Jerry Sanson  Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum  May 2026  While Louisiana is often remembered for the Louisiana Maneuvers or as the site of a network of training camps during World War II, the state’s businesses contributed to the war effort as well. Industrial war production focused mainly on urban areas and included New Orleans, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Lafayette, […]

Jerry Sanson  Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum  April 2026  Louisianians on the home front during World War II supported the war effort in many ways. Some joined Civilian Defense and scanned the skies on the lookout for enemy aircraft over their neighborhoods. Others supplied labor to farmers who desperately needed it to produce agricultural products for the war, or they tended their own Victory […]

Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum, April 2026 American farmers experienced increasing trouble during World War II finding enough workers to complete the work necessary for them to grow food and fiber that they needed to produce for the war effort. New or expanded businesses offered higher incomes and often better working conditions than […]

Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum April 2026 President Franklin Roosevelt was well-known for his delivery of important speeches to the American people over the relatively new medium of radio. His famous “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” came from his first Inaugural Address, and many Americans first heard those stirring words […]

Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum March 2026 As we approach Holy Week this year, it is well to remember that the last major battle of World War II began on April 1, Easter Sunday, 1945. Okinawa’s 466 square miles of territory lay still and peaceful that morning as American troops approached the island, […]

Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum March 2026 Whether Napoleon Bonaparte actually said that “an army marches on his stomach” first or if Friederich the Great of Prussia beat him to it (and historians still argue over the origin of the phrase), the sentiment is that both of these master strategists knew that supply […]

Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum February 2026 Photo taken by a Louisiana Maneuvers visitor Military vehicles sometime become a symbol of the era in which they are used. The most famous example is probably the Jeep that is the first image some people envision when they think about World War II. Another is […]

Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum February 2026 Military museums across the country, including the Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum, display American Army uniforms from the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century eras complete with helmets that have a sharply pointed metal spike on top. Visitors sometimes comment that the helmets are similar […]

Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum January 2026 It is possible to find many stories about military figures who visited Louisiana during the years of World War II and who later became prominent and famous because of their roles in the conflict. Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton come to mind for many people. Did […]

Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum January 2026 The Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum displays a horse wearing the saddle and bridle of the 1940 and 1941 Maneuvers eras and an accompanying human mannequin wearing a summer uniform of a mounted Cavalry officer. Why do we have a mannequin of a horse in a […]