Sam Paul was a young man, only twenty-eight, single but never alone. He was the youngest son of Flavien Emile Troxler and Marie Alice Larose both natives of Raceland, in Lafourche Parish, La.   Sam had three  older brothers, Claude born in 1902 who died in 1915.   Then came Percy Emile Troxler, second to the eldest,  then there was Emile Ivy Troxler the third child. And  much to Sam Paul's benefit came seven sisters who surely mothered him and made his young life a brother's nightmare.

  I remember seeing my uncle Sam for the last time in 1944 when we were living in army barracks on Moss Street that runs along Bayou Saint John in Orleans Parish, La.    My dad, Felix Ralph Barbara Sr., was too old to fight they said and he had too many mouths to feed.   So young men like Sam were called upon.

          With all his brothers and sisters spread out over Orleans Parish and some of the lower parishes of the state, Sam Paul had much traveling to do to see his kin and kiss  everyone good-bye. I am the oldest of my two sisters and  one brother and I remember clearly it was a cool, but sunny day in August when he came to visit. Uncle was  wearing his army uniform with lots of brass buttons and things, and his cap was cocked to one side in a sassy  manner he was so famous for. I was ten but my girlish mind loved his loving ways.

        He looked at my mother, his second to eldest sister Velma, and saw the two big tears run down her cheeks. Sam leaned over the heads of the little ones and gave her a tight, lingering hug, then kissed her on the cheek. The mood had become somber and then other tears began to flow. Sam reached down and picked up my four year old sister, Ruth, and hugged her tight. He pinched her nose and said to everyone, " I won't be gone very long. I will be back before you have time to miss me."

         I remember thinking a minute later how much I missed him the moment the door closed behind him when he left. He was right, he didn't stay in Germany very long. Sam Paul Troxler was the first soldier from New Orleans to be killed on German soil in World War ll. He was a private in the 67th. Armored Division. Less than one month later he was killed, on September 26, 1944.

           Sam Paul was not a big man nor was he very tall. But his ancestors left him a heritage that filled their well placed footsteps. He was the grandson of Emile Flavien Troxler, Jr.* who served in the War between the states as Corporal Private, Co., D, 26th. Louisiana Infantry, was captured at Vicksburg, Ms., July 4, 1863 and taken to Federal Prison, Camp Morton, Indiana. Like his neighbors and kin, he too stood and faced the battle.

          Then, there was his great-grandfather, Emile Troxler, Sr. and his great-grandmother, Mathilda Champagne, all natives of Saint Charles Parish, Saint John The Baptist, Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes. And surely, the smile that played across his handsome face was the same as his great-great-grandfather Eli Champagne, and great-great-grandmother Marcelite Chauvin, natives of St Charles Parish.

           And who else could have put the dimple in his chin but Jean Baptiste Champagne Sr.,** and his life-long wife, Charlotte Edelmeyer? Much has been said  about Jean Baptiste Champagne Sr., and his leadership in    the militia of that time of Galvez and his conquests, and   many other great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers   did acts of bravery and silent deeds of sacrifice. They are  too numerous to mention.

       Flowing through his veins were the bloodlines that came to Sam Paul Troxler from Antoine Diez Sr., and Henrietta Pitre and also that of his grandmother Octavia Diez on his father's side and Theogene Larose and Armandine Levron and Theodore Antoine Sr. and Eugenie Rousee. Francois Troxler and Christopher Troxler led the way and the list goes on. These, all natives of Lafourche and the surrounding parishes, came to Louisiana at great cost. But they left their descendants something greater, the love they had for their country and unbelievably, dauntless faith and the breastplate of honor, so to defend their own.

          Lafourche Parish! SAM PAUL TROXLER lost his life in Germany and his body lies in repose in a tomb his death provided in Saint Patrick's Cemetery #3 in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, and I place his name  in the hands of his kinfolks. You are his people. He left you his exceptional esprit de corps and he would surely want it in your care.  SamPaul Troxler had many faces and they all came from Lafourche; his people.

SAM  PAUL TROXLER

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*See
        Booth, Andrew B. Records of Louisiana Confederate
Soldiers & Louisiana Confederate Commands. 1984,
Spartanburg, S.C. Reprint Co.
**See
        Terrebonne Gemealogy Society, Terrebonne Life

Copyright S.BARBARA Jan 2005
No part of this may be used for commerical purposes.
updated apr-2009

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