Lawrence J. Delaune, Sr. was born in Patterson, Louisiana in September 1924. He grew up on his family's strawberry farm during the Great Depression. He remembers life was not good, but he and his family survived. He made his own toys, like wooden knives and rubber band guns and attended a country school near his home. He remarks how his teachers used corporal punishment [Annotator's Note: physical punishment]. He attended high school in Ponchatoula [Annotator's Note: Ponchatoula, Louisiana]. He would have to take the bus every day. After World War 2 broke out, Delaune volunteered for service with several of his friends. He went to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] to join the Navy, but he was declined because he had jock itch [Annotator's Note: a fungal infection of the groin area]. He returned home and waited until he was drafted. In the meantime, Delaune worked for a chemical company in Louisiana. On his 19th birthday he took a train to Camp Polk [Annotator's Note: now Fort Polk in Vernon Parish, Louisiana] to be tested for service. Delaune had hopes to become a bomber pilot, but he failed his physical. He was transferred to Camp Fannin, Texas, near Tyler, Texas [Annotator's Note: a woman's voice remarks at 0:08:29.000] for 16 weeks of basic training. The weather was cold and rainy. During the winter he had to bivouac [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] and train at night. Many of the trainees wanted to mutiny because they thought the training was too hard. After his basic training, he was given a short leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to go home, but then had to report to Camp Ord [Annotator's Note: Fort Ord, Monterey Bay, California]. It took him three days by train. He trained in several combat weapons. After training in California, he boarded a ship in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] and headed overseas. He does not recall traveling with a convoy. Two or three weeks later, his ship docked in New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia, Overseas France, 8 February 1944].

When Lawrence J. Delaune, Sr. arrived in New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia, Overseas France] he was asked by a captain if he would like to join the 25th Division Reconnaissance Group [Annotator's Note: in the 25th Infantry Division]. Delaune was persuaded to join because he did not want to be fighting the enemy in a ditch, but rather search for the enemy and then report back to his superior. His training for this unit was intense. They had to hike mountains and cross difficult terrain to get to another town. They found an orange grove along the way. They came across a small village where Delaune asked the villagers, in French, for bread. They were happy to oblige. Sometime in December [Annotator's Note: December 1944], Delaune and his unit were put on trucks and sent to the coast of New Caledonia where he boarded a troopship. The ship landed at Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] on Christmas Eve. The next day they were back on the ship, but Delaune and a couple of his friends were asked by the Chaplain if they wanted to attend Mass on a destroyer, which they did. He then had Christmas dinner on the destroyer. He remembered it was like a feast. There was so much food. The next day, his ship sailed to the Admiralty Islands [Annotator's Note: Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea] and docked on New Year's Day [Annotator's Note: 1 January 1945].

Lawrence J. Delaune, Sr. arrived at Lingayen Gulf off of Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines] on 11 January 1945. They had to descend by ropes into Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] to take them close to shore, then wade through the water the rest of the way. He was relieved that they were able to storm the island without any Japanese resistance. Delaune was part of the first waves and carried a BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle], which was extremely heavy. He was sent on a reconnaissance patrol as soon as he made it up on the beach. He and the patrol team found an old Japanese camp and one very sick Japanese soldier. They ended up killing him because he was about to die. [Annotator's Note: A clock rings in the background at 0:26:00.000.] His unit pushed inland, fighting the Japanese as they encountered them. [Annotator's Note: There is a break in the video at 0:26:25.000.] He received orders to occupy an empty, small village, but if the Japanese came through, he was on his own. He would have to find his own way back to headquarters. The following morning, he could see the Japanese heading in his direction, but luckily his fellow troops met him before he would have to face the enemy by himself. The following day, he and three of his fellow troops were riding in a half-track [Annotator's Note: M3 half-track; a vehicle with front wheels and rear tracks] when they were stopped by some troops. They were waiving at them telling them not to continue because there were Japanese in that direction. At one time, his company was assigned on a hill with Filipino troops. Delaune and his company [Annotator's Note: 25th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized), 25th Infantry Division] knew that there were Japanese on another hill because every afternoon cannon fire would be shot in their direction. The American artillery was behind Delaune returning fire, so his company was in the crossfire between the two artillery groups. Luckily, everything was going over their heads. [Annotator's Note: Delaune is interrupted by another person in the room at 0:33:15.000.] Delaune and his troops fought on the hill until the Air Force came through and bombed the Japanese.

[Annotator's Note: Lawrence J. Delaune, Sr. served with the 25th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized), 25th Infantry Division on Luzon, Philippines.] Delaune saw death all around him while on Luzon. He saw a horse that was cut up and dying. Once when he sat down to eat dinner, he saw a Komodo Dragon walking pass them. He got up and left the area. On a patrol, he came upon a stream and spotted Japanese with a machine gun. The Japanese opened fired. Delaune and his patrol suffered a few injuries but were able to get out without being killed or captured. On another patrol, the lead scout tried to shoot a Japanese soldier that was close to him, but his gun jammed. Instinctively Delaune shot five shots at that Japanese soldier and the rest of the Japanese fled. [Annotator's Note: A clock rings and the video breaks at 0:42:49000.] The lead scout was not very good about cleaning his weapon. Once, he was cleaning his BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle] and he accidently set it off. Thankfully, no one was injured. The BAR was very heavy and Delaune was happy to get rid of it for an M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. A good friend of his was killed on a scouting mission while trying to find Japanese. He was hit in the head. Delaune almost walked into a Japanese ambush. The unit became suspicious that a trail was a perfect place for an ambush. They used a side trail and outflanked the Japanese unit, avoiding the Japanese ambush. As a way to protect themselves, they boobytrapped the area with grenades set to trip wires.

[Annotator's Note: Lawrence J. Delaune, Sr. served with the 25th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized), 25th Infantry Division on Luzon, Philippines.] Delaune was involved in clearing out caves that were suspected to hold Japanese soldiers. He simply threw grenades into the caves. He had seen trenches in caves where the Japanese lived. They looked like different designated rooms. His unit also saw some action in Luzon's Balete Pass [Annotator's Note: 13 May 1945], but since he was a scout, he did not participate in much of the action. After his unit successfully completed their mission on Luzon, they were pulled out to rest at Camp Patrick [Annotator's Note: in Luzon, Philippines]. They began training for the invasion of Japan. They were given a new vehicle to drive, an M8 [Annotator's Note: M8 Light Armored Car; known as a Greyhound]. During this time, Delaune was diagnosed with malaria [Annotator's Note: mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite] and was hospitalized for several days. Not long after he returned to his unit, he came down with hepatitis [Annotator's Note: inflammatory condition of the liver]. He felt very sick. [Annotator's Note: A clock rings in the background at 0:57:44.000.] While he was sitting outside his tent, listening to music on the radio, he heard the report that the United States had dropped an atomic bomb on Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945]. While in the hospital, Delaune was told by his friend that his unit was moving out to occupy Japan. When he was released from the hospital, he received orders to board a ship and head to Japan. The cruise over to Japan was very rough. The ship's bow would rise up out of the water and then slam back in. He figured out later that there was a typhoon in the area. [Annotator's Note: There is a break in the video at 1:01:48.000.] He was able to connect with his unit in Nagoya, Japan in October 1945. His unit was turned into MPs [Annotator's Note: military police]. The weather was cold. They were given oil burners for their barracks. He did not have any problems with the Japanese civilians. Because Nagoya was an industrial city, it was heavily bombed. Delaune found some Japanese to launder his clothes while he was stationed there. He kept some souvenirs like a Japanese gun and sword. He stayed in Japan from October 1945 to February 1946.

Lawrence J. Delaune, Sr. returned home [Annotator's Note: in February 1946 after serving occupation duty in Japan] and was discharged. During his physical check, he was given a disability pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. Using the G.I. Bill, Delaune registered at LSU [Annotator's Note: Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana] for civil engineering. [Annotator's Note: Delaune is interrupted by a person off camera.] Before he started classes, he came down with malaria [Annotator's Note: mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite]. He took some medicine and began to feel better and was able to attend school. At school he came down with malaria again. The doctor gave him quinine [Annotator's Note: medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis], which relieved his symptoms for good. After he graduated in 1949, he had some difficulty finding a job. He eventually found one a couple months after he married. Later, he went to MIT [Annotator's Note: Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts] to pursue his master's degree. After he received his degree, he worked in Monroe [Annotator's Note: Monroe, Louisiana] until he accepted a position in Research and Development with Exxon [Annotator's Note: Exxon Mobil Corporation] in Baton Rouge [Annotator's Note: Baton Rouge, Louisiana]. He stayed with Exxon for 36 years and then retired.

[Annotator's Note: Lawrence J. Delaune, Sr. served on Luzon, Philippines with the 25th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized), 25th Infantry Division.] Many of the times Delaune was on patrol he found sick Japanese. On one or two occasions, his group found a Japanese soldier that was sick but could walk. They would force them to walk back with them to camp and turn them over to authorities. While he was on Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines], a P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] bombed a school that was housing Filipino civilians. He could not believe that they were receiving friendly fire. Many Filipinos were greatly affected by malaria [Annotator's Note: mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite]. His captain was injured when they were training with grenades. Delaune had a couple of close calls when his fellow scout's gun jammed. Delaune had to make a quick move and fire his weapon at the Japanese. He had another incident when he almost got hit by a Japanese sniper. He recalls a time when his unit knew they were walking into a Japanese ambush and they were able to avoid it. Delaune did not think much of the Japanese soldier. He thought they were cruel and not very good fighters. He liked the Filipinos. They were very helpful during their campaign on Luzon. He recalled the Filipinos were so happy to have the Americans and tried to give the troops food.

Lawrence J. Delaune, Sr. believes he matured from his experience in World War 2. He believes the world is losing its religion. He is not impressed with the "greatest generation's" child rearing. He thinks that World War 2 advanced America in many ways through technology and science. He thinks the world has gained better communication since then. He believes the significance of having The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is for a way people to get an idea about the war and what really happened. He believes every young America should visit the museum. It took Delaune some time to adjust back to civilian life. He had night terrors and jumped out of bed. He often had to fight off Japanese during the night while he was camped out. There was an incident where the Japanese tried to get in their camp and the cooks began to fire at them.