Gerard L. Azemar was born in Thibodeaux, Louisiana in August 1923. He grew up there. It was a small town where everyone knew everyone else. His father was a successful politician so the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s] had little impact on him. He attended parochial school run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. It was a boys school. He graduated in 1940 and started LSU [Annotator's Note: Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana] that same year. He stayed there until 1943. He knew he was going to be drafted. He did not see the significance of the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] except he knew he would have to serve in the military. He never felt he would not come back from his service. In March 1943, he was drafted and had to take a physical. He went to Camp Beauregard [Annotator's Note: near Pineville, Louisiana] and was given a battery of tests. He shipped out and arrived at Camp Kohler [Annotator's Note: in Sacramento County, California] outside Sacramento, California where he had his basic training. He was assigned to be a lineman but was not very good at it. He applied for and was accepted in the ASTP or Army Specialized Training Program [Annotator's Note: generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers]. In July 1943, he went to the University of Utah [Annotator's Note: in Salt Lake City, Utah] for ASTP preparation. After a month, he went to Indiana University [Annotator's Note: Azemar did not identify which campus] for a semester. His company was then transferred to University of Cincinnati in December 1943. In February 1944, the program was discontinued. Azemar was very disappointed. The intention of the program was to train personnel to administer government in small towns in Germany. The need for replacements took priority for personnel. Azemar was fortunate to go back to the Signal Corps. That was the only branch of the Army to get its personnel back. Everyone else went to the infantry. He went into teletype operation and coding training in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. In November, his battalion [Annotator's Note: 388th Signal Battalion] was sent to England aboard a liner called the Argentina. It was an uneventful voyage for the convoy. He landed around Thanksgiving 1944. Spending a month in England, he found the local population accepting because the Americans brought a lot of money into their community. In December, he was shipped to London [Annotator's Note: London, England] to go to France. Landing in France on 16 December, he was very lucky that he was not sent into the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. He was sent to Dijon [Annotator's Note: Dijon, France] instead. On New Year's Eve [Annotator's Note: 31 December 1944], he landed in Marseilles [Annotator's Note: Marseilles, France].

Gerard L. Azemar and his outfit [Annotator's Note: 3188th Signal Service Battalion] were assigned to communications for the southern part of France. He was with Delta Base Section in Marseilles [Annotator's Note: Marseilles, France] in a former French barracks. He lived in an eight man tent in a nearby little village south of the signal center. He was near the Mediterranean coast and did a lot of swimming. He took leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] on the Riviera [Annotator's Note: part of the southern coast of France] and Nice [Annotator's Note: Nice, France]. He never was exposed to enemy fire. The Allies had secured Southern France. Azemar worked as an aide to a captain in charge of entertainment. He was discharged in March 1946. He never thought he would have to go to the fighting in Japan. His typical day was an eight hour shift with his preference being the midnight to morning shift. It gave him a chance to sleep and then have the rest of the day off. He had messages in the clear to type that would come out on a tape in code. Determining the destination of the message, he would send it off in a machine. His unit was small and a good outfit of eight or nine men. It was the 3188th Signal Service Battalion. He transmitted and received coded messages. As a young man, he enjoyed the experience. There were some uncomfortable situations but not extreme. With his free time, he was able to explore the countryside around Marseilles. There was little destruction but a burned out German tank was nearby. The French people basically ignored the Americans. Some of the locals were hired to cook and the quality of the food improved tremendously. Clothes were be cleaned by a local lady. The war ended while he was at Marseilles. There was not a great deal of celebration near him. The question was whether personnel would go to Japan or be discharged. He stayed in the same location until 1946. He worked with the entertainment section and helped bring in Bob Hope [Annotator's Note: Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope KBE; British-American entertainer who was famous for entertaining American troops serving overseas during World War 2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War]. He did not attend his performance because of the number of people who would be there. [Annotator's Note: Azemar chuckles.] He typed out orders and worked clerical duties. Learning to type in high school was a requirement. It benefited Azemar in the service. In 1946, he returned to the United States on a troopship. He had an emergency appendectomy. It became an easy voyage because he rode it back in a bed and did not get seasick. He returned to Thibodeaux [Annotator's Note: Thibodeaux, Louisiana] and used the G.I. Bill for college. He grew restless and did not complete his college work until after retirement. He opened a photography shop but had problems with the chemicals. He went to work for Aetna and their claims department for 37 years. His time at war was a watershed experience. He traveled the world in almost a whirlwind fashion. It gave him a desire to travel. He has visited The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] twice but has a limitation with walking. He did not see the Pacific exhibits as a result [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum's Road to Tokyo gallery houses exhibits related to the Pacific Theater of Operations and China-Burma-India Theater]. People appreciate the efforts of Azemar's generation. He never felt he sacrificed through his service. He just accepted the fact that it was something he had to do. Some of his friends feel a bit of shame if they were rejected or not able to serve during those years.