U.S. researcher to feature N.B. Acadian soldiers on WW2 podcast

For two decades, Jason Theriot has been researching the Second World War experiences of French-speaking soldiers from his home state of Louisiana.

The Houston-based lawyer and historian said those soldiers had a unique wartime experience, one that was very different from other U.S. soldiers.

"It began with the Louisiana National Guard companies that were sent to North Africa in 1942 ... an entire battalion of four companies of which 99 per cent of those men grew up speaking French as their primary language," Theriot said in a phone interview from Texas.

"Many of them did not even know English when they went into the National Guard in 1940.

And so by the time they landed in North Africa, the military specifically put them in positions where their language skills could be used."

The region consisted of several French colonies, and the ability to speak the language was incredibly valuable.

Known as "Frenchies" to U.S. troops, Theriot said the Cajuns found themselves in a position they weren't used to, given Louisiana banned the speaking of French in 1921.

"They would have been ashamed to call themselves Cajuns in the 1920s," he said.

"We know this from newspaper stories, from letters, from, you know, from the literature. But the term "Frenchie" was the name given to the Cajuns by military commanders and by their comrades. "Frenchie" was a term of endearment."

Their importance grew during the invasion of France and Belgium, and Theriot set out to track down as many surviving Cajun soldiers as possible to preserve their stories.

Theriot's focus has widened from southern Louisiana in the last year or so, partly because of a conversation with Noella De Maina, who works with the Canadian Consulate in Dallas.

"She said 'Jason, can you find an Acadian World War Two veteran in Acadia, have them interviewed, or better yet, bring them down to the World War Two museum in New Orleans along with some of your Cajun World War Two veterans, and let's put on a big symposium, a big commemorative event.'"

Theriot found Alphonse Vautour of Shediac, who was 102 years old. Vautour served with the North Shore Regiment, going ashore on D-Day driving a Bren gun carrier, a small machine-gun-armed armoured vehicle.

Vautour did agree to be interviewed, but he didn't make last April's ceremony in Louisiana, passing away just a month before the event.