Pearce O’Neal: Making it Big in the Big Easy

It happens often enough to be a cliché; small town papers love a good “local boy [or gal] makes good” story. The “Bossier Banner Progress” was no exception. The editor especially liked the story of his former schoolmate, William “Pearce” O’Neal. O’Neal was born in Bellevue and became an international business and banking leader in New Orleans. The “Banner Progress” featured him in two stories.

One story was in May of 1924 when the editor was perusing “The Southern Banker,” a periodical out of Atlanta, Georgia, an illustration of a familiar face and this accompanying text caught his attention:

“Mr. O’Neal, who went to New Orleans twenty-eight years ago with 75 cents in his pocket has had a deep and thorough training in business. He stuck with that firm and step by step started as a sample wrapper [sending out sample goods in specially imprinted wrappers was important for advertising in those days] in a wholesale grocery company. Step by step he moved up the ranks to vice president of the company.”

“The Southern Banker” reported on O’Neal in 1928 when he was named president of the Louisiana Bankers Association. The editor of the Banner also wrote about it in June of that year, and had not forgotten about the 75 cents in Mr. O’Neal’s pocket:

“Mr. O’Neal was born and reared at old Bellevue, removed with the members of his father’s family from that place to Benton about the time the town became the parish seat and his employment during the days of his youth, when not a student in the home schools, was to clerk in his father’s general merchandise store, both here [in Benton] and in Bellevue. He left Benton for New Orleans twenty-eight years ago, and we happen to know that he reached that city with only 75 cents in change in his pocket—and fewer changes of underwear in his weather-beaten suitcase. But he had the determination to succeed—bulldog tenacity—and did. Being stranded and in a city, among strangers, did not daunt him in the least, as his rapid rise in commercial life reflects.”

There is no doubt Mr. O’Neal became very successful – being named president of the Louisiana Bankers Association was about the highest professional honor in the state -- and the record shows his climb was rapid. Just how ‘alone’ and broke he was when he started his career in New Orleans is difficult to tell. He certainly didn’t start with zero experience in moving merchandise. He had worked at his family’s stores in Benton and Bellevue. In truth, it was not uncommon for ambitious peddlers or small-town general merchants to move to large cities like New Orleans, where they had contacts with wholesalers, and join those firms themselves.

In 1900, W.P. O’Neal was listed on the U.S. Census as living in Bellevue, and by the Banner’s estimation that same year is when he moved to Benton. Just a few years later, in the “World’s Fair Bulletin” of the illustrious 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri, he was featured in an article about the country of Brazil’s Coffee Exhibit as a “member of a well-known coffee importing house in New Orleans.” O’Neal reported that three years prior he’d travelled to Brazil, spending hundreds of dollars and months of time visiting various coffee plantations, and urged merchants throughout the country to make the shorter trip to the World’s Fair for an almost equally edifying experience.

Later he joined Standard Rice Milling Company and remained there for eight years as vice president and general manager. He then joined a new bank, Marine Bank of New Orleans, and was put in charge of business departments as one of its first stockholders and directors. His responsibilities kept increasing until elected vice president. He served on the Inland Waterways Commission and assisted with getting local communities desperately-needed flood relief during the unprecedented flooding along the Mississippi River from late summer 1926 and 1927.

Pearce O’Neal also had luck on his side. He served as president of the Louisiana Bankers Association for the year 1928-29 in a "bull market." Imagine the year his successor P.C. Willis of Shreveport must have had for 1929-1930 when the stock market crashed! Ironically, stories like O'Neal's, of rural Americans coming to the big city with hopes of a more prosperous life in the rising industrial sector, are often cited as one factor in the crash. While American cities prospered, major migration from rural areas and the resulting neglect of US agriculture created financial hopelessness among American farmers and instability for the US economy.

William Pearce O’Neal had a wife named Carrie and two children, W.P. O’Neal, Jr. and Pattye Caroline Brown. He passed away in 1940. We have very little information on his wife Carrie, who was from Tennessee, and we currently have no pictures of him. If you have any, we would love to make copies of them for our collection! If your family has any local business stories to tell or photos to share, please visit us at the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center and let us know. We are located at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA and 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

For other fun 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: 

• Louisiana State Building at the 1904 World’s Fair, from “Sights, Scenes and Wonders at the World's Fair; Official Book of Views of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of the St. Louis, Official Photographic Company C1904. From the Library of Congress (loc.gov).
• Former O'Neal Store at Bellevue – appears to be after the Parish seat had been moved from Bellevue to Benton. Bossier Parish Libraries History Center photo, C1910.

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Unusual Newspaper Headline Recalls UFO Sighting in Bossier

As I research various topics to write about for the History Center’s weekly column, I sometimes come across interesting, unexpected information from Bossier’s past that captures my attention. Such is the case with an old newspaper headline and story that I found recently concerning supposedly strange objects spotted over Barksdale Air Force Base. What were those lights seen in the night sky?

In June 1947, a pilot named Kenneth Arnold, who was flying alone from Washington state to an air show in Oregon, helped launch the UFO (unidentified flying object) craze after describing for reporters nine shiny objects he claimed to have seen moving in formation near Mt. Rainer at speeds then unachievable by known aircraft. From that encounter and its subsequent publicity, the term “flying saucier” became a widely-used term.

The idea of aliens from other worlds coming to Earth became a central theme of many science fiction movies of the 1950s. Films like “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “The War of the Worlds” and, one of my personal favorites, “The Thing From Another World” kept theater audiences on the edge of their seats. An honorable mention goes to “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” It’s definitely in the so-bad-it’s-good category.

In 1952, the UFO phenomena invaded Bossier City. A headline in the Bossier City Planter’s Press of August 28 that year proclaims, “Sky Objects Over Barksdale Not Balloons, Weather Records Prove!” The accompanying article details how a local resident had seen a bright light over the air base each night for three weeks that blinked and “seemed to dart about in a strange manner.” He said it had always appeared between 8:25 and 8:45. The resident then invited a reporter from the newspaper to join him and two other observers to try and view the light. They weren’t disappointed.

Of the experience, the reporter wrote, “As the minutes dragged on and nothing appeared, the skepticism returned. But, at 8:44, a bright light … seemed to come from the vicinity of the West Gate … the light continued low over the base for several minutes … There was no noise.” He states that the light blinked several times and then ascended until no longer visible.

While discussing what they’d seen, the group noticed another light appear approximately 45 minutes later. “It followed about the same course, blinking occasionally as it rose in the sky,” the reporter wrote. Checking with officials at Barksdale revealed that a weather balloon had been released at exactly 9 p.m., but no others before or after that time. And according to the Planters Press article, those officials said that weather balloons only carried dim, non-blinking lights.

The reporter concluded by stating that he was unsure exactly what he and the others had witnessed. “Flying saucer? I don’t know. I only checked the weather balloon theory, and it did not add up,” he wrote.

Perhaps the Air Force itself could have helped. In March 1952, Project Blue Book was initiated by the Air Force to investigate UFOs, and according to a National Archives article from December 2019 titled “Saucers Over Washington: The History of Project Blue Book,” there was no shortage of cases to scrutinize. “Civilians made tens of thousands of reports to Project Blue Book personnel claiming to have seen a UFO,” the article states.

I’m unsure how often Barksdale Air Force Base, local law enforcement or local media are contacted about unusual sights in the sky, but perhaps heeding the words of the character Scotty, a reporter in “The Thing From Another World,” might be advisable. As the movie ends, he offers a warning: “Watch the skies, everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies.”

If you have any information or items relating to the history of 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: 

• The War of the Worlds movie poster, 1953/courtesy Wikimedia Commons
• Bossier City Planters Press headline, August 28, 1952/newspapers.com

Article by: Kevin Flowers

When Barksdale AFB helped to “Build a Better Bubble”

It’s now officially hurricane season. Here in northwest Louisiana, it’s also thunderstorm, tornado, and flash flood season. However, over the years we’ve been spared some catastrophic weather despite dire and urgent predictions. Major snowstorms that were predicted here this past winter had Louisianians as far south as New Orleans in real-life snow globe scenes, while up here we saw nary a snowflake. Other severe storms have bounded us in nearly all directions, while leaving us unscathed.

If you believe the local legends, we owe those unforeseen clear skies to “the Barksdale Bubble,” a mythical force field that pops up to protect Barksdale Air Force Base, and by extension, the Shreveport-Bossier area. A report done by KSLA News in April, 2021 said they could not track down the absolute origin of this legend, but posits it became common local folklore with the advent of Doppler radar at the Shreveport airport in 1995. The resulting colored real-time radar images in local weather reports made the ‘bubble’ visible, when viewers could see the most ominous colors swirling just around Shreveport-Bossier. Starting in the 2000’s, the station argued, social media made the “Barksdale Bubble” moniker truly ubiquitous.

In the mid-20th century, well before social media, there was another “Bubble” with a Barksdale connection. Contributing Editor Maj. Fred Meurer, USAF featured the phenomenon in the April 1975 Air Force Magazine. He straightaway explained his concept of a “Bubble” as the command, control and communications network otherwise known as the Tactical Air Control System (TACS). The article’s title was announced by the teaser, “Six individual improvement measures are under way to give commanders real-time tactical information that would be essential in large-scale operations, either in Europe or elsewhere. Piece by piece, TAC is…BUILDING A BETTER BUBBLE.”

Both SAC and TAC were founded in 1946, along with the third pillar of modern air power, the Air Defense Command. The Strategic Air Command (SAC) was founded to deter nuclear warfare by making the threat of U.S. retaliation credible and ever-present, with the hope of “winning the war,” before it’s even begun. Tactical Air Command (TAC) was founded to compliment Strategic Air Command’s approach of threatening to deliver a nuclear onslaught with the tactical role of fighting limited wars with conventional arms. One of the six components that Major Meurer said was building a better “bubble” under TAC was the Air Support Radar Team (ASRT), known during its use in Southeast Asia (including Vietnam and Laos) as “Combat Sky Spot.”

Colonel James W. Crabb , who at the time was Executive Officer at Hq. 1st Combat Evaluation Group (SAC) at Barksdale Air Force Base, wrote a letter to the editor that was published in the July 1975 issue of Air Force Magazine to make sure that SAC, and specifically the First Combat Evaluation Group (1CEVG) at Barksdale, got its due.

On 1 August 1961, SAC's 1st Radar Bomb Scoring (RBS) Group at Carswell AFB (Fort Worth) merged with the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group to form the 1st Combat Evaluation Group at Barksdale. This new organization had the dual mission of providing radar bomb scoring services as well as standardization and evaluation services, filling the constant need for challenging training and testing scenarios.

In the mid-1960s, 1CEVG personnel at Barksdale modified SAC RBS equipment to make it capable of directing aircraft at extended distances to the precise release point over the target. After several months of testing, this ground-directed bombing system was deployed to southeast Asia from various SAC RBS sites, maintained and operated for more than ten years by SAC personnel on temporary duty assignments (TDY). During deployment, the forward area commander had control of the system, but overall command and administrative control remained under SAC’s 1CEVG at Barksdale.

Combat Skyspot was the Air Force’s ground-directed bombing (GDB) operation in the Vietnam War. Combat Skyspot's command guidance of B-52s and tactical fighters and bombers at night or in bad weather was used for aerial bombing of a variety of targets. Using a combination radar/computer/communications system in Southeast Asia, a typical bombing mission had an air command post turn over control of the mission to the radar station. The station provided corrections as the bomber approached the target and designated when to release its bombs.

In writing his letter to the editor of the Air Force Magazine, Barksdale’s Col. James Crabb wanted to be sure that the personnel who manned the radar systems, and support personnel were recognized. He especially want to laud the Air Force’s auto-tracking radar technicians, who in most cases had World War II era vacuum tube-style radars to maintain. He wrote, “I have personally seen them work twenty-seven hours straight, grab a two-hour nap in the corner, and return to duty to place the bomb in the box.”

If you have stories or photographs of people connected to SAC at Barksdale, or have served our community in any capacity, please visit or contact us at the History Center. We are located at 7204 Hutchison Drive, Bossier City, LA and 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   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: 

• Insignia of the 1^st Combat Evaluation Group of the Strategic Air Command.
• Col. James W. Crabb. Photo accompanied the announcement of his assignment as the Deputy Commander for Maintenance for the 416th Bomb Wing at Griffiss AFB in Rome NY, in the Daily Sentinel, Rome, New York, Aug 17, 1977.

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Task Force Smith - A Reminder of the Forgotten War

The year was 1950, and the world was recovering from the most destructive conflict to have ever occurred. The reconstruction of the world was ongoing, with two major power blocs dominating the international order: the American led Western Bloc and the Soviet led Eastern Bloc. In late June, the news came to the world: the Soviet aligned Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has crossed the dividing line into the American aligned Republic of Korea. The first war of the post-World War II world had come; the Korean War had begun. Often referred to as the Forgotten War here in the United States due to its unfortunate timeline placement between WWII and Vietnam, the Korean War was mired with the political backdrop of the Cold War and the drawdown undertaken by the western powers in the wake of the end of WWII.

The first Americans deployed in the wake of the DPRK’s southward advance were members of the Japanese occupation forces, sent to garrison the Japanese Home Islands in the wake of Imperial Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. While the wider United Nations intervention would not come until after the coming battle, the battle at Osan is considered the first engagement by the United Nations Command. While overall command was held by General Douglas MacArthur, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Smith was given operational command of the task force, made up of 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, and Battery A of the 542nd Field Artillery, leading to the apt name of ‘Task Force Smith.’ Made up of portions of the 24th Infantry Division, the 540 men were instructed to halt or delay the advancing North Koreans for long enough to deploy further reinforcements. Just under two weeks after the beginning of the invasion, on July 5th, 1950, (and two days before the official formation of the United Nations Command) the American Task Force Smith would settle in at Osan, located south of the Republic of Korea’s captured capital in Seoul. The defensive position was accompanied by artillery and anti-tank weapons used by the American Army during the second World War, with the expectation being that nothing the North Koreans had would be able to resist the might of American arms. Task Force Smith, in the early hours of the morning, would be disabused of this notion rather quickly and violently. The Task Force was faced with thousands of advancing North Korean soldiers, including DPRK Soviet T-34s, with only an undermanned battalion and a single artillery battery to carry out their orders to delay.

According to the National Museum United States Army article from January 29th, 2025, “Task Force Smith and the Problem with ‘Readiness,’” the artillery employed by the US soldiers would ricochet off the T-34's armor. Likewise, the American anti-tank weapons were also unable to pierce the Soviet armor. Still, these soldiers would delay, spending themselves dearly to halt the advance. However, they were able to eventually disable six of the Soviet designed tanks, as well as fight the DPRK’s soldiers to a standstill for seven long, grueling hours. With the limited ammunition that could break the tank armor expended and the increasing number of North Korean infantry advancing, the heavy order to retreat was given. In the end, there would be over 150 casualties (missing, wounded, or dead).

Among the number of men who served with Task Force Smith and survived, there was a Bossier resident of special note. Corporal Joseph Rachal Jr., a resident of what was at the time Curtis, Louisiana, was among a selection of the men who served with Task Force Smith who were brought to the White House for honors on behalf of those that fought at Osan. This collection of eighteen men were met with President Truman in the White House Rose Garden, and according to the UC Santa Barbara American Presidency Project, said to them: “I congratulate you men on the job you did in that original task force. Had it not been for the fact that these two divisions to which you belong had caused the Communists to hesitate, we possibly would not have been able to hold our position with the Korean Republic.” It is because of Corporal Rachal and the men alongside him of Task Force Smith that gave the South Koreans and Americans time to dig in further down the road, with a better understanding of who and what they were facing in the times to come.

The legacy of Task Force Smith, and by extension the Korean War, has been a mixed one. Task Force Smith taught the U.S. Army a valuable reminder about the necessity of intelligence and the perils of overconfidence. The Korean War, meanwhile, is an example of the Cold War that was to come: two dominant world powers in a constant game of back-and-forth. Regardless of these facts, the men of Task Force Smith were not responsible for what brought them there. Their sacrifice bought time for the Republic of Korea and the United Nations Command to muster a response that would ultimately see the DPRK pushed back beyond the 38th parallel, and the current ongoing cessation of hostilities.

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: 

• Task Force Smith arrives in South Korea - (U.S. National Archives/July 2, 1950/NAID: 315834053)
• Task Force Smith Monument at Osan - (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Matt Summers/VIRN: 081009-F-9999S-0001)

Article by: Jonah Daigle

History Center Collection Highlights Wedding Fashions and Trends of the Past

June is such a popular month for marriages. Did you know that the month of June derives its name from Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage? Here is a look in the History Center’s collection to learn about the traditions and fashions of Bossier’s historic weddings.

There are many photographs of wedding parties and brides in our collection. Thomas P. Adger and Clyde Louise Herndon wed at the First Baptist Church in Plain Dealing on June 17, 1914. We have an entire series of candid photos from their wedding day taken by John Allen, including one of the young couple climbing into an automobile after the ceremony. This series highlights the fashions of the couple and the wedding party, as well as the many attendees.

The Bossier Banner frequently would include wedding announcements and ceremony descriptions. B.F. Smisson and his new bride, Sallie M. Arnold Smisson, sent the Banner more than just a write-up of their 1875 wedding – they also sent cake! William Scanland, editor of the newspaper, received a box filled with “the most delicious cake – from the richest fruit to the snow-white bride’s cake, emblematic of her purity.” The couple was married at the home of T.J. Tidwell, one of Bossier Parish’s well-known citizens.

In fact, sending wedding cake “in exchange” for an announcement seems to be business as usual for editor Scanland. When the couple - Mr. Henry Bodenheimer and Miss Cora Well - were married in the bride’s mother’s Shreveport home on May 26, 1880, Scanland wrote that, though both bride and groom had been residing in Shreveport the past several years, they “in fact have been raised here and have many warm friends of all classes and creeds. The fair bride is one of the handsomest and most lovable young ladies in the city, and certainly Henry has won a rich prize … We acknowledge the receipt of the usual printer’s fee--delicious cake and sparkling wine. We wish them all imaginable happiness.”

The majority of brides today wear white dresses for their weddings, but colorful dresses were common in the past. Leila Wyche wore a dark brown dress with a matching hat for her marriage to Harry M. Carter on November 15, 1887 in Bellevue. This practical dress was donated with its coordinating hat by her family to be preserved in the History Center’s collection. It was fashionable enough for a wedding and Leila could wear it for other occasions, too. The Bossier Banner printed the Carters’ marriage announcement two days after the wedding, noting that the bride is a “lovely and accomplished lady and a favorite in Bossier Parish social circles,” while the groom is a “worthy young gentleman of excellent character and energetic habits.”

The History Center’s collection also contains a photo of a young woman with wavy bobbed hair wearing a high-necked Victorian-style long-sleeved, floor-length gown covered entirely in lace, possibly ivory or another light color, and two strands of pearls. It is not, however, her wedding day! It is a photo of the donor’s friend, “Maugrete T in her mother's wedding dress on ‘Dignity Day’ c. 1930.” Another reference to such a day is found in the Shreveport Journal in October of 1930. It describes members of Shreveport’s Fair Park High School Class of 1931, the first graduating class of Fair Park, who “observed their ‘Dignity Day’ last Tuesday. The girls were dressed in the sweeping skirts, ornate blouses and waists (shirts) and fantastic hats of bygone days. The boys turned out in full dress.” It appears that roughly a century ago, Dignity Day meant dressing up for fun in very formal, noticeably old-fashioned clothes and, of course, accessories.

Like the photos mentioned above, many of our photographs are black and white, so it helps to research the wedding announcements in the local newspapers to get a better idea of bridal fashions. William Calvin Vance, Jr. and his fiancée, Mary Emily Arnold, married on February 6, 1902. The following week, an article about their wedding ran in the Bossier Banner. We learn that Mary’s dress was much more vibrant than the photo leads us to believe. “The beautiful and charming bride wore a dainty gown of green Venetian cloth, with trimmings of delicate pink appliquéd in white. An exquisite boa of soft white chiffon gave an elegant finish to this lovely costume. She carried a bouquet of bride’s roses, white carnations, and ferns.”

Please visit the History Center to look at these and other photos of weddings in Bossier Parish, or to utilize our genealogy resources to research the marriages in your family tree. The History Center is located at 7204 Hutchison Drive, Bossier City, LA. 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.For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• Tom Adger and his bride Louise after their wedding, June 17, 1914/History Center collection
• Woman wearing her mother's wedding dress on Dignity Day, 1930/History Center collection
• Emily Vance in her wedding attire, Feb. 6, 1902/History Center collection

Article by: Pam Carlisle