T. Harry
Williams Center for Oral History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE
NAME:
Wilbur Joffrion COLLECTION: 4700.0639
IDENTIFICATION: Native
Louisianian. Attended LSU for three semesters (1942-1943). Attended West Point Academy from 1943-1946
and graduated from the US Military Academy.
Received master's degree from Tulane University in 1953. Taught at West Point, New York. Retired from the Army Reserve after 35 years
of active duty. Currently working as insurance agent in Baton Rouge.
INTERVIEWER:
Mary
Hebert
PROJECT:
LSU History
DATES: 11/27/95 FOCUS DATES: 1940's
ABSTRACT:
Tape
928, Side A
Introduction;
born on November 8, 1924 in Alexandria, Louisiana; parents' names and
birthplaces; father a sugar chemist who worked in Guatemala; Finca Punta Leon
(sugar plantation); first language was Spanish; father in cattle business and
cotton buyer as well; mother went to Newcomb College and stayed home to take
care of children; chores at home while growing up; job as soda jerk in high
school; how Depression affected Rapides Parish; beggars would go by houses; not
affected adversely by Depression because of father's job in Central America and
jobs as cotton buyer and cattle businessman; attended public schools in
Alexandria; West End Grammar School; Bolton High School; remembering the Pearl
Harbor attack in high school; remembering President Roosevelt's speech; no ROTC
in high school; set up Home Guard in high school; very interested in military;
Alexandria as base location for camps; Camp Livingston; Camp Beauregard; Camp
Clayborne; Camp Polk; race riots on Lee Street never fully disclosed; selling
ice cream to soldiers on maneuvers; playing tennis with soldiers; uncle in
military; grandmother; Delmar Plantation; was a good tennis player; active in
Safety Council and National Honor Society in high school; father decided for
Joffrion to go to LSU; wanted to go to college for a year or two before
entering West Point; Joffrion family emphasizes education; some high school
classmates enlisted in army immediately; LSU used to be very economical and
affordable; first day at LSU; late graduation from high school so there was
overlapping; F Company of the engineers; chemical engineering; Pentagon
Barracks; hazing at LSU; barber pies; ROTC; LSU used to be a very military
school; Colonel Hill; Carlos Spaht; favorite classes at LSU was military
science; Delta Kappa Epsilon; wife a Kappa Kappa Gamma; fraternity life; Burt
Turner; Ben Downing; Joe Bill Jackson; Chare Thibeaux (?); "smooch
hollow"; how campus has changed; LSU experience helped career; LSU
prepared Joffrion for West Point; West Point plebe year; Beast Barracks;
Tape
928, Side B
Admiral
Arnold Braswell; Bill Wray; several Louisianians at West Point; Brigadier
General Bigler; discipline at West Point; Glen Davis; Doc Blanchard; was in F-2
Company; strictness at the Academy; honor code; master's at Tulane in
education; minor in political science; taught at West Point in Department of
Military Topography and Graphics; taught topography, surveying and engineering
drawing; went to Germany for three years; Berlin Airlift; Frankfurt; Augsburg;
staff officer of squadron S-1; German reaction to American occupation; Berlin
Crisis; Fort Polk; Colonel Abercrombie; Korean War; Fort Hood; married in 1951
in Baton Rouge; Army Cavalry; went to Korea in 1956; 38th Parallel; put in
reserves; took over wife's family's insurance business; lieutenant colonel
instructor at USAR school in 1964/1965; commander of 377th TAACOM;
General Russell LeBlanc; COSCOM; 3221st MMC in Baton Rouge; deputy
commander of 122nd R company in Little Rock; reserve units; end of
interview;
TAPES: 1 TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 hr
#
PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 54
OTHER
MATERIALS: Proper name
lists, biographical sketches, interviewer's questions, interviewer release
form, interviewee release form, index
RESTRICTIONS: None