Leo Terrebonne was born in Westwego, Louisiana in 1923, the third of three children. Both of his parents were Cajuns. [Annotator's Note: After being expelled from Eastern Canada's Maritime Provinces between 1755 and 1764, many French Acadians were recruited by the Spanish government to migrate to colonial Louisiana where they became known as Cajuns.] His father was employed all through the Great Depression, and the family managed financially. He was 18 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and he wanted to join the service immediately, but he was underage, and his mother would not sign for him to leave home. His view is that the European and Pacific theaters of war constituted two separate wars for America. His military career brought him as far away from home as he had ever been.

Leo Terrebonne went to work in 1942 for Higgins Industries at the Industrial Canal Plant. He was out of school, and Higgins was hiring. To get the job, Terrebonne joined a union as a carpenter's helper. He was soon promoted to second-class carpenter, and felt he was making good money constructing gun turrets for PT boats. Terrebonne remembers that while he worked at Higgins, they built PT-109, the boat on which President John F. Kennedy served. Although Terrebonne would see Andrew Higgins around the plant, he never actually met the man. Working at a defense plant, Terrebonne felt he was carrying his weight in the war effort. Terrebonne was employed at Higgins for nine months, until the draft requirement was lowered from 20 to 18 years of age. Terrebonne was drafted into the Army just after his nineteenth birthday.

Leo Terrebonne was sent to Fort Crockett near Galveston, Texas for seven weeks of basic training, after which he was a medic in the base hospital there. He was then transferred by train to Camp Claiborne near Alexandria, Louisiana. He had played coronet in his high school band, and while qualifying for combat, he became the engineer' company bugler. On his 20th birthday, he went out on a week-long training maneuver that included a 20-mile hike, clearing land and building a one-mile road, and spending Thanksgiving in a pup tent in the woods. At Christmas, he was put on alert that his unit [Annotator's Note: Company C, 1st Battalion, 1302nd Engineer General Service Regiment] would be going overseas.

Leo Terrebonne was assigned to the 1302nd Engineer General Service Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, and he endured a difficult sea passage to England in late January 1944. Stationed in n Birmingham, England, he was bugler and runner for the company commander. Servicemen had more privileges while overseas. He would go to dances that began at 11 in the morning. Terrebonne didn't drink alcohol, and spent his money on the dance hall entrance fees. He met a girl there who eventually, after a complicated approval process, became his wife. He was in England until February 1946, guarding German prisoners of war.

Leo Terrebonne was discharged as a Private First Class [Annotator's Note: PFC] in 1946, and went back into the workforce when he returned from service. He started in the office at Celotex Corporation, then became a toolmaker in the maintenance department. After a layoff, he moved to a position he really liked in the sheet metal shop. He retired as a first class sheet metal worker after 43 years on the job. Terrebonne's wartime experiences taught him to be more independent. He thinks his time in the medical corps helped him know how to care for his second wife when she was in poor health. Looking back on his life, Terrebonne credits his love of learning with getting him through. He follows his mother's philosophy in treating others as he would like to be treated, and he likes being treated well.