Larris Duhon was born in Abbeville, Louisiana in 1924. He attended school in Crowley [Annotator’s Note: Crowley, Louisiana] and then moved to New Orleans and later Chalmette [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans and Chalmette, Louisiana]. He grew up with three brothers and one sister. His youngest brother served in World War 2 and was wounded in France. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], his father worked as a painter for the WPA [Annotator's Note: the Works Progress Administration was a federally sponsored program that put unemployed Americans to work during the Great Depression]. Life was not easy for him and his family, and they ate what they could get. His family did have a garden and went hunting and finishing. He was in high school when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was at a horse race when he heard the initial news of the attack. He realized that America was going to war. He was with a man who he looked to as a second father. This man would pay him a few dollars when Duhon did different tasks for him. Duhon also had a bicycle, and he went around town selling meat. He also was paid 50 cents a week to take care of chicken coops. In 1936, his family moved to New Orleans after his sister married a man from St. Bernard Parish. Duhon was drafted by St. Bernard Parish in 1943 and was sent to basic training at Camp White in Oregon. He was trained in bridge construction and laying minefields with a combat engineer unit, Company A, 300th Engineer Combat Battalion. He was assigned as a truck driver, but also drove around the commander. He cannot recall if anyone was hurt or killed in training. After his training at Camp White, his unit was transferred to New York for deployment to Europe. He was able to go on leave and visit home before he went overseas. When he left Oregon, his unit was sent to Camp Shanks, New York before heading overseas.

Larris Duhon was assigned to the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion and was sent overseas to Europe from Camp Shanks [Annotator’s Note: Camp Shanks, New York]. His unit boarded the SS Queen Mary with 21,000 troops aboard. He had to pull MP duty [Annotator’s Note: Military Police] while on the ship. The accommodations were bunks stacked up on the side of a wall. Duhon did not want to go overseas because he did not want to leave his family. He did not have trouble with seasickness, but many of the men did. The ship landed in England and they stayed in Bristol [Annotator’s Note: Bristol, England] for a short time before being sent to Wales [Annotator’s Note: Wales, United Kingdom] to build poison gas. He was able to get passes to London [Annotator’s Note: London, England] where he experienced German air raids and flying bombs [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug]. Duhon got along well with the local population, especially the English women. Two British soldiers tried to beat him up one time and an English woman helped him. Prior to the D-Day invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], his unit trained constantly. He knew something big was coming soon, but he did not know when or what was going to happen. His unit was issued special waxed clothing. It was very uncomfortable and hot. He had a lot of poison gas training. He also had to waterproof his vehicle. After the initial D-Day invasion, Duhon and his unit continued to make preparations to head over to mainland Europe while waiting for orders.

On 19 June 1944, Larris Duhon [Annotator’s Note: Assigned to the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion] loaded onto USS LST-523 [Annotator’s Note: at Portsmouth, England] and headed for Utah Beach [Annotator’s Note: one of the landing beaches of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:31:35.000.] As they crossed the English Channel, Duhon was eating his lunch when all of a sudden the LST hit a mine and split the ship in half. Duhon tried to go up on the deck and was having trouble until someone helped him on top of the ship. Duhon jumped overboard with all his gear. Rescue ships came over to help the troops that were in the water. He hung onto a rescue boat for about twenty minutes before he was taken aboard. He was brought to a hospital ship. After the initial explosion, all Duhon could think about was getting off the ship and to “save his ass.” After getting on the hospital ship, he realized how wounded he was with knocked out teeth, a broken hand, and an injured knee. Many of his friends from his platoon did not survive the blast, and he thinks of them often. [Annotator’s Note: Interviewee gets up from his seat at 0:42:40.000.] After being onboard the hospital ship, he was sent back to England and then sent to a hospital in Wales [Annotator’s Note: Wales, United Kingdom]. He stayed at the hospital for five and half months. Duhon had no idea how many of his friends perished until later. Duhon rejoined his outfit on Christmas Eve of 1944.

Larris Duhon rejoined his regiment [Annotator’s Note: the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion] after five months in the hospital on Christmas Eve 1944. He was sent to a replacement depot and then rejoined his outfit because he knew their location. His outfit was waiting for orders in Belgium. His brother, who served in the 69th, was wounded by shrapnel and sent back to the United States. He found out about his brother while he was at the replacement depot. During the time at the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], he saw many wounded G.I.s being brought back from the font lines. He recalled the weather being cold, damp, and snowy. He felt he was given the proper clothing and equipment to deal with the weather. His regiment was responsible for setting up roadblocks and manned checkpoints. Duhon drove his jeep around transferring officers and going on night patrols. He encountered a German soldier, but he grabbed his lieutenant and told him that they should leave. They found a church and saw German bodies stacked up in the vestibule. They found a barn and slept there for the night. At the end of the Bulge, his regiment advanced through Germany. He remarked that when they went, they crossed the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s] it was like going through “dragon teeth.” At night his regiment experienced German air raids, known as bed check Charlie [Annotator's Note: nickname given to aircraft that performed solitary, nocturnal operations]. He remarked that he got along with the local people of Belgium. As his regiment advanced into Germany they stayed in houses, sometimes with families. Often Duhon would go around looking for eggs. Duhon had his first contact with the enemy during the Bulge, but he never was in any fire fights with the Germans. As the war came to an end, Duhon went on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to England when the Germans surrendered. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 1:00:38.000.]

After the Germans surrendered [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], Larris Duhon was given a 15-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to England, first stopping in Paris, France. He returned to Germany and was sent to a replacement depot because his outfit was broken up. Duhon was in Germany when he heard that the Japanese surrendered [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945]. He returned to the United States in September 1945 by way a victory ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] to Newport News, Virginia. He was sent to Camp Shelby [Annotator’s Note: Camp Shelby, Mississippi] for discharge as a PFC [Annotator’s Note: private first class]. The ride back to America was very rough. He helped a guy take watches because the soldier wanted to gamble. Duhon brought back a P-38 pistol [Annotator’s Note: German Walther P38 semi-automatic pistol]. Duhon could not wait to be reunited with his parents when he disembarked from the ship and took a cab to Camp Shelby. After he returned home, he found a job doing roofing work. His most memorable experience of World War 2 was surviving the explosion of the LST-523 [Annotator’s Note: in June 1944 en route to Normandy, France]. Duhon fought in World War 2 because he wanted to do what everyone else was doing. He does not think the war changed his life. He feels that the way our country is going, his service is considered useless. Duhon believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.