Alexandria and the Louisiana Maneuvers in World War II as seen in Newspaper Clippings, Photographs, Personal Stories, and Vintage Postcards

World War II Clippings and Photographs

The Louisiana Maneuvers

World War II military camps in the Alexandria Louisiana area

Alexandria and Central Louisiana were the site of the massive Louisiana Maneuvers staged just before World War II.

Numerous military camps were built in the CenLA area are to support the growing war effort: Camp Livingston, Camp Claiborne, Camp Beauregard, Esler Field, Alexandria Army Air Base, Pollock Army Air Field, and others

Many high-ranking officers were in Alexandria, including Major General George Patton, Lieutenant Colonel Omar Bradley, and then not-so-well-known Colonel Dwight David Eisenhower.

Generals George C. Marshall and Matthew Ridgeway are said to have visited the Hotel Bentley, as well as then-little-known Second Lieutenant Henry Kissinger.

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Louisiana Maneuvers sign, outside Hotel Bentley, downtown Alexandria, Louisiana (photo by Ken Freeman)
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