Category: Landry

There is something about that title “Grampa’s Got a Gun” that has a ring to it.  I’m not sure what it is.  Maybe it’s just the alliteration.  I like the photo as well.  I’ve posted other photos of my paternal grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. in World War I – aka Pee Paw in the Big One – and this is the first one that shows him with a gun.  It is from the A. J. Collection, which means that I got it from my uncle AJ earlier this year.

My grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. is the tall one on the right in the photo. It was taken at Camp Lee in Virginia.

It’s such a good photo, too.  So clear and in focus that you can see that Pee Paw is the only one that is not wearing gloves.  Did the southern boy not know how to dress for cold weather or did he just not like wearing gloves?

It was taken at Camp Lee in Virginia which is near Petersburg, Virginia.  This was a training site for soldiers during World War I.  I’m saying that it was at Camp Lee because that is what was written on the photo.  The photo also had a date of 1919 on it.  This does not match with the 1917 date I had on other photos of Pee Paw at this camp.  One of these days I will get incontrovertible proof of when he was stationed at Camp Lee.  In the meantime let’s just say it was sometime around 1918.

And everybody knows what happened in 1918, right?  There was a worldwide influenza epidemic.  In looking for information for this post, I saw that during that epidemic 10,000 soldiers were stricken by the flu, and 700 of those died as a result.  So some of these men went to train to fight in a huge international conflict but ended up dying before they completed training because they caught a flu virus.  Known as “The Spanish Flu” and “La Grippe” this version of the flu killed more soldiers than were killed through warfare.

So Pee Paw made it through the Great War.  He did not see action, but he was faced with the greatest killer at that time.  He survived that microscopic enemy, and that gun didn’t help him a single bit.

I still like the title, though.

Since this weekend is Father’s Day, I thought I would post something about my father’s family.  Besides, it’s about time!  I’ve posted so much about the Bucklin and Keys families that I feel like I’m way overdue for a Landry post.

The Landry boys circa 1939

Besides, I really like this photo.  I wish I had it!  Like other photos that I’ve posted on here, the original is in the hands of someone else.  And as you know, blah, blah, blah…I’d like to get a good scan of it.  I really need to stop repeating myself.

Anyway, this photo was taken around 1939 and it was probably taken in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  Since this is a Father’s Day post, I’ll introduce everyone in relation to that holiday.

On the left is Alcide Joseph Landry, who we all know as Uncle A. J.  He was born on June 20, 1924, and he is the oldest son.  He is married to Margie Harrington Landry and he is the father of Reda.  She was actually Margie’s niece, I believe, but he is a father to her nonetheless.

Next in line is Robert Joseph Landry, Sr., who we know by various names – Papa, Pee Paw, Pappy, Bob, Rob, The WWI Slabster – the list goes on.  He was born on January 9, 1893.  He married Germaine Erie Patureau in 1921 (with no photos to record it that I am aware of!) who was his first cousin’s daughter.  He was the father of Marie, A. J., Hubert, Germaine, Bob, Wana, Frances, and Johnny.

Speaking of Johnny, he is the little boy in this photo.  He was born John Alfred Xavier Landry on August 2, 1936.  He was married to Sondra Lee and he is the father of Mona, Mike, and Mitch.  Plus he has the added distinction of being the godfather of yours truly.

My father is the next one in the photo.  He was born January 31, 1929, and was given the name Robert Joseph Landry, Jr.  He was called Bobbie by his siblings, then later went by the nicknames Pluto and Bob.  He was married to Betty Lou Bucklin and he was the father of Jodie, Rob, Karen, Al, Van (that’s me!), and Jamie.  This will be our first Father’s Day without him.

On the far right of the photo is Hubert Joseph Landry.  He was born on November 1, 1925, and married Mildred Sutherlin.  He was the father of Shirley, Hugh, Kenny, Dennis, and Marla.  Shirley is special.  (She’s my godmother.  I have to say that.)

So there you have it – The Landry Boys who were some of the fathers in our Landry family.  I consider myself fortunate that I had a stable family that was anchored by a loving father and mother.  Thanks, Daddy.

The Robert J. Landry, Jr. family in 1969

I’m posting this photo because Siblings Day was this week and I’ve been missing my parents recently.  I was looking for a family photo that I hadn’t posted before and thought about this one.  How is it that this photo has not been online before?  It is so quintessential Landry Family.  It was taken in 1969 and that fact caused me to reminisce about that year.  So many transitional things were happening that year beside just the obvious one of changing from the 60s to the 70s.

In January of 1969 the music group the Beatles had their last live gig together shortly before Richard Nixon became the nation’s president.  In February the population of the USA broke 200 million and it witnessed the first flight of those infamous flying machines – the 747 – that would become commercial the following year.  In March tensions about the Vietnam War lead Nixon to promise that the US would end their involvement by the following year.  April showers bring May flowers.  In this case, two computers at universities in California were able to send messages to one another and now we have the interweb.

In May of 1969 people were able to see themselves in a different way.  They were able to see color photos of the Earth taken from space.  And I’m sure as a direct correlation to that, Disney World began construction.  June was the saddest month of all to me.  The last episode of “Star Trek” was aired.  What?  No more views of that glorious Enterprise soaring through the cosmos?  (An Enterprise that I recently found out was built by my mom’s first cousin.  A mind-blowing fact for a Trekkie like me!)  Sure there was a new TV show called “Hee Haw” and the Stonewall riots were that month, but those events did not soothe me at the time.  I was a bit soothed in July when the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon and traipsed around with their dusty footprints.  I remember getting stickers of the different space missions from cereal boxes and putting them on a shelving unit in our bedroom.

August of 69 was the month of Woodstock and the Manson “family” murders.  More on that later.  In September the first ATM was introduced and in October PBS was begun.  Yes, there was a time before ATM machines and PBS.  In November “Sesame Street” was introduced to the world.  On the science front Harvard researchers were able to isolate a single gene, which is particularly notable since I am involved in genetic genealogy.  To end the year, December called for the first draft lottery since World War II.

Yet in a small town in the Deep South, there was a nuclear family that went about its daily business almost as if in a protective bubble.  I’m talking about the Robert J. Landry, Jr. family in Jennings, Louisiana.  It consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Landry, Jr. and their six children.  (That was her name!  She got letters addressed that way and she signed our report cards the same way.)  In 1969 our ages were from 7 to 16.  It was the prime time for our little nuclear family.

Daddy turned 40 at the beginning of the year and Mom was still in her 30s.  None of us had started wearing glasses nor dating anyone seriously.  It was just Mom and Dad and six kids in a three bedroom house.  That’s right.  Three boys in two beds in one room and three girls in one bed in the other.  It was as cozy as could be until one brother decided to light a match with a bunch of fuses next to him!

By the way, on the back row is Jodie, Rob, Karen and Al.  In the front is Bob, Betty, Van (me), and Jamie.  A moment frozen in time.  So different than the events in the outside world in August of that year.  When I thought of posting this photo before, it was always with the idea of posting a photo from Woodstock along with it.  And the Manson “family” was not like the family that I experienced.  As I said at the beginning, the 60s were ending and the 70s were beginning.  Change is inevitable.