Wilson Thibodeaux

Thanks to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, on September 21, 2009 Wilson Thibodeaux of Rayne, Louisiana received the Louisiana "Veterans Honor Medal" along with many other Louisiana veterans from the Acadiana area. The medals were given to Louisiana veterans based on their military records. The addition of a silver star indicate if wounded in action and the addition of a gold star indicates killed in action, which was awarded to the next of kin. Wilson Thibodeaux was born in Acadia Parish on October 26, 1924. He was assigned to the 8th Army, 27th Infantry Division. He visited places with names he never heard of before; names like Saipan, New Hebrides and Okinawa. Incidentally, the battle of Okinawa was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific campaigns. The land battles lasted eighty-seven days from March 26 to June of 1945. U.S. casualties in Okinawa were over 72,000 which 12,513 were killed or missing, over twice the number of casualties as at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal combined. Wilson Thibodeaux was also in Tokyo, Japan after the Japanese eventually surrendered on August 15, 1945.