Cajuns at war in the year 1942

Civil War General Sherman said, “War is Hell.”

We didn’t need a Yankee General to tell us that.

Since December 7, 1941, my Cajun land and the USA had learned to adapt and adjust to the rules and regulations of war. First, we felt the anguish of our young men being drafted and sent abroad. Then came rationing. Anything wanted, needed, essential or desired was dispersed with limited ration stamps allotted per family. That brought on the Black Market.

More about that later.

I was 11 years old and my mother prayed daily that the war ended before I reached draft age. Wanting to help, I joined everything I could to help the war effort – from scrap paper and scrap metal drives, wrapping cigarettes for our soldiers to singing patriotic songs at school, although with my changing voice, I don’t know what help that brought.

In 1942, the Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor and invaded Ittu and Kiska Islands in Alaska, but U.S. troops reclaimed them after 15 months. In California, Japan managed to drop several balloon bombs which caused little damage, but over 20 German U-boats sunk over 50 oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico off of Grand Isle between 1942 and 1943. No further damage occurred to mainland, but it took the entire war for us to get over Pearl Harbor.

My first pain was self-inflicted. I was participating in a scrap paper drive and my mother had searched the house looking for some. Unfortunately, she found a pack of comic books, some dating back to 1938, that I had meticulously hidden under a bed. As we arrived at my house, she handed me the pack. I cried and pleaded, “Please Mom, just Superman and Batman.”

But it was to no avail. “C’est pour la guerre,” she said and that was that.

Author’s Note: As kids, we bought several copies of top comic books to read or trade. They sold for 10 cents each. I know I had at least two copies of Action Comics No. 1 and Detective Comics No. 27 in that pack we gave away. I watched them go with tears in my eyes. By 1942, I thought they were worth at least $1.00 each. It turns out, they were worth much more than that. In 2014, Detective Comics No. 27 sold on an eBay auction for $500,000 each and Action Comics No. 1 went to actor Nicholas Cage for more than $1 million. C’est tet pour la guere. Detective Comics No. 27 introduced Batman and Action Comics No. 1 introduced Superman.

Meanwhile, the war had raged on for over six months and we didn’t know it, but we were not winning. I was in 7th grade and had recently been informed that my dad had taken a job at Higgins Industries in New Orleans’ City Park Division. It had been arranged that I stay with my Aunt Elicia (Frank) Griffin until I finished the year and then I’d join my folks in the city. I was contemplating all that and my teacher, Miss Mary Ann Contanza, from Napoleonville (we would meet again) had tried to console me that very morning. The classroom, which still stands, was the last room in the back of Golden Meadow High School, which is now Golden Meadow Middle. Behind that was about an empty space of about 5 arpents of wet marshland leading to a Hugh oil tank. An arpent is a French measure equaling 192 feet. It’s used in Cajun Louisiana instead of acres.

Suddenly, the oil tank exploded, breaking every window in the room, overturning most of the desks and dropping kids to their knees and books on the floor over broken glass. Ms. Constanza rushed to check on each kid and seeing there was only minor glass cuts, she treated them from a first aid kit and marched us out of the room – dazed and befuddled. I remember her being so brave in all the confusion. We were marched to the auditorium and Principal Leonard Miller closed school for the day.

I have often asked about that day and I remember the sound. It was not a bang or a boom, but just a loud SCHHUUUUUSH! Since it was wartime, everybody assumed it to be sabotage, but the oil companies were not environmentally friendly in those days, so we’ll never know. It happened just that way.

That’s enough excitement for this column, so BYE NOW!

Cajuns at war in the year 1942

Houma Times Historical Columnist Leroy Martin is still sour about losing his valuable comic books as a kid. He tells stories of World War II in his piece.

COURTESY