From the Files ... July 1943

From files of The Eunice News
July 1943

Sgt. Clarence P. McGee, son of Clarence McGee, Jr. and nephew of Mrs. Burleigh McManus, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for action with the Army Air Corps in India-Burma.

Paratrooper Henry Cummings, 22, spent 70 hours fighting behind enemy lines after he and another soldier were separated from their unit in a drop over Sicily. The last 12 miles of their return to Allied ground was covered crawling to avoid enemy detection. Cummings is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cummings.

A new Eunice bank is being organized and will open in the fall. Dr. Harry Jenkins is president. Directors are Jenkins, J.C. Keller, C.A. Mornhinveg, E.A. Veillon, L.C. Amy, Wesley H. Clanton and George Bradley. The bank will be known as Tri-Parish Bank & Trust.

St. Landry Bank report its deposits rose from $2.7 million to $4.2 million in the year ending June 30.

The Eunice Ration Board has been organized with George Stagg chairman. It has a Tire Panel and a Price Board. Secretaries are C.E. Hebert and Mrs. R.S. Parrot, Sr.

A citizen who asks his name not be used has erected a Victory Arch on Hwy. 190 about 1,000 feet west of the road and about four miles west of the city. It is 13 feet high with bell hanging in the center under the words “We’ll Ring Again.” It is “Dedicated to Our Boys.”

I.A. Gashia, Southern Bell manager here, is asking customers to limit long-distance calls to five minutes due to heavily loaded circuits.

Opelousas Mayor Martin A. Roy, 38, drowned while on a fishing trip at Petite Prairie Bayou with his wife and daughter and friends. He and a friend left the houseboat to fish in a smaller boat, which collided with another. Roy could not swim.

Chisolm Drug Store has photos of almost 300 Eunice men and women in the armed services on display in its store windows.