Marion Labauve was born in February 1924 in Plaquemine, Louisiana. He was in the depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. He did not have much money. They moved to Gretna, Louisiana. His father worked for the ferry. He was in Gretna when the war started. His ship [Annotator's Note: USS Argonne (AS-10)] was in Pearl Harbor when it started [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], but he was not on the ship until 1943. He was on the USS Argonne (AS-10). He joined the Navy. He went to boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. After boot camp, he got two weeks of leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and then he was sent overseas. They put him in the 8th Naval District in Samson, New York. They had 200 German prisoners there. They did not have room for him so they put him in the ice cream room. There were two Germans for him to take care of. He was a cook and baker in the Navy. He kissed the girl on Broadway in 1945 [Annotator's Note: Labauve is referring to the iconic image of the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square on VJ-Day, 15 August 1945]. The photographer [Annotator's Note: Alfred Eisenstaedt; German-born American photographer and photojournalist] identified the nurse before he died, but not the sailor. He wants to make sure everyone knows where he is. He went aboard his ship in 1943 and was discharged in 1945 at the Naval Air Station in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana].

Marion Labauve went to Avondale Shipyard [Annotator's Note: in Bridge City, Louisiana] after the war. It was dangerous work. He was a ship fitter. He helped build Navy ships in Westwego [Annotator's Note: Westwego, Louisiana]. He worked up and down the canals. When he was overseas he was on the USS Argonne (AS-10) in the Pacific. Every time they took an island over from the Japanese they would go in. They had to have an escort. His ship was built in 1850. New York is a wonderful place. It was a beautiful country. He met a woman there while he was in the Navy. When he left, he went back to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] and Gretna [Annotator's Note: Gretna, Louisiana]. She thought he lived in the swamp. She had a family and she brought them on the train to visit him. She lived in Gretna for a while. She had open-heart surgery in 1980 and passed away. The picture [Annotator's Note: Labauve is referring to the iconic picture of the sailor kissing a woman in a white uniform on VJ-Day, 15 August 1945, in Times Square in New York, New York by German-born American photographer and photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt] was taken on Broadway [Annotator's Note: Broadway Avenue in New York]. The war ended and people were kissing each other. The photographer died before he could meet Labauve. There is a statue in New York and it does not look like him. He worked on Higgin's PT boats [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boats manufactured by Higgins Industries of New Orleans, Louisiana] in New Orleans. It was on Canal Street. He was a painter and then Uncle Sam [Annotator's Note: Uncle Sam is the personification of the United States federal government, typically depicted as an older gentleman sporting a star-spangled top hat and red bow tie] called him and he had to go. He was 17 or 18 years old when he left. His parents were good. He was well raised. He met a woman in school in Gretna. They married. He had three girls and a boy. He lost two girls. He had a good life. The girl from New York was the best. Her name was Althea Shaw Lebauve.

Marion Labauve came out of school in seventh grade. He went to work and worked hard. His first job was working on a tugboat for his uncle. After that, he went to work at the Gretna [Annotator’s Note: Gretna, Louisiana] shipyard. He worked himself up. He worked with a torch. He did not go to school for it, but he picked it up. He learned quickly. He worked for the shipyard after he got out. If his uncle needed help on the tugboat he would go help him. He went to the Philippines. He returned home in 1945. They went to Guadalcanal [Annotator’s Note: The Guadalcanal Campaign ended all Japanese expansion attempts and placed the Allies in a position of clear supremacy]. He did not know what kind of ship he was going to be on. It was a fast ship, the USS Argonne (AS-10). They did underwater welding. They had some close calls. A ship next to his in the Philippines got blown up by a torpedo. An ammunition ship was torpedoed by the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] and it made a lot of noise. Ammunition went off a flew five miles in. Some of the guys that went to go back to the ship got hit by pieces of the ship. The ammunition ship had nothing left. They had an escort in the Pacific and when it blew up pots and pans fell all over the place. He was on the ship for three years. He wanted to make Third Class. All below decks wear it on their left arm. There was no air conditioning on the ship. He enjoyed life. When he left the Philippines he went to Brooklyn, New York.

Marion Labauve went to New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] because he was going to be stationed in Samson, New York [Annotator's Note: Naval Training Station Samson near Seneca Lake, New York]. He was in lake country, way up in the mountains. When the war ended and they discharged him he was in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. Then he went to work for Avondale [Annotator's Note: Avondale Shipyard in Bridge City, Louisiana]. His lady friend from New York came to visit him with her children. He told her if she did not like it there then he would go to New York. He lost two girls. One was on the operating table and the other had a cyst on her side. It happened while he was in New York. In 1955, he married the girl in New York. He lived on the river [Annotator's Note: Mississippi River] in Gretna [Annotator's Note: Gretna, Louisiana]. Every time a ship went by, he would try to remember the name and spell it. An old man from New York thought something was wrong with him. They had to explain nothing was wrong with him. He had a good life. The good Lord took care of him. He and his son used to volunteer for the old fire department in Gretna. They would jump on the fire engine at Davy Crockett [Annotator's Note: David Crockett Steam Fire Company 1 on Lafayette Street in New Orleans, Louisiana] and ride to the fires. In 1951, his daughter married a Treme [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to verify identity] and they had three children.