A former adjutant general from Vidrine was inducted into the Louisiana National Guard Hall of Fame during a ceremony on November 4 at New Orleans’ Jackson Barracks.
Bennett Landreneau’s road to the Hall of Fame began as he was growing up in Vidrine. “I think growing up on a farm with parents that really believed in and provided a very strong environment taught us discipline and the values of hard work, and I think that has served me well throughout my career,” he told The Gazette in 2011.
Landreneau then took that foundation into the Louisiana National Guard when he enlisted in 1969. He later graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana with a Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy and earned a Master of Science in strategic studies from the U. S. Army College.
The road to the Hall of Fame from there wound its way to LaSalle Parish where Landreneau was a civilian employee working for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
While there, Landreneau commanded the National Guard Unit in Jena. “During that time, we had the flood of 1973 that impacted significantly in Catahoula and LaSalle Parishes, and I was on state active duty for several weeks responding to the flood fight,” he recounted.
Landreneau continued, “My experience in the flood fight in Jena in 1973 and just having the opportunity to work with the citizens of the state just reinforced that idea that I wanted to continue to serve in the Guard.”
After deciding to continue serving in the Guard, the road to the Hall of Fame took Landreneau to the 527th Engineer Batallion during Operation Desert Storm. Then thirty years after first taking the job in Jena, he retired in 1996 as the assistant state conservationist. He later was assigned as adjutant general on November 8, 1997, and was promoted to major general on July 30, 1998.
While serving at the post, the National Guard switched roles from being a strategic reserve force to an operation force following the terrorist attacks in 2001.
“The change of the National Guard from a strategic reserve to an operational force was historic,” Landreneau told The Gazette in 2011. “It required a tremendous dedication and commitment of our commanders, our leaders, and our soldiers and airmen, and they have stood to task and have transformed to an operational force.”
Before stopping at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, Landreneau’s road to the Hall of Fame took its final lap as he handed over command of the Louisiana National Guard to his successor Brigadier General Glenn Curtis during a ceremony held at Camp Beauregard on December 10, 2011.
At an earlier press conference, then Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal held a press conference announcing the transition.
Jindal said, “We could spend all day talking about the heroic actions of General Landreneau and his incredible leadership at the Louisiana National Guard, but the bottom line is that he has made the Louisiana National Guard a model for the nation. General Landreneau is a real hero to Louisiana and our entire country.”
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TONY MARKS