Collection:LPB

Genre: Documentary

Place Covered: Louisiana, France

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority, Mire, Pat

Date Issued: 2008-12-9

Duration: 00:58:30

Subjects: Military | World War II | Veterans | CAJUNS | Cajun French dialect | D-DAY | World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- France -- Normandy | Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944-1945 | Concentration camps | United States. Office of Strategic Services | Bernard, Lee | Mestayer, Carroll J., 1923-2007 | LeBlanc, Robert J. | Mire, Felix

Contributors:

• Mire, Pat Producer
• Hudsmith, Rebecca L. Associate Producer
• Broussard, Sam Composer
• Mestayer, Carroll Interviewee
• Bruneau, Jean-Pierre Interviewee
• Ancelet, Barry Interviewee
• LeBlanc Robert J. Interviewee
• Charpentier, Erik Interviewee
• Brasseaux, Carl Interviewee
• Billeaudeaux, Gene Speaker
• Mire, Felix Interviewee
• Bernard, Lee Interviewee
• Balfa, Dewey Interviewee

A 2008 documentary chronicling the stories and contributions of the French-speaking Cajun soldiers in World War II who served as either interpreters for their field commanders or as secret agents working with the French underground. It features interviews with: Carroll Mestayer, a member of 1st Infantry Division, on his D-Day experience; retired Brigadier General Robert J. LeBlanc, an agent for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) on his experience of working with the French underground; Felix Mire, a member of the 11th Armored Division of Patton’s 3rd Army, on his experience at the Siege of Bastogne and the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp; and Lee Bernard of the 739th Tank Battalion on his interactions with the French people. It also includes excerpts from the memoir of Captain Sam S. Broussard, an OSS agent. The documentary also features interviews with: Jean-Pierre Bruneau, a French filmmaker; Barry Ancelet, a folklorist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL); Erik Charpentier of the ULL Department of Francophone Studies; and Carl Brasseaux of the ULL Center for Louisiana Studies.