It’s an honor to be a “Jeep-O!”

Don’t You Want to be a Jeep-O? inquires the headline from an August, 1943 issue of Barksdale’s Bark, the newspaper of Barksdale Field, now Barksdale Air Force Base. The Barksdale Field “Jeep-O” program was officially sanctioned by Base Commander William B. Wright, Jr. earlier that month. By signing up to be a member of the “Jeep-O” program and affixing to their windshield a yellow sticker designating this membership in Barksdale’s share–a–ride club, even a civilian with no special skills or tools (besides an automobile!) could help the GIs at Barksdale during wartime. This assistance was critical because with World War II raging overseas, the personnel strength had doubled at Barksdale Field, and local public transportation was bursting at the seams.

Every driver who pledged to give a soldier a ride received a Jeep-O sticker for their car windshield. Wherever a Jeep-O driver happened to be headed, if it was in the same general direction of an on-base soldier wanting to get to town, or a married soldier trying to return home from the base during rush hour when there weren’t enough seats on city buses, a mere “civie” or civilian, (as well as other soldiers or official military chauffeurs with empty seats) could do their part and offer a ride. Soldiers were not allowed to hitchhike, but they were allowed to take a ride if offered. The yellow stickers, therefore, were as much for the benefit of the driver as for the passenger. The yellow “Jeep-O” sticker in the windshield reminded the driver to stop and offer their extra seat.

The Jeep-O programs began in Alabama for soldiers at Army Fort McClellan, thanks to the suggestion of some solders and with the organizing efforts of the local Kiwanis Club. Within a year, the idea had spread to 22 states. Starting May 24, 1943, National Jeep-O Week was observed in all 48 states. As for the origin of the name, the “Jeep” in “Jeep-O” appears to be referring to both the soldier and the vehicle in which he could ride. The word "jeep" was used as early as World War I as U.S. Army slang for new uninitiated recruits and by Army mechanics to refer to new unproven vehicles. It wasn’t until 1945 that the first Jeep-branded product launched.

Signs ordered by Commander Wright were placed at the gates to Barksdale, reminding motorists that “a lift is a boost.” Not only would a ride help soldiers get to work or home for supper on time, it would also literally keep them from sweating out the wait in long lines for the bus during the sweltering Louisiana heat. The Barksdale’s Bark on October 30 of 1943 said, “Nothing short of 100 percent participation will give soldiers the break they deserve.”

A “Letter to the Editor” of the Barksdale’s Bark in September of 1943 was not so sanguine. Starting with humor then moving into shaming, a “Brooklyn Jeep,” a fictional GI from Brooklyn, NY, wrote a complaint letter to the editor with exaggerated Brooklyn “speech”. Referring to civilian drivers or “Civies,” he stated, “dose guys and gals could be the real heroes of dis war if dey’d only loosen up and share a little space in their golden chariots…” then moves on to a bit of shaming. “You see, Ed [Editor], if the Southern hospitality was what it’s cracked up to be, a lot of us jeeps could go as far as the gate, be picked up by the Civies, and consequently there would be more room on the busses [sic] for the udder guys.”

The “Brooklyn Jeep” really brought home his point by stating the indisputable tragedy of wartime. “Some of us guys won’t come back once we hit the udder side. The least the Civies can do is to exchange a ride in their chariots for a life that might be lost so that they and their chariots can be safe in the future.” As the Barksdale Bark had stated at the very beginning of the Jeep-O program, “It’s an honor to be a ‘Jeep-O!’”

If you have any information, stories, or photos about the Jeep-O program at Barksdale or other local efforts to help out servicemembers during WWII, we would love to see them or to copy them, with permission, to add to the History Center’s research collection. Please note, the History Center remains closed while our new exhibits are completed, but watch our Facebook page or library website homepage for updates at www.bossierlibrary.org. You can also visit the website to use our online resources. From the homepage, choose Research from the options along the top, and then choose History and Genealogy. You may call us at (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, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• An example of a “Jeeper” decal to designate a motorist in a “Jeeper” or “Jeep-O” club who will give a ride to soldiers in communities around Army bases and airfields during WWII. Illustration from the Leaf-Chronicle of Clarksville TN, Jul 7, 1943.
• Clarissa Warren, first civilian to officially join the “Barksdale Jeep-O” club and is presented with a Jeeper badge by Col. William B. Wright Jr. - The Barksdale Bark 04 Sep 1943

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Benton Pilot Among the Missing from Korean War

Seventy-six years ago, President Harry Truman was taking a break from the stress of life in the White House by relaxing at his home in Independence, Missouri. The peace and quiet he enjoyed would not last. Word came on June 24th (June 25th in Korea) that North Korean troops were invading South Korea. Truman rushed back to Washington and committed U.S. forces as part of a United Nations effort to defend the South. The Korean War had begun. Approximately 36,500 U.S. service members would lose their lives in the brutal conflict. One member from Benton is still among the missing.

Captain David H. Grisham was a pilot and meteorologist. The 1938 Benton High School graduate first served his country in World War II, flying some 30 combat missions. According to the American Air Museum in Britain, it was during one such flight, with Grisham as co-pilot, that his plane – a B-24 Liberator – was repeatedly attacked by enemy aircraft while returning from a mission over Frankfurt, Germany. The plane lost all four of its superchargers, thus slowing its speed. Protective cloud cover was scarce. Taking evasive action, the Liberator descended to 75 feet. Enemy fighters fell back. Although damaged, the B-24 was able to reach a Royal Air Force station near Kent in England and make a wheels-up landing. This would not be Grisham’s last encounter with danger.

In Korea, weather played a key role in the planning and execution of combat operations, but forecasting the weather could be difficult. Grisham was up to the challenge. As part of the U.S. Air Force’s 20th Weather Squadron, he served as staff weather officer for the 18th Fighter Bomber Group and often flew reconnaissance missions, gathering data vital to troop movements. It was on his 46th recon flight that something went wrong. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency details what happened. Grisham, as number two pilot in a flight of two, departed Ashiya Air Base in Japan in the early morning hours of September 3, 1950, flying a single-seat F-51 Mustang. Grisham and the lead pilot agreed to rendezvous over Pusan, Korea if they became separated. Shortly after takeoff, they had to climb through heavy overcast. The lead pilot exited the clouds, but did not see Grisham’s plane. He tried reaching Grisham by radio with no success. Grisham never arrived at the rendezvous point. Efforts by the Emergency Rescue Squadron failed to find any trace of him. Grisham was missing in action, one-month shy of his 30th birthday.

His family learned of his fate from a telegram sent by the war department. Though the weather had been bad, the operations officer at the time of the flight states in a letter published in The Bossier Banner newspaper in November 1950, “We were ordered to proceed because the ground forces were in dire need of close support.”

Grisham was presumed dead on December 31, 1953, five months after the war ended with the signing of an armistice. His remains were never recovered. His name is inscribed, along with the names of all those who lost their lives fighting to defend South Korea, on the Wall of Remembrance at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. He is also listed on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii and is memorialized with a plaque at Hill Crest Cemetery in Haughton.

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. Call us to learn more. We are currently closed for renovations, but can still be reached by phone at (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: 

• Captain David H. Grisham, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
• Grisham's B-24 Liberator, B-24 Best Web
• Memorial plaque at Hill Crest Cemetery in Haughton, photo by Sandra Clarkston

Article by: Kevin Flowers

The Barksdale Literacy School in WWII

 In the summer of 1944, Allied forces were fighting some of their fiercest or most daring battles, while also reaping some of their most auspicious victories. On June 5, Allied troops entered Rome in the afternoon, and it became the first capital of the Axis Powers to fall. Meanwhile in Normandy, the following day, June 6, was D-Day, the amphibious landing of troops in northern France, opening the Western Front. In July, the Allies pushed inland. In the sweltering summer days of August-September 1944, Allied infantry troops won the bloody battle for the port of Brest in Brittany, and in another amphibious landing in France, the major ports of Marseille and Toulon were reclaimed, easing the Allies’ supply crisis. Meanwhile in the Pacific Theater, Saipan fell in June after a fearsome banzai charge; a decisive clash of carriers in the Philippine Sea crippled Japanese air power, and by August, Guam was recaptured.

In the summer of 1944 at Barksdale Army Air Field, as Barksdale was known prior to the creation of the United States Air Force on September 18, 1947, 35 or more enlisted men were fighting a brave battle of their own, proving they had the basic readiness to be soldiers by attending what the air field newspaper called “elementary school for soldiers who can neither read nor write.” At that time, one of Barksdale’s missions was as to serve as one of the Army Air Corps “replacement training centers”. These centers provided training for newly-enlisted Air Corps soldiers that was not yet specialized for a specific assignment.

Earlier in 1944, President Roosevelt had declared the US Army and Navy were faced with a “grave manpower shortage,” desperately in need of more able-bodied combat replacements. To help meet that shortage, Roosevelt asked the selective service (“the draft”) to revisit service deferments, whether for occupational, dependency, age, or physical or mental fitness requirements. For the same purpose, Chairman Andrew J. May of the U.S. House Military Affairs Committee argued that among other reclassifications, the army “should quit rejecting men because of illiteracy. Men who are illiterate can still be sharpshooters.”

In January of that year, Major Isaac N. Carr, preinduction officer of the Army’s 4th Service Command headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, announced in a speech to junior college officials, that was covered by the Associated Press, that the United States had 341,000 physically fit men of service age who were functionally illiterate, meaning, at that time, that their reading and writing skills were at a fourth-grade level or below. Carr illustrated this number by saying that was enough physically-able men to make up more than 20 Army divisions.

If the number 341,000 for men whose only barrier to service at that moment was that they read at a fourth-grade (or below) level sounds inordinately high, keep in mind that, although all states had a compulsory education law on the books by 1918, those laws were not consistently enforced across the country until well into the 1930s. That time frame would cover the school years of WWII enlistees. In addition, quality schools and trained teachers were still not available to many African American students in the south during the school years of those enlistees. For example, a high school for African American students in Bossier City did not open until the beginning of the 1940s.

To rectify this deficiency, Army training units were called upon to provide literacy instruction. The Saturday July 1, 1944, issue of the Barksdale’s Bark newspaper announced that “an elementary school for soldiers who can neither read nor write will be started by Base S-3 [the operations and training office] shortly.” The article shared that 35 enlisted men had been assigned by their commanding officers to the school already, and that classes would be held 3 times a day, five days a week. Students were required to attend one of the daily sessions in the school room in the commissary building.

More details about a literacy class were announced in the Bark on Saturday, July 29, 1944. This time it said the classes would be offered in the “Kindergarten building.” This was likely the base’s brand-new preschool for children through the age of 5. The article further stated that “Commanding officers of all units are cooperating with Base S-3 in getting men to attend the classes,” and that “the latest pamphlets from the Armed Institute have been procured for instructional purposes.”

This pamphlet referred to for the literacy classes at Barksdale likely referred to Technical Manual No. 21-500, also known as the “Private Pete” books. These reading primers followed along with solider Private Pete and all that he’d likely encounter in his day-to-day life in the Army. (The Navy had their own booklets, featuring “Sailor Sam.”) These stories adhered to the same basic format and learn-to-read formula as the ubiquitous Dick and Jane readers that young children in school at the time were using. The article also named the teacher of the literacy classes, Mrs. Mary E. Laurent, wife of Lt. Harry Laurent, Jr. assistant S-1 (personnel) officer at Barksdale. Mrs. Laurent, who “offered her services as teacher of the classes,” was introduced to Bark readers as a graduate of Muskingum College in Ohio, and an experienced teacher of English. Both Laurents were from Ohio and had attended Muskingum.

Being singled out by one’s commanding officer to attend classes in a preschool building, with text books modeled after children’s readers, Dick and Jane, could sound like excruciating punishment. Many WWII veterans’ own stories of being able to “go back in time” and learn to read and write, suggest appreciation for the opportunity, however. As for the Laurents, they were married 69 years and lived around the world while Mr. Laurent was an industrial psychologist, and retired in Hendersonville, North Carolina. They continued to value access to education, by establishing a scholarship for students in Henderson County, and endowing a department chair in Psychology at their Alma Mater, Muskingum College, now University.

The Bossier Parish Libraries History Center in the Bossier Central Library complex remains closed while our new exhibits are installed. However, we are continuing to share history in a variety of ways. You can explore many of our collections on our website, www.bossierlibrary.org. Look for the History and Genealogy page under Resources. Feel free to contact History Center staff by phone or email for assistance. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org.

Our next meeting of World War II’s Day, a monthly coffee and discussion program on a variety of WWII-related topics, will be Tuesday, August 11th at 10:30 AM in the Bossier Central Library Complex’s large meeting room. Because August 6, 2026, is the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, Dr. Cran Lucas, Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences at LSU Shreveport, will present "Hiroshima and the Aftermath". We hope you can make it, and stay tuned for the re-opening date of the History Center and its new exhibits!

Images: 

• Sample page (32) from U.S. War Department Technical Manual 21-500 “Army Reader” May 14, 1943, a.k.a. “Private Pete.” https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=stu_1210th_fort_ontario
• Mary Evelyn Cather Laurent, from Muskingum Update, Spring 2009

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Old Stories, New Storytelling

 The original Bossier Parish Libraries Historical Center opened to the public in 1999 as part of an expansion of the original Central Branch on Beckett Street. Though it had rotating exhibits in table cases and glass cabinets, it also had permanent exhibits, which had been designed and constructed at the same time as the building that would host them. These exhibits were housed in in-wall displays on either side of the foyer, and were the first things that one saw when one entered the History Center. There was a diorama of a Caddo village, created by amateur archaeologist Louis Baker; a steamboat exhibit; a log cabin exhibit; and more. Each exhibit represented an aspect of Bossier Parish’s past, and each exhibit was created in cooperation with historians and Bossier Parish locals.

For several years, the original History Center served the public as a research facility, archive, museum, and meeting space. However, by the mid-2010s, talk had turned to renovating the Central Branch, which would include moving the History Center into a different area of the library. Eventually, it was decided that instead of renovation, an entirely new location would be built to house both Central and the History Center. This gave the History Center a unique opportunity: since our new home was being built from the ground up, we could give our old exhibits a serious glow-up, and even put in brand new ones.

Unique and exciting this opportunity might be, but it also brought up many questions. What stories should these exhibits tell? What was the best way to tell them? How would all of this be accomplished with the resources presented? The History Center staff discussed all of this and more for years, with each other, with library and parish administration, and with Prevot Design, Dorand Design Studios, and Downtown Fabworks, who were chosen to bring the new History Center and its exhibits to life. All the while, the History Center also juggled the new building’s construction, the new building’s opening in April of 2024, and the History Center’s move to the new building during the summer of 2024. Finally, in April of 2026, all of that planning came to fruition, as Downtown Fabworks began installing the new permanent exhibits.

The History Center has always been about showcasing as many pieces of Bossier Parish’s past as possible, and these new exhibits take it to the next level. Anyone who steps through our doors can see the Caddo diorama inside of a Caddo hut, and read about Old Shed Road while walking through (a small portion of) it, and view the interior of a dog trot log cabin that seems to have been built right through our wall. Just like in the old building, each exhibit represents an aspect of Bossier Parish’s past. Some, such as the dog trot, we share with other places in this country, but Old Shed Road, a nine-mile-long toll road that was totally covered by a shed to enable farmers to transport their cotton by wagon during rainy periods, is thought to be the only thing like it in this country’s recorded history. Though all of these exhibits were fabricated by Downtown Fabworks, the designs are pulled from photographs and historical documents, a lot of which is housed in the History Center. In addition, the items inside the exhibits are from the History Center’s collection, and so are, for the most part, authentic artifacts from Bossier Parish’s past, donated by Bossier Parish residents or their loved ones. From the spinning wheel in the log cabin to the cotton gin. Even the murals on the walls derive from photographs in the History Center’s collection, and are of people from Bossier Parish history, donated to us by the people of Bossier Parish. These exhibits are therefore a blend of old and new, a culmination of centuries of creation and care.

“History is who we are and why we are the way we are,” and that is why it is of the utmost importance to share it. It can be challenging to do so in a way that is educational, interesting, and respectful of the people of the past, but that is our goal with our new exhibits. The History Center is scheduled to reopen later this year; when it does, people will be able to see the old with new eyes, the culmination of dozens of people’s efforts over centuries. Their creation was a long process, but I believe it will prove to be well worth it.

Bossier Parish Libraries History Center in the Bossier Central Library complex remains closed while our new exhibits are installed. However, we are continuing to share history in a variety of ways. You can explore many of our collections on our website, www.bossierlibrary.org. Look for the History and Genealogy page under Resources. Feel free to contact History Center staff by phone or email for assistance. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org.

Our next meeting of World War II’s Day, a monthly coffee and discussion program on a variety of WWII-related topics, will be Tuesday, August 11th at 10:30 AM in the Bossier Central library complex’s large meeting room. Because August 6, 2026, is the 81th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, Dr. Cran Lucas, Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences at LSU Shreveport, will present "Hiroshima and the Aftermath". During the spring and summer of 1966, Dr. Lucas was part of an overseas study group from Lewis and Clark College. He and his cohorts spent five months in Japan including a visit to Hiroshima. Dr. Lucas will discuss the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, its immediate aftermath, and the long-term effects on its extant population and later generations. We hope you can make it, and stay tuned for the re-opening date of the History Center and its new exhibits!

Images: Sneak preview of two of the History Center’s new exhibits: “Old Shed Road,” and “The Red River, Winding through Bossier’s History.” BPL History Center photos by Kevin Flowers.

Article by: Jaylie Rester

Rainy Days Behind Us

 Whilst trawling through the older editions of the Bossier papers, there were two separate articles that caught my eye. At my time of writing, there was another in a series of recent heavy rains striking the region, inundating Bossier Parish and the surrounding area with more rain than anyone seems to want. Indeed, the clouds have reopened and rain once again makes its presence known as I continue. The first of these articles written for the Bossier Banner on June 16, 1898, details a great storm striking the region, bringing with it thunder, lightning, and more:

“Heavy rains fell at this place last Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The rain on Saturday was accompanied by a slight hail, and the downpour of Sunday morning was unusually heavy for this season of the year. The rain of Monday forenoon lasted about two hours, and was accompanied by frequent heavy peals of thunder and bursts of lightning. A bolt struck a post-oak shade tree within twenty feet of the residence of the editor of The Banner. [In 1898 the editor was W. H. Scanland.] The tree was struck at the height of about ten feet from the ground, ripping off the bark in a zig-zag direction from the south to the southwest, being an area of one-fourth of the surface of the tree, which is about two feet in diameter. The tree was split at the point of striking, the rift running in the same direction to the roots of the tree. It is about half an inch wide and extends perhaps half way through the tree. About ten feet from the ground is a hole an inch in diameter and an inch in depth, and near the base of the tree is a similar one, and the ground on the west side of the tree at the roots was torn into crevices. The shock was terrifying and the blaze was almost blinding in effect. There were two distinct reports and the tree was evidently struck by two bolts. This upsets the theory, or rather common belief that lightning never strikes twice in the same place.”

“At about the same moment a post-oak tree about fifty feet south of the dwelling house of Mr. H. M. Bailey, about two blocks distant, was also struck by a thunder bolt. The tree is two and a half feet in diameter, and was struck at a distance of ten feet from the ground, splitting it off from the shattered trunk, and stripping off the bark to the length of nearly 25 feet. Fragments of limbs and pieces of bark were thrown upon the house and for some distance about the premises.”

“This place was visited by another heavy rain and thunder storm Tuesday evening, continuing throughout the night and yesterday.”

Storms like these, and storms like those in the past week, led to the creation of the Bodcau Dam project and a series of levees in 1935 (which as an aside, these projects were part of the wider New Deal and the Works Progress Administration). This article, written in April 4, 1935, details the some of the various way that these works will assist the parish:

“The Banner and many citizens and officials throughout Bossier Parish were glad to learn late last week that the Army engineers had finally approved a group of Red River Valley improvements, including the Bodcau Dam and Canal Project, advocated by this publication for some years.”

“In addition to the Bodcau Project, levee work in North Bossier was also among the projects approved. It is understood that the total amount involved in the Red River program will exceed 40 million dollars.”

“The Bodcau dam would protect several thousand acres of land from overflow in this parish and would open up a very fertile section of alluvial land, south of Deans Point, the dam site, southward along Red Chute, for farming purposes. It will also protect low-lying sections of Barksdale Field from overflow.”

“The recommendations of the engineers must now go to Congress for final approval. It is understood that President Roosevelt has already placed his [okay] on the projects.”

“Work may get underway on one or more of these projects before the end of the current year some Bossier folk believe.”

“J. E. Murray, president of the Bossier Levee Board is taking an active part in trying to get these projects approved and work started with as little delay as possible. Various public and civic bodies in the parish have urged the adoption of this program, fostered by the Red River Valley Improvement Association.”

                  

It is improvements like these at Bayou Bodcau that help to ensure that when heavy rains come, like those in the past week or seen in the late 1800s, that Bossier Parish is not inundated with flood waters. Regardless, Heavy rain is not unfamiliar to our Parish and our region.

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. The History Center is currently closed until July 2026, though staff remains available. 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: 

• Plain Dealing 1914 Flood - (BPL HC - 1997.062.045)
• Barksdale Field 1933 Flood - (BPL HC - 2011.053.001-14)
• Barksdale Field 1933 Flood - (BPL HC - 2011.053.001-15)
• Plain Dealing 1957 Flood - (BPL HC - 1997.062.054)

Article by: Jonah Daigle