The French speaking soldiers of Avoyelles who helped save their ancestral land.

Avoyelleans in the First World War

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Hundreds of young men from Avoyelles Prish, Louisiana served duing the war, many in the trenches of the Ardenes between France and Belgium. The war brought them back to their ancestral land. Most of the men from Avoyelles spoke French as their primary language and were key in communicating while in Europe. The war ended in 1918 on November 11th, a day that became celebrated as Armistice Day and is now remembered every year as Veteran's Day. The purpose of this book is to list and gather as many portraits of these men from Avoyelles Parish who served during the war. Over 800 men and women are listed, with over 100 portraits or illustrations.
Born and raised in Texas to a French Creole father and a Louisiana Anglo-Saxon mother, Randy Decuir has spent his adult life in his father's native Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. Authoring his first book at age 18, he has an intense interest in regional history and recording the undocumented history and descendants of of the forgotten French Creole first settlers of Louisiana.

He has been in the small newspaper industry his entire career, including publishing the Avoyelles Journal which he founded at age 23. The Journal remains one of the largest free circulation newspapers in the state of Louisiana. A graduate of LSU in journalism, he and his wife Susan have three children and four grandchildren. They enjoy life along the bayous and rivers of Louisiana.

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