Of the 450 men in US Army VII Corps HQ, only one spoke French—Ned Arceneaux, from Lafayette. As the Quartermaster for his unit, Ned was in charge of precuring all the supplies. When they landed on Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, Ned’s French-speaking abilities proved invaluable to his commanding officers and to his comrades. He served as an interpreter for Gen. J. Lawton Collins, known as “Lighting Joe,” one of the senior leaders in the European Theater during WWII.