Jesse Monroe Knowles
| Jesse Monroe Knowles | |
|---|---|
| Louisiana State Senator for Calcasieu and surrounding parishes) |
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In office 1964–1980 |
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| Preceded by | Guy Sockrider |
| Succeeded by | Clifford L. Newman |
| Louisiana State Representative for Calcasieu Parish | |
| Preceded by |
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| Succeeded by |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 23, 1919 Merryville, Louisiana, United States |
| Died | April 23, 2006 (aged 86) |
| Political party | Democrat-turned-Republican (1980) |
| Spouse(s) | Helen Noel Knowles |
| Occupation | Business, supervisor for Amoco |
Jesse Monroe Knowles (July 23, 1919 – April 23, 2006) was a businessman, civic leader, and politician, elected as a Democratic Party member to both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature for Calcasieu Parish. He served a total of twenty years in both chambers.
From the late 1960s, the Republican Party had been attracting white southern conservatives into its ranks. In the last weeks of his last term as state senator in 1980, Knowles switched to the GOP. He had supported Republican David C. Treen for governor of Louisiana in 1979 and was appointed to state posts.
From Lake Charles, Knowles was a United States Army Air Forces veteran and a survivor of the Bataan Death March in World War II. He was active in veterans' affairs and groups following his service during the war and served as national president of the 27th Bombardment Group Association.
Knowles was born in Merryville in Beauregard Parish, but his family moved to Lake Charles in 1935. Knowles graduated from Lake Charles High School (renamed Lake Charles Boston High School after consolidation).
In 1939, Knowles enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served in the Pacific Theater of Operations, where he was captured in 1942 >by the Japanese army at Bataan. Surviving the Bataan Death March, he was held in a number of prison camps for more than two years, a total of 1,228 days. He was last held in the camp in Mukden, Manchuria, where he was liberated by United States forces on August 15, 1945. The Death March was featured in a National Broadcasting Company documentary in 1982 entitled The Forgotten Hell.
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