"WE FIRED 12,000 ROUNDS BUT THE GERMANS NEVER SCORED A HIT ON US"

TRUMAN MAYBE NOT A BRAGGART BUT HE SURE LIKED TO BRAG

Western Front, France (JFK+50) On November 15, 1918, Captain Harry S Truman wrote in a letter to Bess Wallace...

"While I am not a braggart* I believe I can take my outfit and beat any other in the A.E.F.** shooting or doing any other kind of battery work."

The Captain continued to brag....

"I recommended one of my kids to go to West Point** and he was one out of seven in the A.E.F. to go...

My greatest ambition (at the beginning of the war was) to take a battery and not lose a man.  We fired 10,000 to 12,000 rounds (but) the (Germans) never score(d) a hit on (us)."

The letter was signed...

"Always, Harry

Capt Bt D, 129 FA

Am E. F."

*The term derives from Middle English "braggen"...to make a loud noise; to speak boastfully.

**American Expeditionary Force (United States Army of WWI) was established on July 5 1917 & commanded by General John J. Pershing.

SOURCE

"Letter, Harry S Truman to Bess Wallace, Nov 15 1918", Harry S Truman Library and Museum, www.trumanlibrary.org/

Harry S Truman

France 1918

Truman Library Photo

NARA Image

IT IS YOUR PAPER.......GOOD LUCK TO IT

STARS & STRIPES FIRST EDITION PUBLISHED 100 YEARS AGO

Paris, France (JFK+50) One hundred years ago, February 8, 1918, The Stars and Stripes published its first edition at the bequest of American Expeditionary Force commander General John J. Pershing who "wanted a newspaper written by servicemen for the soldiers on the battlefront."

The General's front-page message for the inaugural edition included these words...

"It is your paper.  Good luck to it."

The one thousand copies of the first edition of The Stars and Stripes sold out.  The paper was published in France during a 17 month run.  By the end of its first year, the paper reached more than half a million readers.

SOURCE

"The Stars and Stripes, Volume 1, Number 1, February 8, 1918", World Digital Library, www.wdl.org/

The Stars and Stripes Extra

United States Army Image

A LEAN, CLEAN & KEEN FIGHTING MACHINE

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2334

PERSHING & FIRST AMERICAN SOLDIERS WELCOMED TO ENGLAND

London (JFK+50) One hundred years ago today, June 8, 1917, General John J. Pershing and the first elements of the American Expeditionary Force were welcomed to England.

Floyd Gibbons writes in the Chicago Daily Tribune that the Americans looked "lean, clean (and) keen" in the eyes of their British counterparts.

Gibbons wrote...

"The British soldiers admire their height and shoulders.  They approve of a greyhound trimness of the belt zone.  They like to look on their carriage and poise.  They approve a steady eye and stiffer jaws."

As they stepped ashore, the Americans were faced by a company of Royal Welsh Fusiliers*.  They were inspected by General Pershing along with Lt. General Sir William Pitcairn Campbell**, chief of the western command.  The Fusiliers then played the Star Spangled Banner.

The American army was transported on the Baltic which carried them successfully through the war zone accompanied by an escort of U.S. torpedo destroyers.

*Royal Welsh Fusiliers, a line of infantry regiment of the British army, part of the Prince of Wales Division.  The RWF was founded in 1689 by Lord Henry Herbert.

**Sir William Pitcairn Campbell (1856-1933) was commissioned in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in 1875 & promoted to Lt. Col. in the Second Boer War.  WPC was Commander-n-chief of the Western Command 1916-1918.


SOURCE

"London Sees First of Our Fighting Men", by Floyd Gibbons, The Chicago Daily Tribune, June 9, 1917.

Sir William Pitcairn Campbell
Official War Office Photo