Coleen Perilloux Landry was born in February 1936 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her family owned a sugarcane plantation in Montz, Louisiana where she grew up. The area in Montz was rural and social life involved a lot of family who all lived around each other. She attended school in a schoolhouse close by with three grades in one room taught by one teacher. On 7 December 1941, the family was listening to a radio show that was interrupted by the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She remembers it as if it was yesterday. They had been following the news of the war in Europe and this all made her very upset and she worried if they would be bombed. Shortly after war was declared her three older brothers joined the military. Her brother Reid was 17 and enlisted the day he turned 18. He joined the US Navy to be a corpsman and served with the Marines in the 1st Marine Division. Charles, the oldest, got into the Navy as an officer and the youngest, Emmet, lied about his age and joined the Coast Guard. Her two sister's husbands also enlisted. In those days, people would put a star in the window for each household member who was serving. Her parent's emotions made her realize this was all very difficult. She joined a salvage club created for children who were not old enough to serve. They collected scrap metal, bacon fat, and anything else that could help with the war effort. They also held a play as a fundraiser on a stage in the school house. Times were very hard for everyone, including those who stayed home. As the youngest child, Landry was somewhat left alone. One sister had two boys who were close to her in age. Her ration stamps were used to purchase shoes for these cousins. Everything they needed required ration stamps to get. Any gasoline they had was used for her father to go to work and to in his volunteer work as an air raid warden. They grew their own vegetables and fruit and had cows for milk. Despite all of the hardships, it was a very patriotic time. They bought savings bonds to help with the war effort. Later, some of those would be used to put her through college. Her mother was in the Red Cross and also sent goods to Greece to women who were suffering there.

Coleen Landry's sisters were worried about their husbands who were at war. One sister had lived in Galveston, Texas for some time and a bad hurricane came. She was pregnant and lost her baby after the storm. Landry enjoyed her sisters being back at their home as she was too young before the war to have had much interaction with them. Her mother did not allow people to be angry, or depressed, had a lot of faith in God, and felt that everything would work out the way it was intended to. They prayed a lot. They attend mass every week and their church was also active in the war effort. One day, a Marine came and told her parents that her brother Reed was missing in action. Her parents stayed outside for a very long time after the Marine left. Reed was only 19 and the news hit them very hard. The next day was very somber. Mail took weeks to get so news was very slow to get. Quite often the mail was unreadable due to the censors' holes. Getting a letter meant they were alright though. She wrote letters and Reed was the only one who really wrote back to her in both regular and V-mail. Reed did survive the war and married his only girlfriend as soon as he returned home. A lot of packages of goods they sent to their family members got returned to them.

Coleen Landry's father was an air raid warden and drills would be held weekly. His job included making sure there were no lights on anywhere in the town. There was a lot of fear of enemy submarines coming up the Mississippi River. Landry thought it was wonderful that her father was so involved and important to the community. Her grandfather had served in the Civil War. The first Perilloux [Annotator's Note: Landry's maiden name is Perilloux] who came to New Orleans, Louisiana, was a French soldier in the 1740s. He remained after his duty ended. Landry's parents did not talk about frightening or bad things in front of the children. They also spoke French to each other when they did not want the younger children to know what was being said. Her mother had three brothers who had served in World War 1, so she knew what war was like. Landry knew these uncles, one of whom had been a Marine. This uncle gave his Marine insignia pin to her brother Reed when he left for World War 2. Reed later loaned it to a student of his who went to Korea and one who went to Vietnam. Both students were able to return the pin and they considered it a lucky charm. Reed had been wounded in the Pacific in World War 2. He was treated and sent back into battle on Okinawa and was severely wounded there. Only four of his 85-man unit survived that battle. Reed was in the hospital when he learned his division was going back into battle, so he jumped ship to rejoin them. He said he could not imagine them going without him. That is when the Marine Corps informed the family that he was missing-in-action, because they did not know what happened to him. He could have received a court martial, but he did not. After that last battle he was too injured to fight any longer and was sent home. Landry's sister-in-law had a baby in Lafayette, Louisiana. They were visiting when they heard the war had ended over the radio. Everyone knelt and thanked God together when that happened. On Christmas day of 1945, the family were all together for the first time since the war started. [Annotator's Note: Landry gets emotional and pauses.]

Coleen Landry remembers when her parents were told that her brother Reed was missing in action. It took about a month for them to hear he was ok. They were fairly busy just keeping the house together, so they did not do a lot of celebrating at that news. Just washing clothes and getting food could be an all-day affair. The longer the war went on, the harder things became. All little things like birthdays, Christmas and Easter were celebrated. She does not recall anything bad being said about the Germans or Japanese. There was a nearby prisoner of war camp at the Godchaux sugar refinery [Annotator's Note: Godchaux Sugar Company in Reserve, Louisiana]. Landry's grandmother lived near it and they could see the prisoners there. She learned later that the prisoners yearned to see and speak to children as they had left their own children at home. A lot of the local people became friends with the prisoners. She only knew that they were Germans. In those times, people, like her mother, did not admit to being German. She did not know much about the Japanese other than what was in the newsreels. She only knew that they were cruel, but war is cruel. The newsreels were partly exciting but once home it became scary. The thought of a Japanese submarine coming up the Mississippi River and the soldiers coming over the levee made her scared. She never expressed this to her parents.

There were several bases near Coleen Landry's home in Montz, Louisiana. Camp Plauche [Annotator's Note: also known as Camp Harahan in Harahan, Louisiana] was close and so they saw a lot of maneuvers and convoys going by. They would stand and wave to them. They did have a few times where they had soldiers over for dinner. Her brothers had been in the Civilian Conservation Corps [Annotator's Note: also referred to as the CCC] before the war. A lot of their friends from the military would come to have dinner with them. The family stayed in touch with all of these men through the years. Landry calls herself a child of World War 2. She does not exactly remember VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945] but it was not as important as the day the war ended in the Pacific as her family was still fighting there. She does not recall which brother came home first. She does not recall when her younger brother came home as he went to occupied Japan. When her brother Reed came home, it was very exciting. He had contracted malaria in the Pacific and was trying to get healthy. It was kind of bewildering to her.

Coleen Landry's brother Reed was married right after getting home from the war in the Pacific. He and his fiance had planned a big wedding the whole time he was away at war. She remembers how hard it was for ladies to get stockings and she remembers how her mother's stockings were drooping at the reception. The wedding was in St. Peter's church in Reserve, Louisiana. Her parents had married there in 1913. The reception was in LaPlace, Louisiana at the Woodmen of the World Hall [Annotator's Note: Woodmen of the World is a fraternal organization organized by Joseph Cullen Root in 1890]. Reed was not changed by the war. Landry did not know the horrors of what he had gone through until many years later when he was interviewed by a newspaper. Her other two brothers did not see the same kind of battle as Reed did. Her younger brother Emmett did not change either. Her other brother Charles was a take-charge person and had a very positive attitude. When he was in the Philippines, he noticed the beauty and not the rot. Charles and Reed went to college on the G.I. Bill to Southwestern Louisiana [Annotator's Note: now University of Louisiana at Lafayette or ULL]. Reed became a teacher and coach and was a leader in his town. He was one of the founders of the Pecan Festival in Colfax, Louisiana. Charles became a teacher as well. Reed retired from the school system and became a law enforcement officer. He was also named to the Louisiana High School Association [Annotator's Note: Louisiana High School Athletic Association or LHSAA] Hall of Fame in 2006. Hundreds of his students attended the ceremony. [Annotator's Note: Landry gets very emotional.]

[Annotator's Note: There is an odd tape break at the beginning.] The family of Coleen Landry learned to be frugal and not to waste due to living through World War 2. They learned to appreciate the little things. Life became easier for her mother by the time the war ended as there were only two children left at home. Landry went to a Catholic school and then high school. By then, people had sort of forgotten the war. From there she went to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she met her husband. Men there were in the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officers Training Corp] then and her husband got a commission in the Air Force. He finished his service in the Louisiana National Guard and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. None of their children went into the military. Her husband's service was mostly during the Vietnam War. A lot of the Korean War veterans were in school at Louisiana State [Annotator's Note: Louisiana State University, or LSU, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana] with them and a lot had suffered from shell shock [Annotator's Note: now referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder]. The Korean veterans were not treated as well as the World War 2 veterans in Landry's experience.

Coleen Landry was surrounded by soldiers at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She felt that her experiences with her brothers' war service helped her empathize with the Korean War veterans. She kept in touch with a lot of them and many died young, unlike the World War 2 veterans. Her brothers were too old and had children and therefore did not serve in Korea. Because of World War 2, Landry did not have a normal childhood. She learned a lot about sacrifice. She learned far beyond her years then. She feels she is a better person because of it. She has never stopped serving her community. She was trained as a journalist and a teacher. When her youngest child was ten, she went to work in law enforcement as a Public Information Officer. She did that job for six years and then became an editor of three weekly newspapers. She ran an election campaign for Harry Lee [Annotator's Note: long time sherrif of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana] for sheriff and she went to work for him for the next 20 or so years. Law enforcement was very military-like then and she became a colonel. When she retired, she was the highest-ranking woman in law enforcement in Louisiana. She now works in the hospital auxiliary and works in other charities. She is the chairman of the Live Oak Society in 14 states. The Live Oak Society was organized in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1934 by the president of the University of Louisiana. She is the fifth chairman of the Society and she has registered over 6,000 live oak trees.

Coleen Landry went into law enforcement part-time to help with public relations. It was not easy being one of the first women in law enforcement. She would walk into the office and say good morning but get no response. It took two years for the officers to accept her. She stood up for the men in a certain case and was fired, but she earned the respect of the rank and file. When she returned the next time around it was slightly easier. Landry's father had been in law enforcement as a body guard for Huey Long [Annotator's Note: Louisiana Governor Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]. She knew a lot about boys and men since she had brothers. She grew up in a disciplined life and that is what law enforcement is. Growing up during World War 2 helped her learn all of this. Her most memorable experience of the war was the day the war ended. It was like a million Christmases all at one time. The war had everything to do with her entire life. She is very happy none of her family was killed. She still cannot accept death. The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, has brought so much to the community. She feels that every child should be taken and shown every part of it. All children should made to understand what giving for their country means. When Franklin Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] came on the radio, everybody stopped to listen to him. Her father was asked to write an invitation to Roosevelt to come to Louisiana and he did. When Roosevelt died, the whole neighborhood gathered as it was a very sad day. Her father always wore a hat and he removed it to place over his heart when he heard that news. [Annotator's Note: Landry gets emotional.] The war should be taught to children so that they know of the sacrifices made for them to live the way they do now and to be prepared for war.