http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/military/wbts.htm, you’ll find a list of Confederate soldiers from Louisiana and an index to pension applications.

Happy hunting!

The plight of an ancestor who couldn’t read or write

Reading through War of 1812 pension records, I came across an interesting saga.

Rosalie Euphrosine Naquin applied for a pension after her husband, Louis Oncal died. The problem with her application was that she had no idea how to spell her maiden name much less her married surname. She was illiterate.

This was a problem for Rosalie because the war office in Washington, D.C., insisted on a precise spelling of her late husband’s name in order to check the war rolls. The name in the marriage record she sent apparently didn’t match any of the names on the war rolls.

The Ascension Parish clerk of court tried to explain to D.C. just how things worked in Louisiana. In a nutshell, the priest decided what the spelling of your name was – and it would be recorded different ways depending on who the priest was. Thus, Rosalie’s husband went by one spelling and his sister went by a totally different spelling.

D.C. wasn’t swayed. At this point, the clerk got a bit exasperated and wrote another letter. It’s faded so I’ve transcribed it:

In the pension claim of Rosalie Oncal, the claimant has not yet obtained her Bounty Land. There is no evidence to show that said claimant and her deceased husband did ever know how to write or spell their names; on the contrary, the records of this case show that the claimant can not write her name though I know personally that she is as strong and healthy as a person of her age can be. At the time of the War of 1812, there was not one soldier out of ten in the country parishes who could sign or spell his name.

The name of Oncal being of French of Spanish origin can be written with the same pronunciation in many different ways as follows: Uncal, Uncale, Uncalle, Oncalle, Oncale, Unkal, Unkall, Oungcal, Honcal, Huncal, Huncalle, Ouchal, all sounding as Ongkal would do in English.

Got that? Not one soldier in 10 from the Louisiana countryside could sign or spell his name.

Rosalie never did get her pension or bounty land. From reading her file, it appears that D.C. didn’t have rolls for every Louisiana company. So Louis might indeed have fought under Uncal/Uncale/Uncalle/Huncalle/Ouchal/Oncal, and his commander neglected to file the mandatory paperwork.

 

 

 

 

Free military records!

But you have to act fast.

In case you missed it (maybe you took a really long nap), this week is the 75th anniversary of D-Day. To celebrate, Ancestry is opening up military records through Sunday.

Here’s the link: https://www.ancestry.com/cs/dday75

I did a quick search for my great uncle, Aaron Hebert, and found registration cards and his headstone instructions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louisiana’s World War II casualties

This chart shows just how heavy the toll of World War II was on Louisiana.  Nearly 4,000 men and women died.

An abbreviation explanation:

KIA=killed in action

DOW=died of wounds

DOI=died of injuries

DNB=died, nonbattle (sickness, homicide, suicide, accidents)

FOD=finding of death

M=missing

Breaking that down, 2.36% of the Louisiana men and women who went to war never returned home.

Mathew Brady’s Civil War Photos

Mathew Brady – or someone in his team – captured this image of Oscar James Dunn, who was lieutenant governor of Louisiana and the first African American lieutenant governor in the U.S. It’s said he died of arsenic poisoning.

No doubt, you’ve heard of Mathew Brady. He was a photographer who captured invaluable images of the Civil War.

His photos are free – at least for now = on Fold3.

I looked for my g-g-grandfather, J.S. Hebert. Alas, I didn’t find him.

But I did find a little bit of a dispute between the National Archives and the descendants of William Jasper Blackburn.

Is this John or William?

This photo is identified as John A. S. Blackburn. The family says it’s actually William Jasper Blackburn, who represented Louisiana in Congress.

The only other photo of William Jasper that I could find is on his findagrave page. And it’s the same Mathew Brady photo. So I don’t know who’s right.

 

John S. Hebert’s military history

John S. Hebert’s military career ended at Vicksburg. 

I decided the other day to see what I could find out about my ancestor John S. Hebert (Jean Severin Hebert before he Americanized it) and his military service. I should add that I have little interest in wars and military history. My eyes kind of glaze over. So my challenge was to turn this into enough of a narrative to interest even me.

There were 297 Heberts from Louisiana who fought in the Civil War. This is not surprising. In Louisiana, Hebert is like the surname Smith.

Of those 297, 296 fought for the Confederacy and one fought for the Union. I don’t know who Hillaire Hebert was, but he was the lone Hebert to pick the winning side.

And there’s my ancestor.  He was in the 26th Regiment of the Louisiana Infantry. Their big battles were Chickasaw Bayou and Vicksburg.

I started with his pension application that John S. Hebert submitted in 1907. At the time, he would have been 69. He listed 10 children (6 boys and 4 girls). Let’s see if he got that right.

Two of the Hebert children died young (Malvina and Mary Josephine) so he did have 10 living children in 1907. The girls: Marie Arcene, Rose, Eve, Rosalie and the twins Cleona and Leona. The boys: Alexis, Jules, Seraphin and Adam. He did get it right!

Here’s John S. Hebert’s signature:

And here’s his recollection of his unit:

That means he was 24 when he went off to war. A little over a year later, he was captured and promised never to take up arms against the United States again.

John S. Hebert seemed a little confused about a question on the pension application inquiring whether he took the oath of allegiance to the United States during the war. He wrote “yes,” then “no.” Then he drew a line through both responses.

I don’t know if he got his pension, but I was interested to read more about his war prisoner details. The family story – as far as I remember my grandmother telling it – was that he was captured, put in prison and then walked home after the war ended.

According to John S. Hebert himself, he was taken at Vicksburg, paroled in St. Martin Parish and exchanged at Red River Landing. At least I think that’s what he wrote. His handwriting wasn’t the best.

So I went in search of other records, starting with learning more about Company B.

Look! There he is on the roster. John S. Hebert later married a girl named Rosalie Penisson. The Penissons who served with him in Company B would become his brothers-in-law. Alcide Polaski’s sister, Elodie, married John S. Hebert’s brother, Gedeon. Gedeon, by the way, was four years younger than John S. but he was further up in the ranks than his big brother. Gedeon was a first corporal in Company B while John S. was just a private.

I’ll continue to dig.

Finding Uncle Aaron

Aaron Adam Hebert

I was searching the Internet for information about my Great Uncle Aaron Hebert when I stumbled across a great website. It’s a memorial for fallen soldiers in the Morgan City and Tri-City Area. Here’s the link: http://www.fallenwarriorsmemorialmorgancity.com/

Now I was born in Thibodaux, and I’ve always heard of Morgan City referred to as the Tri-City area, but I had to look up what the three cities are. I’m not positive, but I think it means Morgan City, Berwick and Patterson.

Uncle Aaron didn’t come from any of those cities. He was born and reared in Bayou L’Ourse, which was apparently close enough  for the memorial organizers. At some point, I begged a family member with possession of the old family photos to loan them to me so I could scan them in. The only photo we have of Uncle Aaron was among them. I sent his picture to the memorial. Now there will be a face with the name.

I’m honored that Uncle Aaron was included in the memorial. He died long before I was born, but we were always told about him. He died in France during World War II. The story is that he was a military cook who got tired of cooking and volunteered to become a soldier. He died a week later – or so the family story goes. It’s probably more likely that he was a cook initially and then pressed into battle as the ranks thinned. I decided to go in search of the real story. Excuse me while I put on my Nancy Drew hat – and please excuse how incredibly long this entry is. I want to show just how much genealogy records can tell you about a relative.

Uncle Aaron’s grave in France

We’re very proud of Uncle Aaron. He died defending his country, and I can only imagine that joining the military was a bit of a culture shock for him.

 

The 1940 Census showed Aaron living with my great-grandparents, Jean Jules Hebert and Eugenie Benoit Hebert, in Assumption Parish. Also at home were Uncle Wilfred and Uncle J.T.

Uncle Aaron’s occupation was listed as moss picker. I never quite understood the moss picking industry until recently. What did they do with the moss? Someone explained to me that it used to be mixed with another substance to finish walls. It was the olden day drywall.

As for education, a 23-year-old Uncle Aaron was listed as finishing the 5th grade, which probably was about right. My grandfather, who was his brother, didn’t get any further than that. You went to school until you were old enough to work. My family lived off the land and the bayou.

Uncle Aaron’s native language was listed as French. This is interesting to me. I would imagine this means that he learned French at home first and then English during his few years in school. However, he must have mainly spoken French since he considered this his native language. I wish my granny had spoken to me only in French so I could have learned that Cajun French. Instead, she was quite proud to know English and refused to teach her children or grandchildren Cajun French. That native language made her feel backwards.

The same year the census was taken, Uncle Aaron filled out his draft card. My grandfather filled out one as well, but he had flat feet. 1940 was before the U.S. entered World War II. However, things were tense on the worldwide stage so men 18 to 65 had to fill out draft cards in preparation.

The draft card can tell you interesting factoids about your ancestor. For example, at the Hebert manse, there was no phone in 1940. I also learn that Uncle Aaron was born five days after Christmas in Amelia, which is across the bayou from Bayou L’Ourse. I don’t know if he was actually born in Amelia or if he just listed that since it was the closest town with a post office. I now know he worked for Martial Creador. I assume this was someone at the moss gin listed on the census.

So then I went further afield and found my great-grandfather’s draft card. It shows me that he couldn’t sign his name so he apparently received zero schooling. His name also is listed as Jules Judeon Hebert when in fact it was Jean Jules Hebert. His mother came from a wealthy family so I always assumed that she received an education and would have taught her children to read and write. Apparently I was wrong. It’s also possible that Jules didn’t understand what he was being asked. He only spoke French. I know this because my mother only spoke English and could never really converse with him even though she grew up next door to his house.

But back to Uncle Aaron. Now I want to know when he enlisted. I should probably add that Uncle Aaron, who was all of 28 when he died, never married or had children. There was really no one to carry on his story.

Enlistment records on Ancestry.com (no plug) tell me he enlisted on March 7, 1942, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They put him down as enlistment for the duration of the war or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to the law. In other words, the military owned him. This was just a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

I know that three years later he died on the battlefield. What happened in between? For that, I had to send off for his official military records, which were a pain to get. Only a direct relative can get a person’s military records. Uncle Aaron didn’t have a wife or kids. His parents were dead (his mom died a few months after he did). He had no living siblings. Fortunately, his sister-in-law (my grandmother) was still living so I made the request in her name with her permission, and I may have fudged a little and listed her as his sister.

What we received was something called Individual Deceased Personal File, which really told me nothing about his military record. It did take me to a snowy village in France just after Christmas.

Uncle Aaron’s date of death was an estimated January 5, 1945. He was buried fully clothed in a mattress cover with upper extremities disarticulated. I really didn’t need to know that, but there it was. He was buried in Epinal, France. Uncle Aaron is there to this day, above the Moselle River in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. My cousin make a trek out to the cemetery while living in Paris, becoming the first member of the family to visit Uncle Aaron’s final resting place.

He was identified by a tag on his belt and trousers. His cause of death was SFW Rt. Groin, which I gather means he was shot straight through his groin. Ouch. Poor Uncle Aaron.

Soldiers going door to door in Wingen.

His place of death is listed as Vic. Wingen-sur-moder, France, and the report maintains that he actually died on Jan. 7, 1945. What I think is more likely is that his body was found on Jan. 7, and that he did indeed die very early on Jan. 5. However, we’ll probably never know for sure.

Wingen-sur-moder was a small French town that had the misfortune to have a railroad line above it. A railroad line, of course, would be important during wartime. It was snowing and bitterly cold in early January 1945. The snow was waist deep in spots. Germans with experience fighting in Finland attacked.

The U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry, was in charge of defending the French town but was caught off guard by the surprise attack. North of the town was the 276th Infantry with Uncle Aaron in its ranks.

The attack hit late on Jan. 3. The Germans took hold of Wingen and basically wiped out the entire 179th 1st Battalion. Those not killed were injured or captured and herded into the town’s Catholic church.

Uncle Aaron wasn’t in the town. He was in Company B, cut off from the rest of the battalion, high above Wingen.

The snowy town of Wingen in January 1945.

Uncle Aaron’s company set up camp northeast of Wingen. What the company didn’t know is that they were directly in the SS battalions’ path.

They pitched tents, not wanting the clang of shovels against frozen ground to alert the Germans to their location. In other words, they didn’t dig foxholes. The Germans surprised them as they slept, sneaking up and getting on top of the machine guns.  The Germans taunted, urging Uncle Aaron and the other American soldiers to fire so they could see where they were and shoot them. It was a massacre.

Here’s an account of the aftermath: “At the top of a ridge we unexpectedly came upon the frozen bodies of many men, scattered about, frozen in the snow where they fell. They were almost all in American uniforms. Some were still halfway in their tents and sleeping bags. Some were without boots. Lost buddies…Gear and equipment were strewn about, but weapons, ammunition and rations had been removed. Despite the cold, the scene smelled of death and gunpowder. Trees had been shaved by bullets and in places spent cartridges had melted the snow. We did not count the dead, but the numbers overwhelmed us; there could easily have been 50 to 100, or even more, GIs, and only a few – maybe five or six – Germans. We knew immediately that the American corpses had been in Co. B, which occupied the barracks next to us at Leonard Wood, marched ahead of us in formation and shared the ballroom on the West Point. We did not know what happened, but I realized what ‘wiped out’ meant, and to the extent I could absorb it at the moment, what this war meant. McCord and I were silent for a long time, and I didn’t know which of us emerged first from the shock, but we did not have time; we had to do our work and catch up with the company.”

Uncle Aaron posthumously received the Purple Heart for his service. I hope he’s resting in peace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benoits and Bergerons

I don’t know much about the Benoits and Bergerons in my family tree.

My g-g-grandmother was a Benoit. Her mother was a Bergeron. G-G-Grandmother Benoit died long before my mother was born. She died of breast cancer, leaving a legacy of that particular form of cancer for her descendants.

What’s also interesting about Eugenie Ella Benoit Hebert (don’t you just love that name!) is her Uncle Jean Baptiste Homere Bergeron.

Homere – as no doubt he was called since his father was a Jean Baptiste – entered the world in 1844 and left it just 21 years later. He died of smallpox. How do I know that?

Homere entered the Union army. He served in the First Calvary. He was known as Omer. He was among 5,000 to 10,000 (http://www.knowla.org/entry/1425/) Louisianans who fought on the Union side during the Civil War.

Homere may have participated in the siege at Port Hudson. Thousands more from Louisiana joined the confederate side, including two men from the family into which Eugenie Ella married.

Exactly what the Bergerons thought of Homere’s choice is unclear. After his death, his mother received a pension from the federal government for her son’s military service.