World War II

Trickery and deceit for a good cause

Some time ago I wrote about Dr. Murphy Martin, who was for many years an extraordinary public health physician for a big part of south Louisiana.

Franklin soldier was first to die

Lt. Edward Vincent Loustalot was wounded three times as he led a small band of American Rangers up a steep cliff near Dieppe, France, on Aug. 19, 1942. He kept climbing, trying to reach and silence a German machine gun at the top of the cliff. He didn’t make it.

WWII shaped offshore drilling

World War II had a bad effect and then a good one on the offshore oil industry. The industry probably would have developed much earlier than it did if there had been no war, but the end of the war brought together men and machines and circumstances that sped it along once it got started.