WE WERE AGAINST THE KAISER'S PICK BUT THEY RAN JUST THE SAME

HARRY TRUMAN HAS A PART IN THE GREAT DRIVE

Western Front, France (JFK+50) On October 6, 1918, future POTUS Harry S Truman wrote a letter to future FIRST LADY Bess Wallace (Truman).  He wrote....

"The great drive has taken place and I had a part in it.  I shot out a German Battery, (and) shot up his big observation post.  I brought my Battery forward under fire & never lost a horse nor man.

The future president concluded the letter by writing...

"We were on the most famous battlefield of the war in front of the town the Germans couldn't take, and were against the Kaiser's pick but they ran just the same.  I hope the censor don't see that."

SOURCE

"Letter from Harry to Bess, October 6, 1918", Harry S Truman Library and Museum, www.trumanlibrary.org/

Harry S Truman

France 1918

Truman Library Photo

NARA Image

MY MIND IS OCCUPIED WITH A GIRL IN THE USA

HARRY TRUMAN MAKES CAPTAIN IN "UNCLE SAM'S ARMEE"

Angers, France (JFK+50) One hundred years ago, June 19, 1918, future POTUS Harry S Truman* wrote a letter to future First Lady Bess Wallace (Truman)** describing the afternoon as "the grandest...I've spent since I've been in France."

The reason?

Harry had received 7 letters from his future bride as well as several more from other folks.  The latest from Bess was dated May 20th, 1918.  And Harry had some good news to tell her...

"I'm a real Captain in Uncle Sam's Armee.  I am an Adjutant of the Second Battalion."

Harry also commented on his lack of interest in French girls.  He wrote...

"my mind  is occupied with a girl in the USA of a kind they don't make in France..."

HST also said that he got plenty to eat but would give 6 months pay for a Sunday dinner at Bess's house.   Bess Truman once said...

"A woman's place in public is to sit beside her husband, be silent, and be sure her hat is on straight."

*Harry S Truman (1884-1972) was born in Lamar, Missouri, served in the US Army in World War I, the United States Senate (1935-1945), Vice-President (1945) & 33rd POTUS (1945-1953).

**Elizabeth Virginia "Bess" Wallace Truman (1885-1982) was born in Independence, Missouri.  She is known as the longest-lived First Lady.

Harry Truman proposed to BWT in 1911, but she turned him down.  They married on June 28, 1919.

SOURCE

"Letter from Harry S Truman to Bess Wallace, June 19, 1918", Truman Papers-Family, Business and Public Affairs Papers, The Truman Presidential Library, www.trumanlibrary.org/

THEY'VE GOT TO DO BETTER OR WE'LL DO OUR OWN WASHING

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2462

A LETTER FROM HARRY TRUMAN TO BESS WALLACE

Lawton, Oklahoma (JFK+50) 100 years ago today, October 5, 1917, future United States president Harry S Truman* wrote a letter to future first lady Bess Wallace here in Lawton.

Lieutenant Truman complained in the letter about the high prices for goods being sold to soldiers.  He was particularly critical of the laundries which...

"added 40 per cent to their prices.  The way they were charging, it would cost a man fifty-four cents to get a shirt and pants and socks washed."

He added...

"they've got to do better or we'll do our own washing."

The Lieutenant also told of how he had tried unsuccessfully to buy a "carload of pop" from Coca Cola.  He wrote....

"So there is another combination in restraint of trade.  I'm not going to sell pop."

The future president concluded...

"Remember me to your mother...and yourself first, last and all the time."

*Before deployment to France, Truman was sent for training to Camp Doniphan, Ft. Sill, near Lawton, Oklahoma.  Lt. Truman ran the camp with Edward Jacobson, a clothing store clerk from Kansas City.

Truman met James Pendergast, the nephew of Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast while at Ft. Sill.

SOURCE

"Letter from Harry S Truman to Bess Wallace", October 5, 1917, Harry S Truman Presidential Library and Museum, www.trumanlibrary.org/

Wedding Photo 
Harry & Bess Wallace Truman
Independence, MO
June 28, 1919
Truman Library Photo