arlington national cemetery. an6:00 p.m., we visit american cemetery in france, the final resting place for 14,000 american soldiers. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, president trump at the world war i ceremonies in paris. on c-spanterans day, and american history tv on c-span3. >> next, an american history tv exclusive. out cities to her visits a lake charles, louisiana to learn more about its history and literary life. we traveled to cities bringing the literary scene and historic sites to our viewers. you can watch more of our visit at c-span.org/citiestour. >> lake charles is a very unusual town. it's unusual in the sense of the

south, unusual in the sense of louisiana. it doesn't have a plantation economy. it has the civil war issue it has to drag with it. it's a town that's reinvented itself a number of times to make it work. >> we took a driving tour of the city. >> thank you for showing us around lake charles. tell us about your ties to lake charles. >> i was born here, been here for 45 years, native of eastern louisiana. department of labor. doing that, had to learn the community, had to learn the industry, the history. with the history background from lsu, you become interested in where you are. >> i can't wait to hear about the history. tell me about the city today. >> lake charles is about 30 miles from the gulf, 30 miles from the great state of texas. it's a town sort of on the

cusp of french louisiana, english louisiana. of population of about 80,000. traditionally, it was a blue-collar town. it started as a cowboy town. through the lumbering industry, through petrochemical and now, ads to what we find wonderful mixed economy that includes a fair amount of gaming and recreation. >> should we see it? >> let's see it. this corner of louisiana was no man's land. it wasn't part of the louisiana purchase so for 50-60 years, that served as a buffer between the united states and the empire of spain. thatmeant this was an area has quite a bit of use as a refuge for scoundrels and pirates.

-- knew most of the early senators. we're talking about the late 1700s, early 1800s, 1803. that's the period,. he was responsible for 25% of the trade in the mississippi valley. he would relocate people for money. he dealt with all sorts of commodities. it wasn't just the gold and silver. we're not talking about johnny depp here. we're on lakeshore drive. we're going to convert into kelsey drive. you're actually seeing the lake. lake charles was named for charles bellier, one of those peoples brought to this area. it was the wrong side in the french revolution. had to escape europe and came west and push further west into louisiana and settled along the

bodies of this particular short. you can see the working side of the lake. >> tell me about that. i'm seeing refineries, the petroleum industry. >> huge petroleum refining industry. petrochemicals, two major oil refineries. they are both located here, among the top 10 refineries in the unit states. >> is that the city's biggest economic driver? >> the biggest now is the casinos, in terms of payroll. >> we can get a glimpse of them. >> there is one casino out there. theother two casinos are on port of lake charles property. and actually, they're billion-dollar investment in southeastern louisiana is part of what moves the economy now. we are moving from a blue-collar economy to essentially a more

mixed economy that includes a lot of resorts and hospitality industry. and now we're seeing a little bit of the river. it's the lifeblood of the area. it allows the port to exist. it provides for recreational activities up and down. >> let me ask about the relationship with water, particularly with whether -- with weather. [inaudible] >> we actually are designing buildings to be much sturdier than they were before. so houses that have withstood decades of existence are doing fine. the thing is, new construction also has to meet the requirements of fema. this body of water will be affected. storm surges come right on up to this body of water. we do get flooding periodically. >> with that affect like done

here? one thing people can't notice as they are watching, it's hot. >> it is very hot and humid. we do have 100 degree days and occasionally 100% timidity. -- humidity. >> [inaudible] >> the most humid city in america. life to of design your live inside during the summer and outside during other seasons. charlescts north lake to south lake charles. it's the main drive of the city. >> what would this have looked like early in the city's history and how has it evolved? >> early on, it would essentially have been wooden buildings, like a wild west town. closely and built of pine and cyprus, originally

turpentine. fire10, the great demolished most of lake charles, leaving us with several souvenirs, including the 1911 city hall and the wonderful courthouse. these buildings were wonderful pieces of architecture that remind us you've got to build well, built strong, and build for the future. that's what they did. that's how -- most of lake charles fell victim. most of these apartments were put in today, in 2018, we've seen one generation renewal of all this. it's now a fairly lively streetscape with wonderful additions, post rita additions, improved utilities and cable and all of that other stuff that has been added to enhance the

downtown experience. it's sort of a mecca for new entertainment music and other venues, a lot of entrepreneurial energy is being spent downtown. we're going to go right to the river and see how close lake charles is to the wilderness. and we're going into the industrial part of lake charles. all these vacant lots would have been covered with sawmills, constructions shops, mill work fabricators, using the lumber that would have been harvested along the river. you can see we get closer to the river and you can see the trees, both sides of the river. what you typically associate with louisiana. >> right. eye now we -- and now we're going to follow the river. >> we are on the river.

>> you're in the water. this is what, on the northern bank, this is what early settlers would have seen along the river back then in the day. this would have been filled with cut lumber, clothing, logs floating on the river waiting for the sawmills and the mill shops of lake charles. >> interesting to me how quickly we went from downtown to hear. >> downtown to will notice. -- to wilderness. it does define the city. you're sort of a remote urban outpost in the middle of nowhere when you look at the map. and you can go from urban lake charles to this almost instantaneously. and no matter what direction you go out of the city, you can do that. >> we've seen the refineries,

the casinos, the downtown. and now this picturesque you. if there's anything you want to know about lake charles to live on the other side of the country, what would that be? >> i've always found it to be a good place to live. one ofry self-reliant, the best experiences of that was after the horrible year of rita when everybody was focused on the horrible things in new orleans. lake charles essentially rose up. it's a town that doesn't wait. will roll uphat its sleeves and work. and that's good. i think that's a very good thing. >> thank you so much for showing us around lake charles. >> my pleasure. >> up next, we're on board one of the two destroyers that

invites visitors on board the ship. we'll take you on a tour and show you how they launch for peter was at an enemy ships. -- torpedoes at enemy ships. >> when the guys come with their families, the view of the ship, smell of the ship, brings back memories. most of them say this is where i became a man. it was built 31 miles to the west in orange, texas. it was launched in >> we believe it was the last destroyer finished while the war was still going on. victory in europe today was the eighth of may, 1945. in the ship was launched on the 12th of may.

after themissioned japanese had surrendered. while thethe water pacific war was still going on. during the korean war, it did shore bombardment. it was part of what was called the train buster club. it got for battle stars during the korean war. were smallers ships that would defend the larger ships. travel in a fleet around the aircraft carriers and the battleships. one of their job was to defense the aircraft carriers.

and keep the enemy away from those larger ships that are delivering the other weapons systems. over the years, the destroyers did a lot of different things. we forget about the past space spacecraftere we had splashing down in the ocean. spacecraft splashing down in the ocean. athletes would be in the area to cap the astronaut. normally a destroyer would come and pick up the space capsule. it never got a chance to pick up a gemini capsule because it was sent to vietnam to fire on the gun line. we are on the stern of the ship. this is the area where we have mount.t -- aft gun

diameter five inch projectile that it shoots. the projectile weighs about 56 pounds. these are multipurpose weapons because they can shoot up in the air toward airplanes, they can shoot down at the water at ships , and they can shoot a distance of over 10 miles. off the coastsit of korea or vietnam and shoot at land. these are the gun mounts. you had for men in the middle here, too loading each gun -- two loading each gone. up projectile would come through here.

they would move around and load it. actually, i am turned backwards. they loaded up in here. i heard the record was 50 rounds and a minute. means 25 bullets fired from each gun within a minute. that is probably a very specially trained team that are trying to set a record. typically, i think it is more like 10 or 12 rounds a minute. we are on the deck. this is a rocket launcher right here. it would launch rockets that carry torpedoes or depth charges. it could drop those weapons in the ocean to destroy enemy submarines.

now we are going to proceed back toward the magazine. where they store the rockets and the torpedoes. we have big racks for the rockets. submarinewe have torpedoes. soundould home and on the of a submarine and chase after it. for 12, maybe 15 if they stacked up on the top. hopefully you only needed one. these were carried by a drone helicopter, which is out on the helicopter deck. this is the remote control for the helicopter. would have a man operating that remote control that would get the helicopter in the air and off. then when its return to the ship, he would land it. now we will proceed out to the

helicopter deck. out here is one of our drone helicopters. this is a weapons system that was designed by a company in new york. this model could carry two torpedoes. this helicopter could be sent off to where they detected enemy submarines and drop torpedoes and destroy enemy submarines. this is a 1962 drawn. -- drone. that is why it is so big and bulky. to lift torpedoes, you had to have a pretty strong system. itself ways over 900 pounds. they would be pretty effective because it could develop --

thever torpedoes near to target. showast area i want to review is combat information center. this is where you had the radar men stationed at each of these radar units. they are picking up objects out there at sea or possibly enemy targets. this information is being plotted on the big board back in the corner. officers up here would be making enemy,ns if these are what weapons would be fired at certain enemy targets. is there in this room control system and computer for aiming the rockets and firing the rockets. equipment tos select a weapon, to get it's

ready, and then when they were ready to fire it, they would go to standby. and then they would go to fire. and the rockets would be fired. an attack, there would be two people stationed here, maybe a third one talking on the telephone. or twobably an officer instructing the men and overseeing the actions of the men. you also have sonar back here which is detecting the enemy submarines. that would be the information they would be using to aim the rockets. in a battle situation, this is really where you are controlling the battle. the officers and men are controlling some of the main weapon systems. not only the rockets launcher in the torpedoes, but also they

would be instructing the men and the gun mounts on firing the guns. this is really where you are controlling the weapon systems and the battle you are in. i hope visitors come and get an appreciation for the ship's history and the men who have served aboard her and ships like her. and share this with their children and future generations. it is really important that we anderve this naval history honor the sacrifice of those who went before us. >>mossville was a once thriving community located right outside of lake charles. not it is surrounded by chemical manufacturing companies. so many of the residents have left and what one company is doing to preserve its history.

>> this area here at one time was 50 or 60 homes. everywhere you see driveways here was homes. the once thriving african american community of mossville, located north of st. charles, is disappearing. >> our family was such a close-knit family. my grandmother lived across the street. baby sister lived behind my grandmother. my oldest sister lived around the corner. another sister lived in the back.

this family was here. when i was small, you could come over here and go to the back door. and my momas home needed a cup of sugar, she would have me walk down to his someone's house. i would walk in the kitchen, get what i needed, and go back home. i was taught to trust and not do anything you are not supposed to. at one time, this was a beautiful, wonderful community. we had everything that there was. there were families, church, school, grocery stores. people began to get better jobs. it showed them they could be better in the future for the next generation. mossville is a 150-year-old african-american community that

was established by freed slaves. -- area was actually farms formed 1865 when the white settlers freed their slaves. governmenttime, the started the homestead act which acresgive citizens 160 and a mule. the land fored to three or four years, then it would become yours. the community began to grow from there. , when people area first came here, there were a lot of wild hogs.

once the mosses moved in, that's when they changed the name to mossville. >> as the community began to grow, descendents of the began to get the area more justified. gentrified. there was a post office. grocery stores. a nightclub. all the comforts of a community. the area is an industrial area. you have a number of large expandies that began to

and purchase property. , ithe people began to leave became more of an industrial area. some people left and went to lake charles. >> when did people start moving out of the community? when did the buyouts start happening? ago.obably about 20 years of conocoart phillips. a lot of the history started in ssvilleea as far as mo and the mossville residence. thereconoco expanded, were actually homes here.

that was one of the first buyouts that the refineries did. families on both sides of this road. conos bought to expand for co. the development that you have seen recently happened in the last five years. 2013 to startand their buyouts. not a force out. i do not want anyone to misinterpret. it was on a volunteer basis. you had a choice to either stay or accept the buyouts that they offered. arebout how many companies operating right around this area? >> i would say within a 10 mile radius there is conoco phillips,

sasol, ppg. i would say about 15. >> what are most of those companies making? here,t of the companies ppg is paint. gas. oil. vinyl. chlorine. sasol is a chemical manufacturing company. ofy are in the process expanding their chemical plant. the final and products prior to the expansion were the turgeon alkalites.t ultimately ending up in final gamble. of proctor and

thinks like dishwashing powders. the company felt that it needed to address the surrounding communities. mossville is one of those. so we went to the community leadership. nownvironmental action group. we did a community needs assessment. one of the things they said was give us the opportunity to move. >> i was among the first to move. because i was never one to stand in the way of progress. i figured it would be done. generate for to

generations to come. i was living in a 40-year-old home. i knew the value. what i was getting offered for it was much more than it was worth for me to stay. i would have to have stayed and the fight progress. and that was not me. >> the company purchase program was a program that paid a premium for properties in the ille area.-- mossv your residence would be looked at by trained appraisers that you selected. appraisals and average them. after those two appraisals were averaged, we would give an offer

either the appraised value plus 60% premium. if the appraised value was less assign a,000, we could value of $100,000 plus 60%. so we tried to do all the things we could think of to position to residents in mossville have a good experience in the move if they decided to move. >> bank were trying to be neighborly. they did not want to say they were going to build on top of us

of not offer us anything. some of the property may just a vacant. i am not sure what they are going to do with it if they don't use it. they first of was all wanted to be neighborly. you can see where their expansion is. within a mile of most people here. to me, they did not just want to toe in and not be neighborly offer you to get out of harm's way. here this is what is left of our home. it had been here for over 80 years. it was my mother's father's property. that was our front porch. i lived behind my mother and father.

i walked from here many days to school. i told them i have footprints under this asphalt. because i was born and raised here. lived most of my life. the mt. zionching baptist church. one of the oldest baptist churches in the parish. it has been here over 160 years. this is not the original. at the museum you can see some pictures of the original small church. one thing it has is a graveyard. my parents are buried here. a lot of my family. there are some graves here that

go back to the 1800s. my family plot is back in the back. we had a number that decided not to move. they wanted to stay. they love to their house. they left their community. they did not want the hassle of moving. was individual driven. >> why did some people choose to say? >> some people just have the love. some people who are gone probably would have stayed if the conditions had allowed us to. said, a lot of people have the understanding, you are not really sure what is going to happen.

this particular corner here was fellows byold, old the name of braxton. some of them are still here. some of the great granddaughters still live in the property. >> we had an empowerment process. this meant we had a lot of conversations with a lot of people that led up to them accepting and moving and so forth. in this conversations, a number of individuals, a number of residents, the first resident to said you need to build a museum. to capture all of this history. it is a unique place. >> i actually was having lunch

with the plant manager and the 's mission is to preserve the unique culture and history of this area. which certainly included mossv ille. so i asked if he had any plans to preserve the history that is not disappearing. and he asked me what i would do. and i told him. and i wrote a proposal. and here we are. the first thing you would say is this tombstone. so we anchor it with that. then we go with the names of the nine founding families. and we have pictures under each name that the people provided us to show descendents. and we get more every day.

this has been open a year. people will come in and tell us they have something like a picture. we happily take anything we can get. over 100-year-old community. it is worthwhile to preserve the erve this that -- pres history so people will come and no there was once a place with this life. the thing i would want mossville to be remembered as is a community with ambitious ancestors that laid the groundwork to be a good community. as being aemembered

self-sufficient community with a lot of ambitious, hard-working people. >> c-span is in lake charles, louisiana, learning about the city's history. museum.mardi gras ♪ ♪ ♪ are museum houses the largest collection of mardi gras

costumes in the world. costumesn display 290 or more. in storage we have approximately 300 costumes. wonderful,as is a crazy, colorful time of the year when people get together to socialize and let their hair down. ♪ it is a french tradition. state went tothis france to go to school and came back and put on a celebration that mimicked what they saw and france. mardi gras is actually a before the coming of lent. it starts on january 6, which is the opening. thes the starting of carnival season.

every year it changes based on the lunar schedule -- calendar. s aref our mardi gras krewe the groups of people who get together to socialize and entertain their guests before the coming of lent. lake charles is a small city, but we have grown by leaps and bounds through mardi gras. to 72 inrom two krewes the. of about 30 years. and it is still growing. traditionally around 200 people. celebration in

lake charles is second to new orleans. -- it is in asd much gaiety and celebration as in new orleans, just in a family-style. we have taken some treasures out of closets to share with you today. >> the first room we will view is our captains room. krewe arens of each the directors. to become a captain, you are basically one of the first organizers of the krewe. the person who came up with the concept for the name. a lot of time they are basically the main character of the theme for that year for the ball. their customs will go along with the theme.

for example, this custom right here, their theme was egypt. we have the egyptian birds, the , and thesphinx egyptian cobra's. the same page. the one in contact with the music director and the lightning director. throughout our museum we have quite a few. large costumes. this one here is a chinese dragon. plain,stume mate look but for 1962 it was very elaborate. on ingras is put washington dc every year for the president. is a king and queen

and their mardi gras costumes. is them andure civilian clothes with president kennedy. the next room we will go into is our design room. these sketches on the walls are the originals. design basic sketch of a that turned into this costume here, which is the captain's costume. puppets on each side of the costume and the puppet master on the top. we have a large for i.t. of styles and costuming and -- variety of styles. of our large costumes can weigh up to 45 pounds. some of those costumes can also be as tall as 20 feet and as wide as 12 feet.

80% of these costumes you arguing here were made locally. may have come out of baton rouge or new orleans. which is still louisiana made. krewe puts on an elaborate ball every year. this is one of my favorite sections of the mardi gras museum. because there are so many different styles and themes to look at. is theme for each ball usually decided one month after mardi gras is over for the next season. they usually start making the costumes one or two months after mardi gras is over in preparation for the next year. here we have an older movie, gone with the wind. some of the other themes can be

locations such as rome, china, or africa. basically.s are worn three times during the year. . they will wear them for their mardi gras ball and the two events we have open to the public. the monday night before mardi gras, we have the royal gala, which features all of the new costumes of that here. the costumes in storage for that here. tiffanyanuary 6, the of epiphany, they will wear them one last time.

one of our many crown jewels here in the museum is our oldest king from lake charles. he was the king of the first contraband. of handsewn.l isrglass trim here considered our parade room -- our last room. kreweggest parade is the of krewes parade. 100-165onsist of up to floats. anyone can come along and parked .he car early in the morning

have a picnic during the day. and wait for the parade. people come to our museum, they get a sense of what mardi gras is all about. the merriment. -- smile with a style on their faces. ♪ c-span is in lake charles, louisiana, learning about the city's history. though he has this historical past that is difficult and problematic, somehow the legendary races that. outlaws, even though they have done things that are

horrible, become celebrated. that is what interests me about jean lafitte. who roamed the louisiana coast and operated a smuggling operation in new orleans. he even shall he left new orleans to come to galveston after the battle of new orleans in 1812. he began to here, develop relationships with a lot of the pioneers in lake charles. but he was from the old world. he had connections in france and spain. governmente american passed the embargo act. it forbade us from trading with those old world countries. that is when he became a smuggler in new orleans.

the residentsat of new orleans had goods from france and spain and britain. the population of new orleans, you have to understand, it is a port city. full of people who had very strong ties to france and spain. they spoke french and spanish in new orleans. for a long time, the city was governed by french and spanish role. rule. once the louisiana purchase happened, jefferson and some other leaders worried about the population of new orleans and what they be loyal to the new american government. legend says that what lafitte possessed that many did not was this incredible skill of navigating waterways. -- knackknack for

getting in and out of waterways that other people could not. he was the boss of a large group of pirates or smugglers. exiles from the old world. occupied that kind of have water area, a place where the authorities could not apprehend him, he was able to maintain the supply of goods. he became famous for that. the new orleans residents really loves him for what he could supply them with an skirt around these laws that they thought were unfair. he became wealthy. e becameis brother pierr well-known smugglers and developed a reputation. , the governor of louisiana at that time wanted to

apprehend left eight -- lafitte. so he passed our handbills in he city that claimed a reward. in.ne would turn lafitte handbillsxt day more showed up calling for the governor's arrest. and the battle of new orleans, he really became a hero. many people feared that the british would take the city because there was not enough manpower to defend it. who rallied his pirates and came to the aid of the city. he donated men. were of those people

former members of napoleon's army. they defended the city. he also gave cannons to defend new orleans. some historians say that he accidentally attacked an american ship. for some reason, he was expelled from new orleans after the battle even though he was a hero to some people. and that is when he went to galveston. this part of louisiana, from the river that runs through lake charles to the river that louisiana, wasnd still up for debate in a sense. the u.s. but they had purchased all of this land. but the spanish government said they had not. there was a long-standing debate about who owns this territory. 4-5 years after the louisiana purchase.

this whole region in western louisiana was basically considered free range. no one was going to patrol the area. he moved here seeing it as a space to operate freely. some of the earliest members of population,' people came here for that same kind of reason. it was a chance to claim land and settle in a place that was relatively free and open. as soon as he came to galveston, according to certain local legends, he began to capture --ps and sees their goods cease their goods.

credit him as being this expert captain and navigator who had the ability to navigate through these waterways. ande are several legends town about the stupendous things he did in the bayous and rivers locally. of the most famous ones is when he was being chased by a to agunner and he went up beach along the lake, he anchored his boat and came .shore he sank the navy ship. people claim there is buried treasure throughout the town. early on he had this reputation for capturing ships and stealing their gold and taking hold of

their contraband and selling it. there was a great deal of what he traded in that were typical commodities. there is also some evidence that he traded in slaves. that becomes a problematic issue for people. many people say he never did. others say it was a historical reality. it is hard to pinpoint how long he was in this area. most people would estimate around 5-10 years. eventually he leaves galveston and according to legend either dies or goes south near mexico. most people say that he died around the late 1820's. most people would say that he was in this part of louisiana for 5-10 years.

the most folk heroes, ending of his story is complex. surrounded in mystery. the historical record might suggest something, but then local legend says something else. he was an outcast. wanteda person who was by various officials. having a clear set of information about what he was doing and what happened could be problematic. >> bo this woman was raised in lake charles. up next, we will take a closer look at her collection that took a lifetime to create. >> beginnings are always interesting. dawns of new eras

are fascinating. the dawns of our little days are most important of all. it is the little things that count. reid was the first public reid was the first public health nurse in the region. she was the daughter and granddaughter of a local family who had a long history here. her grandfather was one of the early sheriffs in the area. more than 100 years of sheriffs were reids in the region. in addition to being a nurse, she was an avid scrapbook or.

scrapbooker. talkof her scrapbooks about the history of lake charles. others have recipes or family histories. she believed in recording in detail the local history of the place. she took great pains to collect materials. to transcribe documents. she went to people's homes and collected their photographs and their diaries. ship with all of that material together in the scrapbooks that cover 100 years of local history. this is her as a young girl. in was born on halloween 1882.

she by all accounts was a precocious young girl. here she is at bellevue hospital. she was called to do something for the local community. she looked at the early doctors around and she saw them as pioneers going out and treating the sick and traveling across the countryside. said my life is slipping away. what can i do to serve others? she decides to become a nurse. she goes to bellevue hospital in new york. at the time, one of the largest and most famous hospitals of the day. she knew she needed experience. around the mid-20's, she comes back to lake charles and against her work as a red cross nurse. got into scrapbooking

after the request of a local doctor. he was contacted by a famous surgeon in new orleans who wanted to write a history of medicine and louisiana. maude began to compile this history and make the scrapbooks. she compiled 13 different scrapbooks. they are organized by different subjects. experiences during world war ii or other doctors or even her personal life. number the scrapbook five that she collected and put together about the history of lake charles. she had a fierce pride in her hometown. show peoplented to and tell people that lake wasles, even though it younger than a place like new orleans, had a history as rich and deep as these other places.

in the late 1940's or early 1950's when lake charles is starting to grow because of rochemical industry. would go back to the earliest memories of lake charles. because of its beauty. golf --access to the gulf. here she says, " this lovely place that left me dumb with delight. the above is a scene and late inths and aing hyac quiet backwater." again she takes

pictures of the lake and puts them in the scrapbook, trying to preserve the beauty of the region that she saw around her. are of courserees one of the most iconic images of louisiana. here you can see she says that after onees was named of the first people in the region. there are a lot of stories about him. a lot of the early pioneers. a lot of the stories involved jean lafitte. he would use the waterways in the lakes to hide out. legend says that once he left new orleans, he came to this region. after the war of 1812 and the battle of new orleans. he comes here and sets up a base in galveston. to make hisrivers

way and word over and over again. ,ike most local historians eid made an effort to document the founders of the town. when industry changed or there was economic development, she took great pains to document it. some of the work that she does is showing the pictures of those most prosperous people in town. the town is built off of the lumber industry and the software industry and the oil industry -- sulphur industry. she also portrays the everyday activities of people. and the 1930's, she is going to document a river baptism in the african-american community.

--ery important the pet affair for this group. ignored.hat is often their houses to take pictures of the most intimate of their religious expressions. alters by italian-americans in st. charles -- lake charles. they are made of bread and fruit and cake to give thanks to st. joseph after the famine. maude reid that the city was a living coming -- breathing entity. it's a special not just because of the natural beauty here and

the founders who made it what that is, but the every day, unique people who contribute to the culture. this is her scrapbook about world war ii. scrapbook number seven. as a red cross nurse, i think the war took a toll on her. special attention to how many local boys were serving in the war. them.at it cost , shean see these pictures would make notations of every single person in the area. writing notes. it is an amazing scrapbook. thewas not only documenting

local community experience with the men fighting in the war, but also its efforts to sustain the war effort. anything about collecting scrap or rationing, she makes an effort to document. here is a picture that she caps off and makes it notation. hysteria swept over the nation after the announcement of president -- death." that visited nearually here. arthur.amed lake he was therefore a duck hunting trip. -- a local boycotts

lost and it was actually roosevelt who found him. that is one of the legends here. waging inwar was europe, american officials in the war department realized we fored a well-trained force when we would enter into the battle. they realized that louisiana's terrain would give the soldiers many opportunities to train. somewhat than 400,000 soldiers came in to the area to engage in these elaborate wargames. warbiggest names in the including eisenhower were stationed here. general bradley.

famously, general patton. the troops were divided into two forces. a red army and a blue army. they were divided by states. army was arkansas, louisiana, texas, mississippi, alabama. they went to war against the red army. lanes dropped sacks of flour from the air that would show the damage. residents were impressed by the number of men who were here. soldiers camped out everywhere. there were tents and people's backyards. the men who were trained in the region, they were really the first fighting force that were brought into europe. because of their experience. and the leaders like patton and

bradley became the officers that they relied on. that maude scrapbook reid put together of her life. she did this until she passed away in 1978. i think each scrapbook shows you the connection she had to the community. schoolsn would visit and make presentations. here is a note, a letter from a student written to her. reid.mrs. maude today we listened to you on a tape recorder. much."ou ver, very

not only did she speak to these schools and preserve this local history, her work as a nurse gave you an indication of how progressive she was. when she returned here, she work.the public health child's clinic. "this is as it was, in the beginning/"

scrap books that document the lives of the people in and around lake charles, these ceremonies, important contributions that local families have made, in a way she was the first person to say, this is what it means to be a part of the community this is what lake charles is, this is what makes it beautiful and unique, and different.

>> our visit to lake charles louisiana is an american history tv exclusive. for seven years now, we have traveled to u.s. cities bringing thelittle early thus literary scene and its effects to our viewers. you can find more on iestours.g/cit tonight, president terms begin to reporters before beginning a trip to europe. officialsdepartment talk about foreign policy in the middle east. and on newsmakers, secretary of esper.y, mark this weekend president trump is in paris with other world leaders to commemorate of the i. of world war just before his departure he spoke to reprs