Andrew Leblanc, Junior was born in July 1926 in McCall [Annotator's Note: McCall, Louisiana]. He had seven sisters and five brothers. He was the last of six children. His father managed a plantation that was near a sugar mill. McCall Plantation was supposed to be the biggest plantation in the South. They grew sugar cane and took it to the mill to grind it into sugar. His mother stayed home to raise the kids. They lived out in the country just down from the sugar mill. The school bus picked them up. He left school in the eighth grade. Then he went to a school in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. He used to go to the dance halls for fun. He was at home when Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was attacked. His brothers were in the service. One was in the Navy the other in the Army. He joined the service when he was 18 years old. He went to Little Rock [Annotator's Note: Little Rock, Arkansas] for his training.

Andrew Leblanc joined the Army because most of his friends were in the Army. He did not pick the Navy because he did not like the water or the uniforms. He signed up in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] and went to Camp Robinson [Annotator's Note: in North Little Rock, Arkansas] for basic training. Basic was tough, but it helped him. He was there for 17 weeks. He trained as a combat soldier. They trained six days a week. On Sundays, they could go to church. They trained at night as well. When they were allowed to, they would go out and have fun. He was next in Riverside, California for advanced training. Then he went to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] to get on a ship for 30 days. He was assigned to combat infantry in San Francisco. Then he was on his way to the Philippines. They did not get off the ship in Hawaii when they stopped to refuel. It was hot in the Pacific. He wanted to sleep on the deck, but they had to stay out of the way of the sailors.

Andrew Leblanc was shipped to the Philippines. He lived in a pup tent [Annotator's Note: also called a shelter-half, type of partial tent designed to provide temporary shelter or concealment]. He had to dig a trench around the tent. The tents had two parts one man carried half the other carried the rest. The Filipinos liked them [Annotator's Note: the Americans]. The soldiers would give them candy bars and other stuff. He was in the Philippines for over a year. He had 21 points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] when it was time to go home. When the war was over, they were rounding up the Japanese and sending them home. He thought the Japanese were skinny. Only a few of them could understand English. They were soldiers doing what they were told to do. When he went home, he stayed in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] for a while. He used the GI Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment]. He was not college material. The United States government treated him well. He went to trade school. He got a check for going to school. He was paid enough to get by for about a year. He went to one of their schools in order to get paid. He worked for the Texas Pacific Railroad. He would catch a train in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] and then go to Alexandria [Annotator's Note: Alexandria, Louisiana]. His wife did not like how much he was on the road. After that, he changed to pipe fitting and welding. He retired at 62 years old. He hurt his knee in the Philippines. They took the kneecap off and put it back on.

Andrew Leblanc never had trouble. He kept his nose clean. He always did what he had to do, and he was a good soldier. The service made him grow up. He thinks the kids today should have military training. In training, they learned to take orders as they should. He worked KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] a lot. The kids today would be different people if they had to take military training. World War 2 helped America become a better country. He respects his country and his flag. He took military training at Camp Robinson [Annotator's Note: in North Little Rock, Arkansas]. When he was in the Philippines, he was serving the United States. He was a welder and a pipe fitter. He thinks if kids do not want to go to college, then they need to go to work. He wonders where his friends in the service went to after the war. He had their backs, and they had his back. He wonders if they had a good life. They stayed together and took care of each other during the war. People are not like that today. He had a sergeant that was hard on him. When he separated from the service, he never saw any of the men he served with. His brother Lester was in Europe during the war. His brother came back different. Some men took it hard, and they carried it with them.