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Contact Info
Home Town Lamar
Last Address Independence
Date of Passing Dec 26, 1972
Location of Interment Harry S. Truman Library - Independence, Missouri
Harry S.Truman enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard in 1905 as a private. He had previously applied to West Point but was turned down because of poor eyesight. His original eye test produced the results of 20/50 in the right eye and 20/400 in the left. He stayed in the Missouri National Guard and served in it until 1911 attaining the rank of Corporal. With the onset of American participation in World War I, he rejoined the Guard, re-enlisting in April, 1917. This time he passed the eye test by secretly memorizing the eye chart. Being 33 years of age, with some college behind him, he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant on June 22, 1917 and helped to organize the 2nd Regiment of Missouri Field Artillery (Battery F) His unit was sent to Camp Doniphan, adjacent to Fort Sill, near Lawton, Oklahoma for training. While here, Truman quickly organized and ran a Canteen which proved popular and profitable to the Regiment. His unit was called into Federal Service on September 5, 1917 as the 129th Field Artillery, 60th Brigade, 35th Infantry Division. They continued their training until being called to France for battle. They shipped on the U.S.S. George Washington and arrived in Brest, France on April 13, 1918 and within a month Truman was promoted to Captain (Apri 23, 1918) and took charge as Commanding Officer of the 129th Field Artiillery Battery D. Captain Truman attended a course of instruction at the Second Corps School at Chatillon-sur-Geine, France from 27 April to 5 June, 1918. In July, 1918, the Officers and men of the 129th Field Artillery moved to Camp Coetguidan in Brittany for advanced training in the use of the (French) 75mm field gun under simulated combat conditions. Here Truman took Command of D Battery of the 129th Field Artillery Regiment. Battery D was composed of 188 men; 167 horses, and a compliment of French 75mm guns. On September 6, 1918, the 129th under Captain Truman engages in their first combat operation in the Vosges Mountains. Early in September, 1918, the 129th Field Artillery undertook one of the longest and most brutal road marches of the war, from the Vosges Mountains to the Argonne forest. Over 100 miles of crowded, muddy back roads to the new American Sector. This march and the five days of intense combat that followed were the ultimate test for Battery D. His Battery also provided support for George S. Patton's tank brigade during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. He participated in the Vosges, Saint Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne campaigns. During a sudden attack by the Germans in the Vosges Mountains, the battery started to disperse; Truman ordered them back into position using profanities that he had "learned while working on the Santa Fe railroad." Shocked by the outburst, his men reassembled and followed him to safety gaining the support and admiration of his men who willingly followed him for the rest of the war. In the closing weeks of the war the 129th Field Artillery moved into action for the final time to defend the old battlefields of Verdun. They fired their last shots 15 minutes before the Armistice took affect on November 11, 1918. Battery D had fired more than 10,000 shells during the war and under the Command of Captain Harry S. Truman, the Battery did not loose a single man. The 129th returned to the United States on the S.S Zepplin arriving in the U.S. on 20 April, 1919. Captain Truman was discharged honorably on May 6, 1919 at Funton, Kansas. A month later, on June 28, 1919, after returning to Independence, Missouri, he married his childhood sweetheart, Bess Wallace. They had one child, Mary Margaret (Feb. 17, 1924 - June 29, 2008). He became the 33rd President of the United States of America in 1945 - 1953. His parents were John Anderson Truman (1851 - 1914) and Martha Ellen (Young) Truman (1852 - 1947). He had a brother, John Vivian (1886 - 1965); and a sister, Mary Jane (1889 - 1978). His education consisted of the Presbyterian Church School in Independence, Missouri and graduation from Independence High School (now William Chrisma High School) in 1901. He attended the University of Missouri in Kansa City, Missouri and Oxford University n England. He shortly re-joined the Missouri National Gaurd as one of its reserve officers and was appointed Major in the Field Artillery Officers Reserve Corps on January 10, 1920. He was reappointed on January 10, 1925 and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Field Artillery Reserve on May 27, 1925 and thereafter reappointed on May 27, 1930 and was promoted to Colonel, Field Artillery Reserve, on June 17, 1932. Here he remained until his retirement with that rank on January 31, 1953. He was postumously awarded the United States Congressional Gold Award in 1984. He was a Baptist and a Mason most of his life. In fact, here is his Masonic Record:
MASONIC RECORD
Initiated: February 9, 1909, Belton Lodge No. 450, Belton, Missouri. In 1911, several Members of Belton Lodge separated to establish Grandview Lodge No. 618, Grandview, Missouri, and Brother Truman served as its first Worshipful Master. At the Annual Session of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, September 24-25, 1940, Brother Truman was elected (by a landslide) the ninety-seventh Grand Master of Masons of Missouri, and served until October 1, 1941. Brother and President Truman was made a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, 33°, and Honorary Member, Supreme Council on October 19,1945 at the Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction Headquarters in Washington D.C., upon which occasion he served as Exemplar (Representative) for his Class. He was also elected an Honorary Grand Master of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay. On May 18, 1959, Brother and Former President Truman was presented with a fifty-year award, the only U.S. President to reach that golden anniversary in Freemasonry.
The war was a transformative experience that brought out Truman's leadership qualities; he and his war record made possible his later political career in Missouri.
He served as member of the Senate from 1935-1945, as Vice-President to Franklin Roosevelt 1945, and President of the United States from 1945-1953.
President Truman along with his wife, Bess, is buried at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.
Information about his later career, service as President of the United States can be found in references below.
Chronological Record of the 129th Field Artillery
1917-1919
August 5, 1917-Molibized as 2nd Missouri Field Artillery in Kansas City, Missouri, except Batteries C and E which mobilized in Independence, Missouri.
September 26, 1917-Entrained for Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
May 10, 1918-Entrained for Camp Mills, Long Island, New York.
May 20, 1918-Sailed for overseas (except E Battery, which sailed on May 18th and F Battery which sailed on May 27th), via England, and entering France at L'Havre.
June 11, 1918-Billeted in Angers area.
July 7, 1918-Entrained for Camp Coetquidan, near Guer, Brittany.
August 17, 1918-Entrained for Vosges.
August 19-20, 1918-Detrained at Saulxures.
August 23, 1918-Moved into position in Gerardmer Sector, in Vosges Mountains, with echelon at Kruth, Alsace.
September 1, 1918-Relieved from positions.
September 3-5, 1918-Billeted at Vagney and Zainvillers.
September 6-10, 1918-Billeted at Ville-en-Vermois and Coyviller, southeast of Nancy.
September 10-12, 1918-On march.
September 12-15, 1918-In Army Reserve in Saint Mihiel Offensive, in Foret de Haye. September 15-22, 1918- On march.
September 22, 1918- Took position on Hill 290, northeast of Neuvilly, with echelon at Aubreville. September 26-30, 1918-In action in Argonne-Meuse Offensive in support of 35th Division. October 1-2, 1918-Continued in action in support of 1st Division which relieved 35th Division. October 5-12, 1918-At Seigneulles, north of Bar-le-Duc.
October 15, 1918-Took position in Sommedieue Sector, on Meuse Heights east of Verdun in support of 35th Division.
November 7, 1918-Remained in support of 81st Division when 35th Division was relieved. In action in new offensive toward Conflans and Metz.
November 11, 1918-At 11am ceased firing as per orders on account of Armistice.
January 22, 1919-Moved to Bar-le-Duc area.
February 17, 1919-Reviewed, with 35th Division, by General Pershing and the Prince of Wales. Entrained for Le Mans area.
March 29, 1919-Moved to Camp Pontanezan, Brest.
April 9, 1919-Sailed for home on S.S. Zeppelin.
April 20, 1919-Landed in Hoboken and billeted in Camp Mills, Long Island.
April 30, 1919-Entrained for home.
May 3, 1919-Parade and reception in Kansas City, Missouri, then proceeded to Camp Funston, Kansas.
May 6, 1919-Final discharge issued at Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Kansas.
World War I/St. Mihiel Campaign
From Month/Year
September / 1918
To Month/Year
September / 1918
Description St. Mihiel, 12 - 16 September 1918. By September 1918, with both the Marne and the Amiens salients eliminated, there remained but one major threat to lateral rail communications behind the Allied lines-the old St. Mihiel salient near the Paris-Nancy line. Active preparations for its reduction began with the transfer of Headquarters First Army, effective 13 August, from La Ferté-sous-Jouarre in the Marne region to Neufchateau on the Meuse, immediately south of St. Mihiel. On 28 August the first echelon of headquarters moved closer to the front at Ligny-en-Barrois.
American unite from Flanders to Switzerland were shifted into the area near the salient. The fourteen American and four French divisions assigned to the First Army for the operation contained ample infantry and machinegun units for the attack. But because of the earlier priority given to shipment of infantry (at the insistence of the British and French) the First Army was short of artillery, tank, air and other support units essential to a well-balanced field army. The French made up this deficiency by loaning Pershing over half the artillery and nearly half the airplanes and tanks needed for the St. Mihiel operation.
Shortly before the offensive was to begin, Foch threatened once again to disrupt Pershing's long-held desire to carry out a major operation with an independent American force. On 30 August the Allied Commander in Chief proposed to exploit the recently gained successes on the Aisne-Marne and Amiens fronts by reducing the size of the St. Mihiel attack and dividing the American forces into three groups-one for the salient offensive and two for fronts to the east and west of the Argonne Forest. Pershing, however, remained adamant in his insistence that the First Army should not now be broken up, no matter where it might be sent into action. Fina1ly a compromise was reached. The St. Mihiel attack was subordinated to the much larger offensive to be launched on the Meuse-Argonne front in late September, but the First Army remained intact. Pershing agreed to limit his operations by employing only the minimum force needed to reduce the salient in three or four days. Simultaneously he was to prepare his troops for a major role in the Meuse-Argonne drive.
The St. Mihiel offensive began on 12 September with a threefold assault on the salient. The main attack was made against the south face by two American corps. On the right was the I Corps (from right to left the 82d, 90th, 5th, and 2d Divisions in line with the 78th in reserve) covering a front from Pont-à-Mousson on the Moselle westward to Limey; on the left, the IV Corps (from right to left the 89th, 42d, and 1st Divisions in line with the 3d in reserve) extending along a front from Limey westward to Marvoisin. A secondary thrust was carried out against the west face along the heights of the Meuse, from Mouilly north to Haudimont, by the V Corps (from right to left the 26th Division, the French 15th Colonial Division, and the 8th Brigade, 4th Division in line with the rest of the 4th in reserve). A holding attack against the apex, to keep the enemy in the salient, was made by the French II Colonial Corps (from right to left the French 39th Colonial Division, the French 26th Division, and the French 2d Cavalry Division in line). In First Army reserve were the American 35th, 80th, and 91st Divisions.
Tota1 Allied forces involved in the offensive numbered more than 650,000-some 550,000 American and 100,000 Allied (mostly French) troops. In support of the attack the First Army had over 3,000 guns, 400 French tanks, and 1,500 airplanes. Col. William Mitchell directed the heterogeneous air force, composed of British, French, Italian, Portuguese, and American units, in what proved to be the largest single air operation of the war. American squadrons flew 609 of the airplanes, which were mostly of French or British manufacture.
Defending the salient was German "Army Detachment C," consisting of eight divisions and a brigade in the line and about two divisions in reserve. The Germans, now desperately short of manpower, had begun a step-by-step withdrawal from the salient only the day before the offensive began. The attack went so well on 12 September that Pershing ordered a speedup in the offensive. By the morning of 13 September the 1st Division, advancing from the east, joined hands with the 26th Division, moving in from the west, and before evening all objectives in the salient had been captured. At this point Pershing halted further advances so that American units could be withdrawn for the coming offensive in the Meuse-Argonne sector.
This first major operation by an American Army under its own command took 16,000 prisoners at a cost of 7,000 casualties, eliminated the threat of an attack on the rear of Allied fortifications at Nancy and Verdun, greatly improved Allied lateral rail communications, and opened the way for a possible future offensive to seize Metz and the Briey iron fields.
