George P. Broussard

Who was George P. Broussard?

George Patout Broussard, Sr., was a decorated World War II United States Army officer, the son of a United States senator, and a veterinarian from New Iberia, Louisiana, who conducted important research on the diseases anaplasmosis and brucellosis.

Broussard was born in New Iberia, the seat of Iberia Parish in the sugar-producing region of south Louisiana, to Senator Edwin Sidney Broussard, I, and the former Marie C. Patout. He was also a paternal nephew of U.S. Senator Robert F. Broussard of New Iberia. He was educated in Washington, D.C., New Iberia High School, and Texas A&M University in College Station, where he received his D.V.M. degree.

He was activated on June 29, 1941, as a first lieutenant, Fourth Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was subsequently stationed in the South Pacific in New Caledonia and later in San Antonio. He was discharged on December 13, 1945, with the rank of major. He was awarded both the Bronze Star and the Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon in the Guadalcanal and Coral Sea campaign.

In 1946, Dr. Broussard resumed his practice of veterinary medicine in New Iberia.