In the sweltering summer heat of August, 1944, PFC Thomas Wright was taking a break from helping the rest of the 86th Infantry Division unload trucks of food and supplies in to a warehouse at Camp Livingston. There with him, on the high banks of the creek that divided the southern portion of base from the POW camps on the other side, was PFC Wayne Denham. Both guys, dead tired from the day’s activities, were laid back in the shade from one of the many oaks that lined the banks. As they talked about shipping out in a few days to join the war in France, they each drank a cold coca-cola and ate a bag of potato chips.
As they were finishing up and getting ready to walk back to work, Wayne bet Tommy a nickel that he couldn’t hit a floating limb in the creek below with his coke bottle. Of course Tommy accepts the bet (guys will be guys) and told him to throw first. Private Denham takes a few seconds, lines up his throw, and lets it go. The bottle misses the limb by several feet and shatters on a rock sticking out of the water. Laughing, Tommy lines up his throw, waits a moment and throws hard. Direct hit. The bottle hits the limb, then sinks to the bottom as it fills with water. Tommy wins a nickel — the bottle never to be seen again — until yesterday.
As i was walking in the creek bed at Camp Livingston, i noticed just the tip of the bottle sticking out where water had caused the stream to change directions. Dug it up and out pops Mr. Wright’s bottle in relatively good condition.
Is this story true? Who knows. Could be. Could be something entirely different. But isn’t it always interesting to wonder how things from 70+ years ago ended up where they are today? This bottle was from the Alexandria bottling plant. It was manufactured somewhere between 1938 and 1944. All these years of water and sand have smoothed the glass considerably all around, but it’s still intact. If only glass could tell its story.
The factual parts of the story: The 86th Infantry Division was attached to Camp Livingston during this time. They did ship out to France in early 1945. There were warehouses on the southern part of the base. The POW portion of the base was on the other side of the creek. There are still many large oaks lining the creek. The banks are very high — up to 40-50 feet in places. The bottle was “bottled” in Alexandria, LA and manufactured between ’38 and ’44. Oh, and it’s very hot in August.
