Bob Landry Circa 1945
Robert Joseph “Bob” Landry, Jr circa 1945 probably in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
I wasn’t sure what to write about this week until this photo of my dad caught my attention. I wasn’t sure about it, because I don’t really have much to say about it. But it kept calling to me, so I’m going along with it. It’s not a photo that I am overly familiar with. I don’t remember where it came from and I don’t remember seeing it when I was younger. It was a photo of my dad that he must have liked. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have kept it.
I estimate that it was taken around 1945. Robert Joseph “Bob” Landry, Jr. was born on January 31, 1929. I’m thinking he looks around 16 years old based on other photos of him through the years. That would put him as about a junior in high school. His family lived in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and he went to school at Landry Memorial Senior High School.
His junior high and high school years occurred during World War II. He graduated from high school less than a year after the war ended. My dad was in ROTC from 1942-1944. I commented once that I didn’t know why he had done that, but it must have been because of the war. The ROTC program was instrumental in training officers for the war effort.
Another influence of the war was that there was a shortage of teachers at the schools. It was the time that young Bob Landry became really interested in band music. He learned how to play the baritone and several other instruments. He taught himself for the most part and at some point, he began teaching other students at his school. He continued teaching music to people for the rest of his life. He always said that anybody could learn music. He never changed his mind about that even when rock and roll became popular. He would call a lot of it “trash,” so he really didn’t consider it music. He would say that they might sound good if they sang instead of all of that yelling.
I often wonder what it was like during World War II at the time this photo was taken. The fighting was pretty intense in several places and the outcome was uncertain. Things could have turned out so differently. When I think of that backstory for this photo, it gives it a different look. Context is important.