Citizen’s Military Training Camps

Jerry Sanson, Louisiana Maneuvers & Military Museum Staff American military commanders were generally not pleased with the quality of recruits they were expected to turn into Doughboys during World War I. They discovered that the young men were not in good physical condition and that they knew little, often nothing, about American military tradition or […]

Louisiana During D-Day

By Dr. Jerry Sanson June 6, 2025, marks the 81st anniversary of the Allied invasion of the Normandy beaches in France that sparked the eventual downfall of the Nazi regime in Germany. Allied military leaders and civilians alike realized early in the war that such an invasion was inevitable, but disagreements between American and British […]

President Truman’s VE Day Proclamation

Dr. Jerry Sanson Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum Staff President Harry Truman welcomed guests including his wife and daughter, Bess and Margaret, members of his cabinet, high-ranking British and American military officers, and leaders of the House and Senate, along with White House reporters to his office on his 61st birthday, May 8, 1945. The […]

Louisiana Women during World War II

Dr. Jerry Sanson, Louisiana Maneuvers & Military Museum World War II caused numerous disruptions in American society, not least of which was a change in traditional gender roles as women assumed responsibility for accomplishing needed work when men volunteered or were drafted for military service. Louisiana still followed the cultural rules of generally conservative southern […]

Louisiana Celebrated VE Day

Written by Dr. Jerry Sanson, staff member at Louisiana Maneuvers & Military Museum People whose country is involved in war for extended periods of time look forward anxiously to the end of the conflict. People in Louisiana, like other Americans, anticipated the days of peace that would be signaled by the end of World War […]

Labor Issues in WWII Louisiana

Author: Dr. Jerry Sanson, Louisiana Maneuvers & Military Museums, Pineville Louisiana experienced several labor disputes during World War II, but two stand out as the largest and bitterest of the war years. The first began with a walkout staged by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) against Gulf States Utilities (GSU) in 1941. The […]

Esler Field

Author Dr. Jerry Sanson, Louisiana Maneuvers & Military Museum Staff Esler Field was constructed as one of the complex of military installations built in Central Louisiana as the United States engaged in World War II. Located near the southern edge of Camp Livingston and in close proximity to Camp Beauregard, the facility was originally known […]