Before entering World War II, the U.S. Army conducted the Louisiana Maneuvers as important training for the nation's generals, including Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, and George Patton. In 1940, about 66,000 troops were divided into two forces for training exercises. As the Blue Army approached Bermuda Bridge, it came under fire, returned fire, set up smoke screens, and brought in a howitzer. An Army observer investigated and found that the "enemy" that bested the 500-vehicle convoy was three Prud'homme boys—Alphonse, 12, Kenneth, 11, and Mayo, 9—using their new carbide-gas, foot-long toy cannon. The episode later gained national attention when Paul Harvey told it on his radio show, "The Rest of the Story."