PFC Leo Terrebonne
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| PFC Leo Terrebonne |
For my first question, I just wanted to ask a bit about you. Where are you from and what was your service experience like?
Well, I was born across the river in Westwego. I'm what they call a 'Cajun'. I don't know if you've ever heard of us? Anyway, in February 1943 I was drafted into the Army. I spent 11 months in the States training, and at the end of '43 we finished all of our engineer training, and in January of '44 they decided to send us to England... and I spent 25 months over there in England. While I was over in England I met an English girl, and we dated, and she became the wife! And we lived 44 and a half years together, her and I.
Did you live over there or did you move back here?
No, the only time I lived over there is when I was in the service. I used to always say that I had two homes: One here and one in England. All my Christmases and birthdays and holidays were spent with the English family, and when I came home I was back with my regular family.
How did you like England?
Well, I liked being married! It wasn't bad! A lot of guys didn't like it because they were not married, and they didn't have a family over there. Because Christmas and New Years and all that I spent with (my wife's family) and it was much better than having to spend it by yourself in some pub.
While you were in England, what did you and your friends do? Did you spend a lot of time playing cards or something?
Oh, no. I went dancing! They had a dance hall that opened at 11 o'clock in the morning! They had so many GI's just walking around doing nothing, so they decided to open the dance hall at 11 o'clock. They'd open for three hours, from 11 to about 1. And then from 1 to 2 they would stop, and the band would rest. And at 2 o'clock they would start again and we would dance until about 5, then stop for an hour. Every three hours the band would stop for a rest. And they we'd start again at about 6 or 7 to dance again and we danced to almost 10 o'clock, because at 10 o'clock everything closed in England at that time.
Was (the dance hall) popular when it was open? Were there a lot of people there?
Oh, yeah! We had, I'll betcha, about 2 million soldiers over there at that time. We was over there before D-Day. And D-Day was a madhouse. Everything was rush-rush. We weren't sure our invasion was going to succeed. At one (beach) they were blocked by a big boulder, until the engineers blew that boulder away and they could get on the beach. If they wouldn't have gotten on the beach, they would have had to withdraw or they would have drowned right on the beach.
Did people talk a lot about the invasion before it happened? You guys must have known that it was coming.
We actually didn't know when it was going to be. Nothing was mentioned. We knew it was coming, but as far as when, no. And the English people didn't even know, the American people didn't know. As a matter of fact, I don't think General Eisenhower knew. They were waiting for the weather, the weather was so bad. And they happened to get what you call a 'window', and they decide - actually the invasion was supposed to be on the 5th of June, and it wound up on the 6th of June.
Do you remember that day?
Oh yeah, like it was yesterday.
Do you remember when you heard that the invasion had started?
We heard about it that same day. And you would be surprised at how many planes that were in the sky. There were so many planes, I was wondering how they didn't run into each other! But I found out later they were flying 'stacked'. I don't know if you know what 'stacked' is?
They fly above one another?
One would fly low, another medium, and one would fly high. And so many of the planes were C-47s, the paratroopers, all the guidelines from the parachutes still hanging from the plane. The 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne - I used to see the 101st Airborne, they used to be stationed not too far from me. We used to go to Birmingham, and there were a lot of them in Birmingham.
In the Corps of Engineers, what did you do?
Well, I thought I had gone in as a carpenter. When I got there, the commander called me and told me the biggest surprise of my life. He told me I was the bugler!
The bugler?
Why? Because I used to play coronet in the school band. And he read my - when you go in, you've got to tell them all that you've done, and they put that in your record. And he read that I was a coronet player, and he wanted a bugler. But I didn't know any of the calls! The only thing I knew was Taps!
He had a book in his (desk) drawer. He pulled it out and said "You know how to read music?" I said "Yes, I do." He gave me the book and said "There's all the calls." He said across the street was Headquarters, and at the back of Headquarters was a wooded area, maybe two or three miles deep. He said "Every morning I want you to go walk as far back into that bush as you can (and practice), because we don't want to hear you practice!".
I was also what they used to call a special runner for the company commander. If you needed some officer or some enlisted man to come, he would tell me to go. Then in the afternoon I would take all the official records for our company back to Headquarters. I also used to pick up the mail and sort it out, (including) passes for the night.
The guys that you hung out with in the Army, what did you talk about? Did you talk about the war or what you wanted to do when you got home?
No, we talked about women. The girls! A little gambling. I don't drink. I never went to the pub. I think I went to one pub... but I didn't drink, so it didn't interest me.
If there's something important that you want people to know about your experience, what would it be?
I think people should live their lives the best way they can. I try to live happy. I mean, I know we get mad sometimes and we say things. But I try to eliminate some of the things that I used to do. I tell people about my wife... I treated my wife like I wanted to be treated, and I hoped that she treated me like she wanted to be treated. And it worked out beautifully!
