Baptiste Puissegur was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1920 and grew up on a farm with his parents and older brothers. There were animals on the farm. His older brothers would play jokes on their younger brother using the goat they had on the farm. Puissegur was exiting a movie theater with his future wife when he heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. He heard the newsboys shouting out the news and looked on a newspaper and saw the announcement. He could not believe it had happened. He anticipated a quick end to the combat with the American victory coming in six months. He was wrong. They waited for Puissegur to help them. He did the best he could do. Prior to entry into the Army, Puissegur was allowed to stay at home until after Thanksgiving. He was then sent to Camp Beauregard.

Baptiste Puissegur saw a man at Camp Beauregard that he knew from home [Annotator's Note: Puissegur had grown up on a farm outside of New Orleans, Louisiana]. He was a guard there. The man said he would take care of Puissegur while he was in the camp. The next thing Puissegur knew, he was on a train for two days and ended up at Camp Adair in Oregon. Puissegur was a long way from home. He trained there for a while. The train ride was alright. That was his first real trip. He had transported chickens in trailers previously. He had to be careful of his vehicle so that the trailer in the rear did not get out of position. The time at Adair might have been over a year before he was moved to Camp Carson, Colorado. The camp and the city were beautiful. Puissegur began to learn east from west there. Terry Allen [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr.] came along and trained the division [Annotator's Note: the 104th Infantry Division]. There were soldiers on horseback. Puissegur was shocked to see those mounted troops but when he inquired about it, he was reassured that he would find out. They were needed in the mountains and entering Germany, the weather was cold. Evidentially, the tanks were suitable. While he was near Phoenix, Arizona, Puissegur drove officers into San Diego and Los Angeles. Allen notified the division that they were ready for combat. Puissegur felt things were getting serious. His sister was living in Arizona and he told her that she could kiss him goodbye. All of Puissegur's sisters were older than him except one. The outfit was transported to a camp in New York in preparation for their overseas deployment.

Baptiste Puissegur reached Cherbourg, France and spent two or three months there. Additional training was provided to the troops while they waited for the breakout from the region. There was a large pillbox there that had given the troops in the Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel, or LCVP, landing craft] a very rough time in the water. They waited for the troops to standup so they could be shot down. Puissegur was grateful he was not part of that assault. He moved from Cherbourg to St. Lo. There was a weeklong see-saw battle for the town. The Americans and the Germans would alternate possession of the town. Finally, Terry [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr., commander of the 104th Infantry Division] said to circle around the enemy. The Americans managed to suck in the enemy and end their resistance. Next, they were sent to Holland near the dikes and the Mark River. They then proceeded to Aachen and Stolberg in Germany. They made their way to the Rhine and Cologne. While in Holland at the Mark River, Puissegur and the 104th had to drive the Germans out of the country. They then pursued the enemy to Belgium. The local population welcomed their liberators with rose petals under their feet. They showed their appreciation to the Americans. In Belgium, there was a little boy in the square [Annotator's Note: Puissegur is referring to Manneken Pis, or "the little pisser," a famous landmark in Brussels, Belgium].

Baptiste Puissegur [Annotator's Note: as part of the 104th Infantry Division] went through Aachen and Stolberg in Germany. He made his way to Cologne and across the Rhine. The engineers who preceded the division discovered the Rhine River bridge had been booby trapped. A pontoon bridge was to be constructed at night as an alternative means to cross the river. The crossing was planned for late at night. The moonlight did not cooperate. It was so bright that there was nothing stealthy about going across the Rhine. It was far from dark. [Annotator's Note: Puissegur laughs.] After Cologne, the troops advanced on the location where the tanks were made. The Battle of the Bulge broke out at that time. Three outfits of the infantry division had to cover the Rhine River from Belgium to Cologne, Germany. During the battle, Puissegur had to go through the Hürtgen Forest carrying messages. The forest was thick and the artillery shelling was heavy. Puissegur's commanding officer regretted having to send him on a mission down a long, lonely road up the line. He took on the mission and ended up driving his jeep into the midst of the German headquarters area. The Germans were shouting "Kamerad" [Annotator's Note: Friend or Buddy]. They wanted to surrender. Puissegur's commander told him to make sure he inspected the surrendering soldiers well and relieved them of their weapons. There were some large men in the group surrendering. Puissegur was afraid that they were going to pull a pistol on him. It did not happen. Instead, weapons were loaded into his jeep. He had a full load of enemy guns in his vehicle when he drove off. It was near the Elbe River outside of Berlin. The order had been given for the Americans to go no further than the Elbe. They were to leave the capture of Berlin to the Russians. Meanwhile, the Battle of the Bulge transpired. The enemy even resorted to wearing American Army uniforms. The war ended on 8 May [Annotator's Note: 8 May 1945]. That is Puissegur's story.

Baptiste Puissegur was a staff car driver during the war. He liked the officers he served with. He enjoyed the duty except for driving at night. He was able to drive off the light of the moon and the stars. It was surprising how well he could see with their glow. He often had to take his commanders' orders to various outfits. On one drive, he was accosted by a sentry asking for him to identify himself. Puissegur refused to shout the password for fear that Germans would overhear it. He told the sentry to come to him. They came with their big machine guns and then apologized for having stopped him. Puissegur was strafed by an airplane. He jumped out of his jeep before the plane fired. Rounds were hitting all around him. Afterward, he jumped in his jeep and felt like celebrating. Late one night the unit was moving fast. He had to reach headquarters. As he was crossing a bridge over a creek, Puissegur spotted two shadows. He and the officer warily approached the figures so that they could back off if they needed to do so quickly. Nearing the shadows, they confirmed that they were two cows. Puissegur was thankful it was nothing else. [Annotator's Note: He makes the Catholic sign of the cross.] He slept in a castle one night at Stolberg. When he woke there was a distant tank battle between the Americans and Germans. Aircraft came in support of the fight. When Puissegur reached the Elbe, he lost account of any further details. He was on the way to the fight with Japan when that war ended and he was called back. When the war in Europe ended, Puissegur was at the Elbe River. He shook hands with the Russians but declined a visit with the Russians because they were rumored to get drunk and shoot up everything afterward. He celebrated a few days after the actual surrender. Puissegur always prayed not to get crippled before returning home. He preferred to be killed rather than lose an arm or a leg. He had spotted a dead man in an open field through a gap in the trees. When he reached the body, he saw that the man had his insides blown out, and he had been decapitated. Some of the memories of war affected him at home. He had nightmares while he was living with his parents. He yelled and tried to escape the house and the nightmare. He was not married then.

Baptiste Puissegur enjoyed being a civilian after his discharge. He was thankful for the Lord's protection during his service. Prior to discharge, a friendly captain asked Puissegur to stay on in service with him. He promised if Puissegur would stay on another two years, he would never have to work again. Puissegur told the officer that a lady was waiting on him at home and he had to return to her. He had to get out of the service. The most memorable thing about World War 2 for Puissegur was the terrible sight of the man going across the minefield. The bombing was bad, but that sight got way into his head. It stuck with him for awhile. Puissegur served because he had no choice. It would be a lie to say that he wanted to go. The war made him more dependable and reliable. He learned to stick to his word. His service means a lot to him. The Americans won and caught up with Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. The National WWII Museum and other similar institutions are important to teach younger generations what will happen if they do not keep up their guard. Puissegur would be willing to go but as a mess boy around the kitchen. After his return from the war, Puissegur did not use the G.I. Bill because he had a good job. He stuck to his work. He did not go to the ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program]. Many of those ASTP men were beaten up at the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: because of the serious need for infantrymen after the invasions of Italy and France, the numbers of personnel in the ASTP were drastically reduced and transferred to infantry]. They removed the bodies and piled them high in trucks. It went on for days. There were so many dead young boys. Puissegur [Annotator's Note: with the 104th Infantry Division] came across the Nordhausen concentration camp. It smelled bad. There were people hanging on meat hooks. Puissegur met a lady after his wife died. He stayed at her house. She had children. Her husband was deceased. When the flood came, Puissegur loaned his house to his daughter and Larry [Annotator's Note: no surname provided] and stayed with the lady and her children. They looked upon him as a stepfather. When they became angry with him, he told them that if it would not have been for him, they would never have been born. Their father had been at Nordhausen. He had been in the Air Force and was shot down and captured. His name was Walter Slidell. He was a tail gunner. Puissegur was speechless when he saw how awful Nordhausen was. He could not believe people would treat others like that.