A Snowed-in SAC Christmas, 1968

The goal to be home for Christmas was almost just a dream for the more than a thousand drivers and passengers caught in Cozad, Nebraska in a crippling Christmastime blizzard in 1968. The small southcentral Nebraska town of Cozad lived up to the reputation for midwestern friendliness, and pitched in to help the stranded travelers of all ages from all parts of the country. Though nothing about the unplanned overnight with kind strangers was planned or expected, some of the stranded travelers got extra-unusual accommodations on the night of December 22, 1968. They climbed aboard an RBS (Radar Bomb Scoring) Express train, a train that was sent across the country for a decade under the 1st Combat Evaluation Group at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana to train bomb crews for the Strategic Air Command (SAC).

The Strategic Air Command was established in 1946 to deter nuclear warfare by making the threat of U.S. retaliation believable and ever-present. SAC was the US Air Force’s plan to show a rival superpower, chiefly the rapidly expanding Soviet Union, that the U.S. was in a perpetual state of readiness to launch a major counterattack (within a mere 15 minutes) in the event of a missile attack. The goal was to a create a détente, or state of preserving the peace despite continued hostilities.

For measurable practice conducting targeted missile drops, SAC had radar bomb scoring (RBS) sites at set locations around the country. Under General Curtis LeMay, SAC bomber crews trained constantly. It didn’t take long before the fixed targets became comfortably familiar to the crews, making training sessions less challenging with each go. RBS units on modified trains were the answer to keeping these vital training sessions fresh.

The three “RBS Express” trains were under the command of the 1st Combat Evaluation Group at Louisiana’s Barksdale Air Force Base beginning in 1961. These trains could move RBS training sites to anywhere with a siding, a short section of track that allows a train to pull off the main line. The trains could stay in one location for up to 6 months and carried a crew of 60 Air Force personnel. They were comprised of 4 radar cars, which were flat cars with vans and training equipment such as ground radar, computers, and electronics, plus 17 support cars. These included a generator car, two box cars for maintenance, a dining car, two day-room cars, supply cars, an administration car and 4 Pullman-style sleeper cars. The sleeper cars contained 4x7 foot ‘rooms’ with a fold-up bunk that doubled as a table, a closet, and a large picture window, with darkening curtains for those who worked the night shift. In the center of the Pullman cars were toilets, showers, and a laundry area.

On the night of December 22, 1968, as reported in the January 3, 1969 Observer, a Bossier City-based newspaper for Barksdale Air Force Base, a blizzard raged through south and central Nebraska (and other parts of the Great Plains) that tied up holiday road traffic for miles in all directions. The local police requested help from Lt. Col. Fred Davidson, commander of the RBS Express that had located just west of Cozad, Nebraska on US Highway 30 (which ran parallel and not far from interstate 80). Davidson welcomed 33 stranded passengers aboard the train. The youngest was a 2-month old baby.

The civilian guests came aboard the RBS train at dinnertime, so they were fed a meal from the train’s galley, shown the movie Dr. Zhivago, and given a presentation on the mission and operations of the RBS Express. This latter activity, at least, was common for the train’s crew, which frequently hosted tours to both top military brass and local students. Since the day was a Sunday and Protestant Chaplain from Nebraska’s Offutt AFB, Major J.E. Davis, happened to be on board, there was a church service for crew and visitors alike. Overnight, the guests were given sleeping accommodations in the train’s sleeping cars.

Space was ample (by railroad standards, anyway) since most of the RBS Express crew was also traveling for the holiday. The next morning, the weather had cleared enough that the guests were able to continue their travels.

An article in the newspaper The Cozad Local on Wednesday, January 1, 1969, reported that one of the RBS Express train guests, Tom Lyon of Colorado Springs, Colorado had already returned to Cozad “to see what it was like without a blizzard in progress.” More pressing, perhaps, was that he stopped by the newspaper’s office to both express his appreciation for the “impressive” hospitality shown him on the train, and to pick up the Local’s blizzard issue, since no one back home believed his story about having to spend the night on a USAF Strategic Air Command train!

From the staff of the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center, we wish you all the best this Christmas and holiday season. If you have any information, stories, or photos about Christmas and other holiday traditions in Bossier Parish, we would love to add them (or scanned copies) to our History Center’s research collection. We are located at 7204 Hutchison Drive (formerly called 850 City Hall Drive) just across Beckett Street from the old Central Library and History Center in Bossier City, LA. All Bossier Parish Libraries locations will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, 12/24 and 12/25. Normal operating hours for Bossier Central Library and History Center are M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other local history facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images:

• RBS Train 1962, Barksdale AFB. Photo courtesy of the Don Ross of Don's Depot Rail photos.
• Emblem of the 1st Combat Evaluation Group of the Force USAF, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
• Omaha World-Herald photo showing a five-car smashup on Interstate 80 east of Waco, NE, as seen in the US Dept. of Commerce ESSA Weather Bureau Central Region Technical Attachment, The Snow, the Cold, and the Flood Potential, Upper Midwest, Winter and Spring 1968-1969

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Holiday Viands (Good Food!) in Old Bossier

During the holiday season in Bossier Parish, delicious food is always on the menu. From the parish formation in 1843 to today, treasured recipes are the backbone of family gatherings and community events. Newspaper articles from the 19th century are full of words and delicacies we might not recognize now, but the celebratory spirit and impulse to gather with special friends and family and favorite foods remain.

Rupert Peyton, newspaperman and a recorder of Bossier Parish history, was born in 1899 in Webster Parish and grew up as a child and young man on a farm in the Plain Dealing area of north Bossier Parish. He recalled, “Of all the seasons of the year Christmas time was the most enjoyable. Though we seldom received many presents such as toys, we always had plenty of good things to eat, oranges, apples and candies. It was also the time for feasting on such things as roast turkey, cakes and pies. It also meant family reunions. We usually gathered for Christmas day at some relative’s home there to play and enjoy ourselves with our many cousins … Eggnog was one of the delights of the day for both old and young. The older folks would spike the nog with whiskey, which they drank and it added to the gayety of the occasion. We children, however, got no whiskey in our nog, it was served to us unspiked, but that made little difference with us children.”

For 19th century Bossier Parish residents, Christmas eve was an especially celebratory time. Clare M. Nelson wrote in her August 28, 1987 independent study paper, “Christmas Customs of the Northwest Louisiana Pioneers, 1850-1880,“ that following a night of dancing, which rarely ended before midnight, “Christmas morning came early and usually brought visits from friends and family.” These visitors enjoyed eggnog offered by hosts and hostesses.

Ms. Nelson continued that the main Christmas meal was served at mid-day. It included the usual fare of meat, vegetables, relishes such as chow-chow (made typically from pickled, chopped green tomatoes, onions, cabbage, and seasonal peppers or other vegetables), cucumber pickles, and pickled peaches. Cornbread and “beaten biscuits” (that were more like a slightly soft cracker than the fluffy, airy biscuits popular today) were eaten with freshly-churned butter. She pointed out that oysters were a special Christmas treat and therefore a popular hostess gift.

The desserts would include cakes, puddings and pies. As an example of the ingenuity of nineteenth century homemakers, “vinegar pie” would be made when no fruit was available or affordable and were said to taste remarkably like lemon pie. The most delighted-in cake might be the fresh coconut cake. Since they cost as much as an extravagant ten cents each, coconuts were also a special Christmas present. After the milk had been drained from the coconut and the meat grated for a cake, the shell was carefully saved and used as a dipper bowl or an ornament.

A tongue-in-cheek article in the Shreveport Times of January 18, 1883, which began with the premise that remote Bellevue, the parish seat until 1888, “is the Paris of Bossier Parish,” remarked that the town earned its high-tone reputation for its renowned whiskey. The article continued the story of Bellevue with less mockery when it described Bellevue’s “Holiday Week,” which exemplified many of the traditions described among the “Christmas Customs” article, above:

“On Thursday night (likely December 20th) the ladies gave a church fair in the courthouse. They had a great many tables filled with choice viands (a fancy, archaic word for fancy foods) of every description; also, an abundance of presents or gifts, alluring to the eye but very painful to the purse….The big ball that followed the fair was attended by some of the fairest ladies in Bossier and Webster. She whose rosy lips had been dallying with a pound or so of salad, nuts and cakes a few minutes ago, was now whirling gracefully in the mazy waltz, coquetting behind her fan with auburn haired gentleman who erstwhile had ravenously tackled a turkey, etc. The enchanting strains of the Bellevue string band infused with life and gaiety everyone present, and upon the midnight air the sounds of revelry and joy broke, and youth and beauty and innocence reigned supreme.”

From the staff of the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center, we wish you all the best this Christmas and holiday season. If you have any information, stories, or photos about Christmas and other holiday traditions in Bossier Parish, we would love to add them (or scanned copies) to our History Center’s research collection. We are located at 7204 Hutchison Drive (formerly called 850 City Hall Drive) just across Beckett Street from the old Central Library and History Center in Bossier City, LA. All Bossier Parish Libraries locations will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, 12/24 and 12/25. Normal operating hours for Bossier Central Library and History Center are M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other local history facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• Photo of beaten biscuits, which were traditionally made by literally beating the dough against something hard (like a tree stump) with any number of tools at-hand, like a hammer or sideways axe. Photo by Stuart Spivack from Cleveland, Ohio, USA - Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7587136.
• Rupert Peyton, who once wrote for the Shreveport Journal, the Bossier Press and the Bossier Tribune and other local publications.
• Picture of Bellevue, C 1900 - 1910.

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Still Waters: The Freezing of a River and its Lasting Impact

The waters of the Red River, normally free flowing, came to a halt in December 1983, and 41 years later, this event is still a source of wonder and awe. Few times in local history have cold temperatures made their presence known on such a grand scale or created such a stunning display.

As residents prepared for Christmas in ’83, the weather gave no hint of what was to come. According to author and National Weather Service observer Billy Andrews, conditions were nothing out of the ordinary. “The first ten days of the month were typical of December weather ... ranging from above to slightly below normal on temperatures,” he writes in his book “Outstanding Weather Phenomena in the ARK-LA-TEX.” “Most of us would not remember that the high temperature on December 9th was 72 degrees.” Those mild temps would not last.

Bone-chilling arctic winds began blowing south from Canada and reached our area on December 16th, dumping nearly six inches of snow, according to Andrews. By the 21st, the daytime high never got above freezing. This unrelenting cold set the stage for a spectacle that hadn’t been seen here in nearly a century.

With temperatures plunging to new lows seemingly every day, chunks of ice began appearing in the Red River, amassing along both banks. As this buildup grew, open water slowly vanished. Helped by a record low of six degrees on Christmas Day, nature worked its magic; the mighty Red was stilled, its waters frozen. Like a vanquished foe, the river lay silent and motionless.

The curious braved the elements to witness this once-in-a generation occurrence, professional photographer Roger Braniff, Sr. among them. With camera in hand, he ventured out with members of his family. “We just decided to drive around to see what we could see,” he said. “We drove down to the river and were surprised by what we found.” The amazing photos he took are priceless, capturing the Red at its most unrecognizable. Braniff admitted being somewhat concerned watching people walk out onto the ice. “I didn’t know how thick it was and thought they could fall through,” he said.

In his book, Andrews states that from December 21st through the 27th, the area endured 138 straight hours of temperatures at or below freezing. “The extended period of very cold weather the latter half of the month … resulted in the coldest December of record,” he writes. “The magnitude of the ice jam ... probably has not occurred since February 1895.” Conditions during that 19th century winter were very similar to conditions in 1983, according to his book, with temperatures of 32 degrees or below lasting 168 consecutive hours.

Despite the passage of 41 years, the events of December ‘83 still play a role in Braniff’s life. After storing his images decades ago, he decided to post them to his Facebook page where they were noticed and shared by Mike and Mark Mangham of Twin Blends: Northwest Louisiana History Hunters and garnered lots of likes and comments. Then came my phone call with questions for this article. The attention has been unexpected. “I’ve been amazed, actually,” Braniff said. “I had the photos filed away for 35 years.” Their coming to light again demonstrates that sometimes life’s unexpected moments can have the most lasting impact.

If you have any photos or other information relating to Bossier Parish history, the History Center may be interested in adding the materials to its research collection by donation or by scanning them and returning the originals. Call or visit us to learn more. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org. We can also be found online at https://www.facebook.com/BPLHistoryCenter/ and http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/

Images: 

• The two photos are courtesy of Roger Braniff Sr. Photography
• The headline is from the December 30, 1983 issue of the Bossier Tribune

Article by: Kevin Flowers

80 Years Hence: The Railsplitters in the Battle of the Bulge

It was six months since the start of the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944, and four months since the Liberation of Paris. The advance had not slowed, with the German Army ceding more ground as the year progressed. Then came December, with winter setting-in for France, and an exhausted Allied army unprepared for the coming storm. Having marshalled its remaining available strength at the behest of Hitler’s mania, Germany launched their last-ditch gamble through the Ardennes Forest on December 16. Their hope was to cut the Allied Offensive in two. What instead occurred is considered one of the bloodiest and largest battles in American history, sealing defeat for the German Reich in the west. This battle bears many names, but the most popular is that of the Battle of the Bulge.

The Allied armies under S.H.A.E.F. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) were of two minds when it came to the war as of late 1944. The primary strategic objective, crossing the Rhine and advancing into Germany, had not been met; however, the Allied armies had still made great gains over the past several months. They did this by constantly hammering against the German lines and pushing them further back into France and the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands). According to a Center for Military History journal written for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge (“The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge”) by the time of the German all-out assault of the Allied lines, the First Army was exhausted after near continuous fighting over the past month-and-a-half.

Likewise, the 84th Infantry as a part of the United States Ninth Army VIII Corps, had been attacking portions of the network of defensive fortifications built by the Germans just before World War II, known as the Siegfried Line. Indeed, they were still engaged at the beginning of the Ardennes Offensive, and only began shifting south on December 20, four days after the initial German assault. Within the 84th Infantry, otherwise known as the Railsplitters, several local men from Bossier Parish and the vicinity served: Sandy J. Spataro, W. C. Holland, Willis M. Evans, Woodrow Harrison, Emmett E. Cope, Benjamin W. Napper, James D. McLendon, Willie J. Gann, Clyde L. Hamiter, Claude S. Ballard, and Rayford H. Odom. These men, some 5000 miles from home, fought on the frontlines of the entire Ardennes campaign, serving under Major General Alexander Bolling.

The 84th Infantry became involved in some of the heaviest fighting in the European Theatre, and the desperate fight against the German offensive was no different. The division had been reassigned to the U.S. First Army and ordered to secure the Belgian town of Marche. They arrived just before the German advance and defended the town against two Panzer Divisions. The American Infantry bitterly resisted, holding out against the tide of incoming German steel. This defense of Marche, it should be kept in mind, was concurrent with the desperate fighting at the Belgian city of Bastogne to the South, as well as the German drive west towards the coastal city of Antwerp in the north.

After December 26, ten days after the start of the German push, the Railsplitters were able to leave the defensive posturing and return the favor to the German war machine. Working with the 2nd Armored Division, the Railsplitters were given the crucial instruction to begin the drive south, with the intention of closing the Bulge. On January 5, 1945, the advance began, taking ground and prisoners, only to slow as the weather turned against them. With heavy snow in a highly forested region, the advance shifted from the infantry supporting the armor, to the inverse. By January 10, the 84th had managed to advance to Laroche, Belgium, and according to the unit history, the fate of the Bulge was all but settled. However, this did not mean the fighting ended or became any easier. It would take another two weeks before the Railsplitter’s participation in the wider Battle of the Bulge came to an end.

When discussing battles and campaigns of this scale, it is easy to lose sight of the very human cost. The 84th Infantry was one singular division in a sea of Armor and Infantry, tasked with an area only slightly larger than Bossier City. While the 11 local men that entered the Ardennes with the Railsplitters survived, many more did not. The final death toll for the Battle of the Bulge saw approximately 19,000 dead for America alone. With this 80th anniversary, remember not just the great triumph, but also the great cost it took to achieve it.

If you have any photos or other information relating to the history of Bossier City or Bossier Parish, the History Center may be interested in adding the materials to its research collection by donation or by scanning them and returning the originals. Call or visit us to learn more. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org. We can also be found online at https://www.facebook.com/BPLHistoryCenter/ and http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/

Images: 

• Photo 1: 84th Infantry Howitzer at the Battle of the Bulge / Courtesy of " The 84th Infantry Division In The Battle Of Germany, November 1944-May 1945"
• Photo 2: 84th Infantry Division Insignia / Courtesy of Wikipedia
• Photo 3: 84th Infantry at the Battle of the Bulge / Courtesy of "The 84th Infantry Division In The Battle Of Germany, November 1944-May 1945"

Article by: Jonah Daigle

Thanksgiving, 1944

Imagine it’s Thanksgiving, eighty years ago. It’s 1944 and World War II had been widely predicted from authoritative sources to be over by Thanksgiving, certainly in Europe. Instead, American troops were in a full-scale attack on the German western bulwark, the Siegfried Line. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest, actually a series of battles fought from September 19 to December 16, 1944, the second longest battle the U.S. Army had ever fought, was being conducted largely on foot due to challenging weather and a terrain of dense forests and muddy ridges. Making sure these and other troops got a real Thanksgiving turkey dinner was a goal to which the Army made a serious commitment. It was a morale boost the troops desperately needed and deserved, and civilians did their part in making it happen.

The Bossier newspaper the Planters Press reported that the government began as early as July 17, 1944 purchasing turkeys for the armed forces. The planning for the effort had begun in June. On Sept 21, 1944, the Planters Press reported that the US Army is trying to see to it that “every soldier eats turkey on Thanksgiving Day” and that the biggest turkey crop in years assured plenty for everyone, soldier and civilian alike.

However, the federal Farm War News column that appeared in papers across the country, including the Bossier Banner, relayed the news to the American public that though the turkey crop was an excellent one that year, the federal War Food Administration, which was responsible for the production and distribution of food to meet war and civilian needs, that there were enough turkeys to only fully meet the military demand. Turkeys were still under embargo for civilians, not yet available for them to purchase. The embargo was running later than the previous year, the Farm War News reported, because the military requirements were much larger and because, like most facilities, there was a labor shortage in the processing plants.

Civilians were facing a similar shortage with another traditional Thanksgiving must-have, cranberries. The Planters Press reported in the end of September, 1944, that servicemen and women were expected to have more cranberries available for their holiday dinners than they had in 1943, but less would be available to civilians.

The good Thanksgiving dinner news, for at least some fortunate diners on the home front, was that Shreveport-Bossier District officials of the Office of Price Administration announced a cap on holiday dinner prices at restaurants. Anyone who got their Thanksgiving Day meal in a restaurant could not be charged more than the holiday meals of the previous year.

Given the usual boxed, ready-to-eat K-ration fare of the soldiers in the field, it’s likely that few civilians would have begrudged the restricted sale of the turkeys and cranberries. The most poignant deprivation at Thanksgiving dinners on the home front, of course, was evidenced by empty seats at family dinner tables, especially after having been buoyed by the summer’s announcements that the war should be over by Thanksgiving. Even stateside relatives often could not get together for the holidays, with train seats needed for troops, and rubber and gas shortages minimizing car travel.

President Roosevelt, in his Proclamation 2629 announcing the official date of Thanksgiving 1944 as November 23rd, delivered a speech to remind the war-weary nation of reasons and ways to continue to be thankful: 

In this year of liberation, which has seen so many millions freed from tyrannical rule, it is fitting that we give thanks with special fervor to our Heavenly Father for the mercies we have received individually and as a nation and for the blessings He has restored, through the victories of our arms and those of our allies, to His children in other lands.

For the preservation of our way of life from the threat of destruction; for the unity of spirit which has kept our Nation strong; for our abiding faith in freedom; and for the promise of an enduring peace, we should lift up our hearts in thanksgiving….

From the staff of the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving and time spent with family or friends. We are located at 7204 Hutchison Drive (formerly called 850 City Hall Drive) just across Beckett Street from the old Central Library and History Center) in Bossier City, LA. For the week of Thanksgiving, all Bossier Parish Libraries locations will be closed Thursday, November 28 through Saturday, November 30. Normal operating hours for Bossier Central Library and History Center are M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other local history facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• A corporal (Leo Kaller) celebrating Thanksgiving on the Siegfried Line in November, 1944. United States Army photo via Wikimedia Commons.
• Cartoon about train seat shortage from the Bossier Banner Progress, November 16, 1944.

Article by: Pam Carlisle.