SHREVEPORT — Funeral services were held Thursday for retired Maj. Gen. Ansel “Buddy” M. Stroud Jr., the former adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard.
Guard spokeswoman 1st Lt. Rebekah Malone said Stroud died Friday. He was 89. Services were held at Forest Park Cemetery in Shreveport.
Stroud served as Louisiana’s adjutant general for 17½ years, making him the second longest serving leader of the National Guard. He served under four governors during a career that spanned more than five decades.
Gen. Frank Grass, 27th Chief of the National Guard Bureau, said many of the things considered a success in the guard today can be attributed to Stroud. His vision included programs still in use like the Youth Challenge Program, now operating in more than 37 states.
Grass spoke of meeting Stroud, whom he called a “tremendous Southern gentleman,” at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans more than 20 years ago to ask for Louisiana’s support for an overseas deployment training mission.
“He said, ‘We’ll do it.’ He was a tremendous visionary . he just set us on the path for so many things,” Grass said.
Stroud joined the Army in 1944 and went on to become a commissioned officer in 1946. He joined the Louisiana Army National Guard in 1947 and retired Nov. 8, 1997, with more than 53 years of service.
Gov. David Treen appointed Stroud as adjutant general in 1980.
While in that post, the Louisiana National Guard mobilized 6,400 guardsmen, more than any other state, in support of Operation Desert Storm and received high praise for that effort as well as for the response to Hurricane Andrew in 1991.
In 1997, the Ansel M. Stroud Jr. History and Weapons Museum at Jackson Barracks was dedicated to his contributions to the organization and preservation of LANG history.
“His influence on the National Guard during the time he served was tremendous. The generations that have followed have received great benefit from his wisdom and guidance and where he put the National Guard as a whole but also the United States Army and United States Air Force,” said Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis, the state’s current adjutant general. “He is a legend among legends, as far as leaders and general officers go.”