Great Louisiana Maneuvers

Louisianans took the Army in. Omar Bradley, who was there in 1941, remembered a warm welcome, with soldiers sleeping in residents' homes and some houses so crowded at night that there was barely room to walk. Not everything went smoothly: hungry troops tore up crops and damaged land. Still, relations between townspeople and soldiers were generally good. The Army left more than memories behind. The camp raised near Leesville, first Camp Polk and now Fort Polk, grew out of those weeks in the field.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kisatchie National Forest: Longleaf Vista — 28 mi
  A free ridge-top overlook and 1.5-mile loop above the 8,700-acre Kisatchie Hills Wilderness on the Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway, in the forest Caroline Dormon helped win in 1930.

More markers nearby

• Vernon Parish Courthouse — steps away
• Vernon Parish Founders — steps away
• The Nona Mills Lumber Company — 0.3 mi
• Life Along The Sabine River — 0.4 mi