Wenceslaus Billiot is part Choctaw, part Biloxi-Chitimache. He was born in 1926 and grew up on Island St. Charles, working on boats from an early age. He left school after the 5th grade and started working for Delta Farm picking cotton and cutting sugar cane by hand at age 15. From there he moved to Baton Rouge, where he worked in a fish market. He was drafted into the army and served in the South Pacific during WWII and occupied Germany after the war. Upon his return he got back on boats and eventually became a tugboat captain, working for various service companies until his retirement at age 65.