Artmon Arceneaux was born in Lacassine, Louisiana in 1929 in the midst of the Depression. He, like others around him, never realized they were poor. If a person made 50 cents a day for their work, they were doing well. He had two sisters and was raised by his mother. His dad died when he was young. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Arceneaux was 12 years old. He did not think much about the attack at the time. When people came back from the war, he heard different stories from them. They would talk about their experiences. While attending school, Arceneaux had no idea that he would join the service. He did not determine that until he was 16 years old. He had graduated from school and could not find a job. He decided that he would go into the service. He signed his mother's name to go into the service, since she could not read or write. He elected to enlist in the Army because of a recruiting poster that he saw in the post office. He entered the Army and went to Leesville, Louisiana where Fort Polk is located. He was trained to be an airplane mechanic. He saw that as the best thing he could do. Arceneaux also served as an MP [Annotator's Note: military police] in Korea. Additionally, when he returned, he attended radio training. After his tour of duty ended in 1949, Arceneaux returned home but could not find a job. As a result, he reenlisted. After that first reenlistment, it was just natural to reenlist each time his enlistment ended. He did so five times. From Fort Polk, Arceneaux went to Fort Sam Houston for two weeks before he was transferred to the Air Force. He was then transferred to today's Lackland Air Force Base which was known as San Antonio Air Cadet Center [Annotator's Note: San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center]. From there, Arceneaux went to airplane school at Keesler [Annotator's Note: Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi]. From Keesler, Arceneaux returned to San Antonio and then went to California. After six months in California, he shipped out for Korea. While in Korea, he performed work on a single airplane that he was assigned to maintain. After Korea, Arceneaux went to Japan for a year as a flight clerk. He was attached to transport planes flying to and from Guam, Okinawa and the Philippines. When military personnel were flying, Arceneaux had the assignment to brief passengers and check their parachutes and gear. Even though he was a part of the occupation force in Japan, Arceneaux had few dealings with the local population. Being just a corporal, he largely stayed on base. The attitude of the military personnel toward the local population was not bad. He did eat a lot of rice during that time and duty was not bad. After Japan, Arceneaux returned to Barksdale [Annotator's Note: Barksdale Air Force Base is near Bossier City, Louisiana] and was discharged. Not finding work when he returned home, he decided to reenlist and did so in Barksdale. After doing so, he was sent to Enid, Oklahoma [Annotator's Note: to Vance Air Force Base]. Arceneaux never used the G.I. Bill. He would repair small airplanes in Enid that were used for pilot training. He was transferred to Greenwood, Mississippi for a year where he would also work on small aircraft. After Mississippi, Arceneaux went to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois where he was a French interpreter for Vietnamese in radio school. [Annotator's Note: Vietnamese pilots were trained in United States Air Force facilities during the Vietnam War.] Arceneaux had grown up speaking French because his mother did not speak English. [Annotator's Note: In rural Louisiana prior to World War 2, many families of Acadian heritage spoke only French. The children would become introduced to English only when they began school.] He spent two years working in the radio school in Illinois. From Scott Air Force Base, Arceneaux went to Waco, Texas for three years and continued working on airplanes. After another reenlistment, Arceneaux went to Germany in 1962. He spent two years there as hanger chief and worked on airplanes only this time as a supervisor. He returned to Denver and, after a year, was discharged from the service on 30 August 1963. He left the service after almost 17 years of service because his wife did not like the life. Once he was out, he could not go back in because he had over 12 years of service. The military preferred to hire new recruits at a lower pay grade rather than a sergeant.

Artmon Arceneaux worked in construction in Oklahoma for 15 years after his military discharge. He repaired and painted runways. After that period, he began farming rice fields. Of all the places he visited and lived, Arceneaux liked Germany the best. It was clean and scenic. Homes were basically made of stone. When the transition from Army Air Forces to Air Force occurred, it was not very obvious to Arceneaux. [Annotator's Note: In September 1947, the United States Army Air Forces was replaced by the independent service branch designated the United States Air Force.] Serial numbers and dog tags were changed but little else. Leadership changes were not major. It was a good split. Quality of leadership and training was not affected. Arceneaux's most memorable service experience was his 30 day voyage to Japan. He stopped in Honolulu, Guam and Okinawa. He had a lot of fun in the service and met a lot of people. In his early career, the transition from wartime to peacetime Army was not noticeable. It was not until later that changes occurred. The changes were mainly due to the politics involved in getting what you wanted. It was a matter of knowing the right people. His final rank in the service was tech sergeant. He never wanted to be an officer because of the restrictions imposed on them. An officer is supposed to be a gentleman; while an enlisted men was just a GI. Arceneaux knew a corporal who went to flight school and became a second lieutenant. He would borrow Arceneaux's uniform because cadets were not allowed to go to town. When he would return from the service, his family was the same. His mother did not object when he reenlisted because it was what he wanted to do. World War 2 did not change him or affect him much except for the rationing. They did not have a car so gasoline was not a problem. After the war, things did not change much except gasoline and sugar became much more available than during the war. Experiences in Japan did not alter his attitude of why we fought the war. When the veterans returned from the war, jobs were filled. That was why Arceneaux joined the service and continually reenlisted. He could not get a job. Seeing other cultures did not change the way he wanted to live. Military life is good for an individual. Everyone should go into the service. Arceneaux did not see any action, but he enjoyed his stay in the armed forces.