A Soldiers Place in History: Fort Polk, Louisiana
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A Soldier’s Place in History: Fort Polk, Louisiana Kane and Keeton 2004 and Keeton Fort Louisiana Kane Polk, A Soldier’s Place in History: A Soldier’s Place in History Fort Polk, Louisiana Soldiers marching during the May 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers Sharyn Kane and Richard Keeton A Soldier’s Place in History Fort Polk, Louisiana Sharyn Kane and Richard Keeton Funded by The Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk Administered and published by Southeast Archeological Center National Park Service Tallahassee, Florida 2004 To the soldiers who have passed through the gates of Fort Polk, and to those yet to come. May we never forget their service to our nation. Contents Preface 5 Acknowledgments 6 1. Tanks Descend on Leesville, Winning Favor and a Future 7 2. War Threatens, Reputations Rise and Fall 11 3. “Basement Conspirators” Hatch a Plan 29 4. Louisiana Maneuvers Stir Worry and Change 43 5. Thousands Apply to Build Camp Polk 55 6. The Battle of Mount Carmel Rages 67 7. There Are No Rules in War 79 8. Camp Polk Builds for World War II 93 9. Rationing, Dancing, and New Roles for Women 104 10. Troops Tested in a Famous Battle 117 11. A Bleak Christmas Befalls Soldiers 133 12. German POWs Arrive at Camp Polk 151 13. Angels Fall into Prison 159 14. Peace, Then Another War Erupts 165 15. Fort Polk: A New Name, A New Mission 177 16. “Tunnel Rats” Roam Beneath Tiger Ridge 203 17. Cold War Dictates New Preparations 217 18. The Second Armored Cavalry Triumphs 228 19. The JRTC and New Roles for Fort Polk 240 20. Years Pass, but the Spirit Remains 247 Bibliography 253 3 Preface n the midst of our daily lives, few of us stop to n searching for a suitable location for a military Ireflect on how we might become part of history. Ipost, U.S. Army scouts were far from the first to Yet we all share roles in the unfolding narrative of discover the stretch of north-central Louisiana now our people and nation, even if we are never singled occupied by Fort Polk. Prehistoric wanderers called out for special recognition and school children fail Paeloindians explored the region some 12,000 years to find our names and deeds recorded in their text ago. In the waning years of the last Ice Age, these books. hunters left their characteristic spear points in the The goal of this book is to document the collec- Peason Ridge training area of Fort Polk, which may tive story of the thousands of soldiers who have have been a favored meeting place. Other prehis- trained at Fort Polk or were sta- toric people followed. Over tioned there during their mili- thousands of years, they too left tary service. Some of them are e have an opportunity to tell an remnants of their existence famous, and deservedly so, for Wimportant story, a story that across the landscape of present- their great military skill and needs to be told. day Fort Polk. valor. Others might have names Archeologists, studying the that are familiar to us. The great — Jim Grafton artifacts and other evidence of majority, however, remain un- Fort Polk Cultural Resource prehistoric life in the region, known except to their own Management Coordinator have documented their findings families and fellow troops. in several technical reports. Nonetheless, their contributions These, in turn, were summa- to the security and national interests of the United rized in an extensive study funded by Fort Polk States are no less important. and directed by archeologist David Anderson of the In their letters home, soldiers have long shared Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC), National bits and pieces of their personal military experi- Park Service. ences, sometimes taking great pains to avoid caus- The sequel to this archeological study, Steven ing worry with too many telling details. Some kept Smith’s 1999 book A Good Home for a Poor Man: diaries, noting their actions and thoughts as politi- Fort Polk and Vernon Parish, 1800–1940, was also cal and military events swirled around them, deter- funded by Fort Polk and edited and published by mining their fates. Most of these first-person ac- SEAC. Smith focused on the hearty breed of pio- counts are eventually forgotten or lost, and with neers who carved out new lives in a virtual no- them disappear not just the minutiae of the daily man’s-land. Through sheer determination, these set- grind, but thousands of recollections of those mo- tlers forged a new culture based on turpentining, ments and momentous events that shape character lumbering, and hardscrabble farming. and test resolve, that lead to acts of individual sac- A Soldier’s Place in History picks up where A rifice and reflect commitment to a greater cause Good Home for a Poor Man leaves off, covering than self. the arrival of the military and its impact on the No single book could accurately portray the con- region and its inhabitants since the 1940s. We are tributions of every Fort Polk soldier, but chroni- honored to take our turn at ensuring that the his- cling the post’s history preserves some of all of tory of Fort Polk and the surrounding area is being their stories. documented and preserved. 5 Acknowledgments tudying, preserving, and sharing information The insights and recollections of the following, Sabout Fort Polk is an ongoing, cooperative ef- who granted us interviews, helped shed light on the fort for Fort Polk’s Environmental and Natural Re- events and developments that impacted the post, sources Management Division (ENRMD) and the the adjacent communities, and the rest of the United National Park Service’s Southeast Archeological States. Their input, so integral to this narrative, Center (SEAC). We are grateful to the many people was greatly appreciated. who have helped shape this book, beginning with Jim Grafton, Cultural Resource Management Co- David Bingham, Curator, Fort Polk Military ordinator, ENRMD, and Charles Stagg, Chief, Museum ENRMD, who envisioned a book on Fort Polk’s Howard Blackburn, Leesville, Louisiana military history that soldiers, veterans, residents of Wiley Clark, former commandant of the Non- the surrounding communities, and others would find Commissioned Officers Academy, Fort Polk interesting and informative. Mary Cleveland, Director, Museum of West John Ehrenhard, an archeologist and the direc- Louisiana, Leesville, Louisiana tor of SEAC, has long championed sharing with Albert Dunn, former paratrooper, Leesville, the public archeological and historical research Louisiana regarding our national heritage. His contributions Harry Fisher, former Fort Polk soldier, and support have been extensive. Eunice, Louisiana John Jameson, another archeologist with SEAC, James Grafton, Cultural Resource Manage- shares this deep commitment to cultural resource ment Coordinator, ENRMD, Fort Polk outreach. He was instrumental in organizing an Mr. and Mrs. John Guy, Anacoco, Louisiana invaluable data-gathering symposium in the early Bruce Mann, forester, Fort Polk stages of this project. Doris (Dolly) Mayo, Leesville, Louisiana Ellen Ibert, with Fort Polk’s Cultural Resource Kenneth Prud’homme, Natchitoches, Louisi- Management Office, suggested important sources ana of information and, along with coworker Bob Hays, Jimmy Wyatt, Project Manager, Transporta- helped ensure the symposium’s success. Ellen also tion Pool, Fort Polk generously offered the use of her office and equip- ment while we were collecting the historic photo- SEAC’s editor Virginia Horak is responsible for graphs for this volume with the help of David the skillful arrangement of images and text, a labo- Bingham, curator of the Fort Polk Military Mu- rious task she executed with the highest standards. seum. David opened his files to us and shared his A final thank you to the many others who helped extensive knowledge without hesitation. us along the way. 6 1. Tanks Descend on Leesville, Winning Favor and a Future arly in the morning on Tuesday, May 15, 1940, part of a combined armored, infantry, and artillery Eresidents of central Louisiana were startled force, the tanks then turned southeast toward awake by military tanks speeding toward their ob- Leesville. To speed up deployment, the infantry rode jective, the small community of Leesville. For al- in trucks borrowed from other units. Roaring down most a week, the region had swarmed with soldiers. a rural road in the dim light of a new day, the tanks Divided into the Red Army and the Blue Army, the stormed into Leesville at 6:20 a.m., catching the men rushed about, shooting 1st Cavalry Division off guard. their rifles loaded with blanks, Firing blank shells, the tank while war planes buzzed over- merican tanks do not surrender.… forces quickly overpowered the head, diving at the troops. All A As long as one tank is able to opposition, who only managed of central Louisiana seemed to move, it must go forward. to fire one machine gun and one be engulfed in war, caught up antitank weapon. The rapid col- in the largest military maneu- — General George S. Patton lapse of the cavalry headquar- vers ever held in the United ters was breathtaking, as tanks States. surrounded defending com- After years of public apathy, the nation’s mili- mander Major General Kenyon Joyce. Military um- tary had been seriously neglected. The poorly pires declared the general and many of his men cap- equipped United States Army had few armored tured and sidelined them for the rest of the day. vehicles, so the sight of fifty-four tanks rolling Brigadier General Jonathan (Skinny) Wain- through the Louisiana countryside caught every- wright had awoken early that morning and was ap- one’s attention. Few had ever seen a single tank parently fueling equipment at a Leesville service before, much less the thundering fleet advancing station when the opposition tanks first appeared.