LA Ordinance Plant

Photo submitted by Nolan Bailey, Class of 1957

Sharon Armitage attended school at MHS with the class of 1955 with us when her Dad worked at LOP, or the Shell Plant as we called it, in the very early years. She also attended Doyline school before she moved to Minden. Her Dad was the Fire Chief out there before they moved to Burlington, Iowa.Â Found this in the Fayetteville Observer.Â Sharon lived in Fayetteville, NC

Nolan, which was was Chief Armitage?

Chief Armitage was the person in the uniform, and the person just to his left, right in the photo is "Happy" Turner
A message from Harol Turner Thomposon verified this a while back. See below.

Louisiana Ordnance Plant

My dad is second on the left of the ones standing ;;in the jacket rather than uniform..I don't know if he had already gone to the personnel department; originally he and Wimpy Lunsford were in the fire department and were, guess what...the cooks when on duty. Harol Turner Thompson (Happy Turner's daughter).somewhere I have the other picture Nolan sent with the names on the back; haven't located it yet.

Harol Turner Thompson, Class of 1954

Heh, Heh!

I know for a fact that I am a distant cousin of Harol and the other Turner's from around Minden. But, they don't admit to being my "kin" All of us are descendants of one Cornelius M. Turner and Martha Jane Brantley. Their daughter, Susan Elizabeth Turner, is my great-grandmother on my paternal side of the family. Why, I keep on "tellin em" that I "ain't" trying to borrow "no" money, I "aint" a horse thief, and that my parents had been married the appropriate amount of time before I was born--making me legitimate, and not a "you know what." Why, I even take a bath once a week whether I need it or not. But, it don't seem to make "no never mind" with my Turner cousins. I just might as well be a Cyprus stump.out there in the middle of Lake Bistineau...

As the cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn used to say, "That's a joke... I say, that's a joke, son." <huge grin>

Regards,

Nolan Bailey, Class of 1957

In the picture where they are standing in front of the fire trucks my dad, Verna D. Stonecipher is the 5th one from the left. In the picture where they are standing at the table he is the 5th one from the right in the front row, father of Nola Beth Stonecipher Ellington, class of 1964.

Chief Armitage is one of the men in the picture, father of Sharon Armitage. She would have graduated in 1955 had they not moved away. The tallest man in the picture is Ralph Wayne Bailey, father of Nolan Bailey. He would have graduated with the class of 1957 had they not moved away.

Chief Armitage is the first gentleman on the left, in a dark uniform, standing just behind a dark hared Italian looking young lady...

Here is the whole photo that I sent earlier...again, it is difficult to identify anyone in a photo this small...
Note that the tallest person in the row is my father...

If you go to the photo under Louisiana Ordnance Plant, that has a large group of people sitting at tables, and some standing behind them, I can help.

I was wrong about his height...he was 6 ft. 3 and a1/2 inches tall...grin

Here is a photo taken at the Louisiana Ordnance Plant during World War II. It looks like it might have
been a Christmas party? Anyhow, this is the only person that I can identify, my father, Ralph Wayne Bailey.
He has the arrow over his head in this photo... I have attached the whole photo... Hope someone can identify their relatives
and friends...

Compliments of Nolan Bailey

                     Here is another photo of the LOP firemen during WWII. My father is the one with the arrow pointing at his head,

                      I can usually spot him in a photo because he was 6 ft. 3 in. tall. That was pretty tall for guys back then...

                                                                        Nolan Bailey

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W. H. Nielsen: Bob's sister, Madalyn Lyle, married Frank Nielsen, this man's son, when she was about 16 years old. They lived in a little apartment on 1st or 2nd street near the First Baptist Church when they first married. Madalyn worked on the switchboard at LAAP.

G. L. Lyle, Master Mechanic, was Bob's father and my beloved father-in-law. Bob's family lived on Buchanan St. His neighbors, were Rob Martin, Joyce Humphries, Dottie Day, Neil Baker, Mary Ellen Bailey, Clifton Salmon, and others. The home on the corner of East & West and Buchanan was a duplex at that time. The Farrellys lived in one side. Mr. Farrelly, who also worked at LAAP lived in one side. Mr. Farrelly, who later, as did the Lyles. Their son, Peter Farrelly, went on to become well-known in the movie industry, along with Tam Spiva who lived in the large Stewart home at the intersection of of East & West, Elm, and Homer Road. Bob's brother, Leonard and Tam Spiva, were good buddies, and they spent a lot of time together, letting Bob tag along with them sometimes. They were 5 years older than Bob.

Front row, left to right: LTC Murray, G. Swindler, Nellie Craft, Ressie Gresham, Mr. Richards, Leroy Pieper

Sherry, I recently noted the page you have added regarding the Louisiana
Army Ammunition Plant (LAAP)and I thought you might be interested in the
attached photo that shows my Mom, Zel Walker, and other workers at lunch at
LAAP. THere is an arrow over her head as she is down at the other end of
the table. I thought that someone may be able to identify some of the
others at the table? The picture has 1944 written on back so I assume it was
made sometime that year. Both Mom and Dad worked at LAAP all during the
war and for some time after the war. Mom worked on one of the assembly
lines loading 155 mm shells with powder and Dad worked in shipping where he
"dunnaged" the train box cars so that the shells would not move around
during shipping. In other words, he installed wooden racks for loading the
box cars such that the shells were stable and safe.

I was by LAAP last month and was surprised to see that the buildings have
been refurbished and it is now a Louisiana National Guard facility and I
understand some other uses are being made of the property. I wanted to go
onto the property to visit the cemeteries there where some of my ancestors
are buried but you now have to get prior approval. I did not have time to
wait on the approval on that trip but plan to do so when I come up for the
50th Reunion. I have several ancestors buried in the Crowe Cemetery on
LAAP.

Regards, Doyle (aka "B.D.")

If anyone can identify the people in the picture E-mail us at MINDENMEMORIES @AOL.COM

My Great Grandfather's sister, Mary Catherine Walker, married Sanders
Richardson late in life. She was his second wife and they had no children.
While most of my ancestors are buried in Crowe Cemetery, Mary Catherine is
buried in Richardson Cemetery. Also, there are no Walker's buried in
Walker Cemetery even though the cemetery was located on property owned by my
parents. I re-read the LAAP history by John Agan on the web site and it
brought back memories of my Dad telling about how the Government agents
came to our home and told the family we would have to move and what they
were offering for the house and property. According to Dad, you had to
take the offer (which he considered a very low price) or they would condemn
the property and confiscate it using national security as justification.
That was when we moved to Bellvue Road where we lived until we sold the
property about 2 years ago. I was only 4 when we moved to Bellvue Road.
If you recall, my Dad was called "Fat" Walker and his twin brother was
called "Em" Walker (He was Dot and Betty's father.) and they married sisters
-- my Mom "Zel" and Dot's Mom, Thalia (I called her "Big Auntie.") were
sisters, and we lived next to each other on Bellvue Road until we all moved
away and our parents passed away. Our house has been torn down but Dots is still there.

This newspaper was sent to us compliments of Waynette Farrington Sharon, Class of 1964. It belonged to her grandmother.

Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant Cemeteries and Graves is located in the West 1/2 section of the SE 1/4 of Section 3, T18 N, R10 W. There are no indications why it is named Crowe.

Allie Burns Walker w/o ( William Walter Walter) was born 15 March 1871 died 14 Apr. 1894

Benjamin Walker husband of Eveline DeLoach Walker was born 19 Mar. 1809 died 15 Jul. 1872

William Walter Walker born 12 Oct. 1871 died 26 Apr. 1957 husband of Allie Burns Walker After she died he remarried.

His second wife remarried and is interred in the Antioch Baptist church in Dixie Inn. She was a Hatley and married a man named Shattuck.

Alice Burns Waler was William Walter Walkers first wife. She died in childbirth. The unnamed child was buried with her on 14 April in 1894.

Margaret Ann Cunningham age 52 yrs. 23 Jan. 1905 (Stone erected by Jasper Vandusen)

Samuel L. Fuller 24 Jul. 1843 - 19 May 1911 Co. E 12th La. Inf. CSA husband R. B. Fuller

Mildred Harvill 10 Jan. 1911- 21 Jan. 1911 (daughter of T. C & L. A. Harvill; (Sister of Mrs. Louise Harville, and dau. of Turner Coleman & Lillie Amelia Harville)

Note: Samuel L. Fuller is believed to be the father of T. C Harvill. She married A. B. Cole who worked for the V.S. & P Railroad. She died in childbirth. It is believed that he remarried a school teacher at Dubberly namned "Cousson".

T. C. Harvill was Turner Harvill Coleman Harvill and his wife was Lillie Amelia Harvill.

Hugh L. Hudson 28 Nov. 1853 - 15 Jul. 1914 (age 60 yrs. 8 months 18 days; s/o Ellijah & Sarah Hudson)

Note: Hugh Hugh L. Hudson was the son of Col. Elijah and Sarah (Doyle) Hudson. Elijah & Sarah were married Feb. 3, 1853 in Bossier Parish.

Francis Stevens born 06 Dec. 1923 died 16 Jan. 1924 dau. T. E. and S. E. Stevens

Willliam Stevens born 11 Jul. 1917 died 05 Oct. 1921 s/o T. E. and S. E. Stevens

Attached are some pictures I made of LAAP cemeteries on Monday after Reunion. (October 1, 2005)
My Great Grandfather, N.B. Walker, and Great Grandmother, Katie O'Neal
Walker, and my G-G Grandfather, Benjamin Walker, and my G-G Grandmother,
Emeline Deloach Walker, are buried in the Crowe cemetery as are several
other Walker relatives.

Mary Catherine Walker, the daughter of Benjamin and Emeline and sister to
N.B. Walker, is buried in Richardson Cemetery as she was the second wife of
Sanders Richardson who is buried next to her.

The Vanorsdel Cemetery is obviously a family cemetery as there were only 2
head stones with family names and several other head stones with no
markings at all. I will have to visit the other cemeteries on Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant on my

The Walker Cemetery was located on my Father's property but there are no
Walker's buried in the Walker Cemetery. Our old home place was a short
distance away from the cemetery, according to my brothers who remember
living there. I do not have any memories as I was 4 years old when we
moved to the Bellevue Road. I really enjoyed visiting the cemeteries and
old home place as it was the first time I had ever been there. I took a
lot of pictures of ancestor's grave stones that I will use to add pics to my
Family Tree Program.