Ned Touchstone

Ned Touchstone

Ned O'Neal Touchstone (September 27, 1926 – July 26, 1988) was a newspaper publisher who was a figure in the "Radical Right" in Louisiana politics during the 1960s. He was born in the village of Florien in Sabine Parish but resided in the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area for most of his life.

Touchstone was descended from Richard Touchstone, a settler of Maryland prior to 1650, and Benjamin Merrell, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered in North Carolina in 1771 in an early attack on the British crown. His family members were pioneers in 1798 in the settlement of Mississippi.

Touchstone fought in the Battle of Okinawa near the end of World War II. He was the personal driver/bodyguard of the Vice President of South Korea. He was involved in reconnaissance and was often assigned the task of going into jungles to locate the enemy. On one such mission he was captured by the communists, placed in a boxcar with other prisoners and shipped to a prison camp. After a short time he was sent back to Seoul. One one mission Touchstone accompanied three military police officers to arrest several communists. During the arrest the lights were knocked out, and Touchstone hit one communist so hard that he broke his own right hand. He continued to fight with his left hand and grabbed a machete which severely cut his only good hand. Touchstone's party overcame the enemy and arrested them. He received a Purple Heart and was also the recipient of one of only twenty Sharpshooter medals issued during the entire war. He achieved the highest rank available for a non-commissioned Sergeant Major. In his latter years when Touchstone was questioned about his feats and heroism in the war, he always remarked that he did what he had to do but was never proud of the situation.