Saturday, July 20, 2013
My dad was interviewed by Jason Theriot for a book about WWII veteran's from Louisiana
P.F.C. Homer J. Dugas
"They shipped me to New Zealand. It's across the equator, opposite of our climate here. I left here, and it was the summer. When I got to New Zealand, it was winter. Mud on top of mud. We were camped out about 15 miles from town in a field. Boy they had a lot of sheep out there. We ate a lot of that too. We stayed there a good while. Four or five of us bought an old Model T Ford so we could get around when we weren't training. We trained to take a beach. I was in the 2nd Marine Division. We took a transport from New Zealand and headed to Tarawa. We knew we were going into battle, but we weren't too sure where we were going. We anchored off a few miles from that beach, and then we started unloaded down this cargo net, down into those little Higgins boats. (November 20, 1943) On the approach to the beach at Tarawa, I was on one side of the Higgins boat and my Lt. was on the other side. He was smoking cigarettes left and right. I was smoking too. He looked over at me and he said, "Man, you really enjoying those Camel's, huh." I said, "Yes sir, I'm kind of nervous." He said, "Don't worry, I'm twice as nervous as you are." He said, "You are just an enlisted man, and you have to do what I tell you. Me, on the other hand, I have to do it myself." On the way to the beach, our landing craft got caught on a reef and so we had to get out in the water and wade through it to get to the beach. When we hit that coral, the boat stopped, and the gate dropped and they told us to move out. We were a good ways from that beach, probably a couple of hundred yards. And the water was pretty deep. We carried our rifles on top of our heads so they wouldn't get wet. Everything was messed up. We came in at the wrong time. The tides were all wrong. The navy ships and the planes bombarded the island first to soften the landing. The Japs held off their fire right until we got close to the beach. I remember seeing these rafts of dead bodies floating in the water. I landed on one end of the island, at Betio. I dug me a foxhole right when I got there at the end of the airstrip, and I got in it. I sleep there in that hole that night. The island was one big airstrip. The Japs were in these concrete bunkers and pillboxes. We had to crawl on the ground to get to these bunkers, and then throw hand grenades in the little hole to take them out. A lot of men were lost that way. Not long after we landed, we were able to secure the landing strip. I came in from the right corner. Me and this boy from Texas were ordered to deliver a message to the back. When we started going, I was up and running and a Japanese machine gun went off and it caught me right in the leg and I went down. That boy came over to help me, but I told him to keep going, because there was nothing he could do. I was hit in the leg and I couldn't walk. I told him to keep going to deliver that message. So I lay there for awhile. This Marine Corpsman came by and he saw that I was alive, so he kneeled down beside me. I told him that he better lay down on top of me otherwise the Japs were going to kill him. And just when I said that, a bullet passed right through his shirt. You could see the hole in his shirt where that bullet went through. He was lucky. This other marine came with a jeep and they helped me up and put me on the hood. That night the marines took care of the rest of those Japs right there. They brought me to the beach and I spent the night with these natives in their straw hut. They couldn't speak English. I was coming in and out of consciousness, but they stayed with me all night long. The bullet had crushed all the bone in my leg, and I could see through the hole. It's amazing the things that happened during the war. Its amazing how they planned for all this stuff. And we were trained so well for being so young. I was only 19 years old."
Loreauville, La
2nd Marines-Tarawa Interview conducted on 3-9-02 by Jason P. Theriot.
Email - Jon@tarawaontheweb.org
copyright 2003 Wheaton, Illinois
Created 28 August 2003
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Remembering my dad today
Vacations every year to the beach in Grand Isle where we could crab. Some years we alternated with Galveston & he loved to sit on the seawall & watch the world go by. His & mama's honeymoon place in Aug 1945.
Standing on the cement in front of Homer's in his Texaco uniform watching me @ Tiger Inn & trying to keep an eye on me as a teenager.
So many great meals @ home.... He could roast any animal, make boudin, blackberry wine, preserves, gumbos, gravies, pralines, sweet dough pies, garden, raised animals & the best ham with that skin that was like a Cracklin.
He worked hard!
He worked hard!
He worked so that we had a great life.
He loved my mama. He & mama loved to dance with only each other.
He had a brilliant mind. He loved tools & gadgets & made many of his own tools. He trained many of the youth in Loreauville to work & gave them a chance. He made several wood pieces after teaching himself the art. He hand caned 15 chairs & 4 rockers & built a grandfather clock. He decorated our home with his work.
He loved his catholic religion & loved to pray the rosary daily. He would try to tell us bible stories if he could tie us up long enough.
He loved Loreauville. He never desired to live anywhere else & he cried when any of us moved away.
He used to dance in the kitchen & dip mama & kiss her in front of us.
He would tell us stories about Uncle Fat, & he would laugh so much. He couldn't talk.
He grew up on Mr Walet's property near Lake Dauterive with his grandparents cuz his mom was only 16 so they all lived with ole Homer Dugas. He talked about the trundle bed underneath his GM bed where he would sleep. He walked lake Dauterive many times during his life to come to the dance or show. He remembered smelling the hamburgers @ cafe after the movies but he didn't have money to buy one. They were sharecroppers & sold vegetables to townspeople from a horse & wagon. He met my mama who's dad had the grocery store in town.
He quit school in 8th grade but got his GED in 1960's @ 40 yrs old. He was a certified master mechanic.
My first car was Dike's Red dodge dart that he bought & put an A/c in for me. We had all the gas we wanted.
He left Loreauville @ age 17 to go to New Zealand for WWII & his furthest prior destination had been maybe Lafayette. He never traveled without a jug of water or an ice chest after that experience.
He was shot in the Pacific islands in his shin by a Jap & had to stay off his legs for 14 months in a hospital in Calif. he met Bob Hope there. His doctor surgeon was from Louisiana & he never limped.
He spanked me only once with a belt after catching me swimming in the bayou @ 13 after it had just been dredged. I had a bruise on the back of my right thigh all summer & I haven't swam in the bayou since.
He was always very loving to us. He had his temper but he never was violent. He never fussed about money. He gave it to us instead of buying him things.
What a wonderful & lovable father I miss.
Thank you Jesus for this priceless person in my life. I am very blessed.
Vacations every year to the beach in Grand Isle where we could crab. Some years we alternated with Galveston & he loved to sit on the seawall & watch the world go by. His & mama's honeymoon place in Aug 1945.
Standing on the cement in front of Homer's in his Texaco uniform watching me @ Tiger Inn & trying to keep an eye on me as a teenager.
So many great meals @ home.... He could roast any animal, make boudin, blackberry wine, preserves, gumbos, gravies, pralines, sweet dough pies, garden, raised animals & the best ham with that skin that was like a Cracklin.
He worked hard!
He worked hard!
He worked so that we had a great life.
He loved my mama. He & mama loved to dance with only each other.
He had a brilliant mind. He loved tools & gadgets & made many of his own tools. He trained many of the youth in Loreauville to work & gave them a chance. He made several wood pieces after teaching himself the art. He hand caned 15 chairs & 4 rockers & built a grandfather clock. He decorated our home with his work.
He loved his catholic religion & loved to pray the rosary daily. He would try to tell us bible stories if he could tie us up long enough.
He loved Loreauville. He never desired to live anywhere else & he cried when any of us moved away.
He used to dance in the kitchen & dip mama & kiss her in front of us.
He would tell us stories about Uncle Fat, & he would laugh so much. He couldn't talk.
He grew up on Mr Walet's property near Lake Dauterive with his grandparents cuz his mom was only 16 so they all lived with ole Homer Dugas. He talked about the trundle bed underneath his GM bed where he would sleep. He walked lake Dauterive many times during his life to come to the dance or show. He remembered smelling the hamburgers @ cafe after the movies but he didn't have money to buy one. They were sharecroppers & sold vegetables to townspeople from a horse & wagon. He met my mama who's dad had the grocery store in town.
He quit school in 8th grade but got his GED in 1960's @ 40 yrs old. He was a certified master mechanic.
My first car was Dike's Red dodge dart that he bought & put an A/c in for me. We had all the gas we wanted.
He left Loreauville @ age 17 to go to New Zealand for WWII & his furthest prior destination had been maybe Lafayette. He never traveled without a jug of water or an ice chest after that experience.
He was shot in the Pacific islands in his shin by a Jap & had to stay off his legs for 14 months in a hospital in Calif. he met Bob Hope there. His doctor surgeon was from Louisiana & he never limped.
He spanked me only once with a belt after catching me swimming in the bayou @ 13 after it had just been dredged. I had a bruise on the back of my right thigh all summer & I haven't swam in the bayou since.
He was always very loving to us. He had his temper but he never was violent. He never fussed about money. He gave it to us instead of buying him things.
What a wonderful & lovable father I miss.
Thank you Jesus for this priceless person in my life. I am very blessed.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Miss. Joann dies
My mother-in-law, Joann Castille Theriot just passed away on her 78th birthday.
She was a devoted wife, sibling, mother & grandmother. She was a natural "master chef"that loved having her family gather in her pristine home weekly for meals that taste like no other cajun cuisine. She was a devout Catholic & practiced her faith to the fullest & loved her hour duty of adoration. She was a tall beautiful well manicured woman who carried herself very well. She practiced good nutrition & enjoyed playing a game of Bourrè with her friends weekly. She suffered a stroke that debilitated her from being ambulatory. Her husband, Mr. Allie, was her sole caretaker for the last 8 yrs at her side using a "Hoyer-lift" as her only mode of transportation in and out of bed. She was enjoyed looking out of her window watching the world go by. She loved to laugh & I loved to pick on her about her rules & obsessive compulsive cleaning & organizing. I have many wonderful memories of her visits & lectures. I loved her very much & she will be greatly missed. I'm blessed to have had such a loving & caring mother-in-law in my life.
I'm still searching for a better seafood gumbo, roast/pork gravy, veg soup or chicken pie.
RIP Miss. Joann.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Uncle Fat and his imaginary wife and children
In the 1940's My great uncle "Fat" had an imaginary wife & 2 kids, a boy & a girl with names cuz he was a bachelor at 50 & got tired of ppl asking him when he was going to get married.
They tell me he had a great sense of humor.
They tell me he had a great sense of humor.
Uncle Fat stories...1930's
My dad used to tell me "Uncle Fat stories......
(Now remember they were poor share croppers for The Walet's in Loreauville & they were living in a small cajun house near Choopic on the way to Lake Dauterive in back of where Oscar Oubre & them lived. It was the 1930's & he & uncle Fat were about 7 & 10 yrs old running after each other in the house & kitchen @ outside and the ole grandma Mrs. Hom...er (pronounced O marr) Dugas had a huge gumbo on the stove cooking & uncle Fat spit across the top of the pot at my daddy & ...............
It fell in the pot.
No one but them saw it.
Daddy said they couldn't tell. It would have ruined the appetites of the whole family & they couldn't see throwing the whole pot away because it was all they had to eat & Mrs. Homer had cooked it all day with yard hens she had killed & plucked.
He would tell us these elaborate stories about being poor & survival.
(Now remember they were poor share croppers for The Walet's in Loreauville & they were living in a small cajun house near Choopic on the way to Lake Dauterive in back of where Oscar Oubre & them lived. It was the 1930's & he & uncle Fat were about 7 & 10 yrs old running after each other in the house & kitchen @ outside and the ole grandma Mrs. Hom...er (pronounced O marr) Dugas had a huge gumbo on the stove cooking & uncle Fat spit across the top of the pot at my daddy & ...............
It fell in the pot.
No one but them saw it.
Daddy said they couldn't tell. It would have ruined the appetites of the whole family & they couldn't see throwing the whole pot away because it was all they had to eat & Mrs. Homer had cooked it all day with yard hens she had killed & plucked.
He would tell us these elaborate stories about being poor & survival.
Stories told to me by my dad about his uncle, "Fat" .....Bar-room fights in 1930's
Daddy said Uncle Fat was tall, funny but not too handsome. He had a hump on his back. Said Uncle Fat could dance & all the girls wanted to dance with him at the dance @ this made their boyfriends & husbands mad.
Anyway Uncle Fat would always go to town to drink beer @ dance on the weekends & he would end up fighting every now & then. Daddy said Uncle Fat would have these stories about getting t...he last punch & running faster, etc.
Daddy said he would wait to hear about the dances & fights when Uncle Fat would return after a long walk home from town to where they lived. Daddy said he never saw a scratch on Uncle Fat so he figured he was winning these fights & running home without a scratch until one night Uncle Fat didn't come home. They had to get the horse & buggy & go to town near the dawn hour to look for him. Daddy said he apparently lost this fight cuz he had scratches all over and looked a mess. They found him sleeping in the grass near the bar. When they realized he was alive & just a little bruised they were so happy.
He said they asked Uncle Fat (in a taunting way) "So Fat, is there a place on your body that don't have scratches?
Uncle Fat answered, "Only under my feet"!
Anyway Uncle Fat would always go to town to drink beer @ dance on the weekends & he would end up fighting every now & then. Daddy said Uncle Fat would have these stories about getting t...he last punch & running faster, etc.
Daddy said he would wait to hear about the dances & fights when Uncle Fat would return after a long walk home from town to where they lived. Daddy said he never saw a scratch on Uncle Fat so he figured he was winning these fights & running home without a scratch until one night Uncle Fat didn't come home. They had to get the horse & buggy & go to town near the dawn hour to look for him. Daddy said he apparently lost this fight cuz he had scratches all over and looked a mess. They found him sleeping in the grass near the bar. When they realized he was alive & just a little bruised they were so happy.
He said they asked Uncle Fat (in a taunting way) "So Fat, is there a place on your body that don't have scratches?
Uncle Fat answered, "Only under my feet"!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
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