A Warrior Among Warriors

I am totally out of my depth here as this piece is more a memorial and a news story rather than historical research. However, once I read the story of Robbie Miller I had to pass it on. I hope this feeble homage does justice to the man.

~ Paul Hugh Reilly

Army Staff Sergeant Robert James Miller was killed by Taliban fighters on 25 Jan 2008, while providing lifesaving cover fire and protecting his operational detachment during combat operations near the Pakistani border outside the village of Barikowt, Nari District, in Konar Province, Afghanistan.  Sergeant Miller’s quick thinking and heroism saved his team from almost certain death or capture.  This was his second combat tour to Afghanistan, the first being from August 2006 to March 2007.

President Obama will honor the extraordinary courage and sacrifice of SSG Miller by presenting his family with our nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor. This will be the third time the Medal of Honor has been presented by President Obama.

A natural leader and an avid athlete, Robby Miller was often made a team captain in high School.  He lead by example and therefore taught others by his actions.  He was a leader, trainer and role model all rolled into one.  These traits stayed with him in the Army.  "He's a phenomenal leader; he was not only a leader in what he did, but also in the things he said. He really set a standard for our program," said Robby’s former coach Chad Downie.

While this was part of his nature; another part was his passion.  He had to really be enthusiastic about something to do it.  If he did it, he did it wholeheartedly.

“He was passionate about what he was doing in Afghanistan. He loved his job there, loved being in the military. He was intense and passionate about what he was doing," said Downie.

In the Army, as in school, Miller had a can-do attitude.  LTC Ashley, Commander, Special Operations Task Force 33 eulogised Staff Sergeant Miller saying, “He was a warrior among warriors.”  He fully understood the hazards and risks of the combat that he faced.  He willingly bore the burden of the Soldier.  He was the epitome of SF.  He frequently volunteered for jobs or missions that no one else wanted to do.  He was extremely talented and he quickly showed that he had a number of superior skills which included excellent people skills as well as a proficiency in languages and weapons.  His team recalled how quickly he picked up Pashto (one of the indigenous languages) and how the local villagers loved to spend time with Robby and to teach him their language and culture. According to one's recollections, the villagers developed a bond with him over evening meals and while drinking tea.  They respected and trusted him. Robby enjoyed helping them with problems in their lives and with their safety.  As a result, Robby was a natural to Special Forces and he was the personification of the good side of America.

SSG Robert J. Miller in Afghanistan doing what he loved and showing the grin he was known for

Only 24 years old, Robby Miller impressed everyone on his team. Although the youngest member of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, NC, he quickly earned a reputation for taking on difficult challenges and leading from the front; according to interviews with Operational Detachment-Alpha (ODA) Team Members.

Robby often undertook difficult assignments in working with the Afghanistan indigenous personnel.  One such occasion was the 25th of January, 2008.  While serving as a weapons man for his team and because of his Pashto language abilities, Miller volunteered to take point on a joint operations night patrol.  He personally led and directed the small local contingent of Afghan National Army (ANA) Soldiers, which was tasked with providing support for the ODA Team.  They were in a dangerous area, probing questionable structures.  This was a known area of use by foreign insurgents, frequented as a route into and out of their Afghan operational areas.  Having what they believed to be good intelligence, Miller’s people intentionally provoked the suspected insurgents into action and the ANA drew small arms fire, as they suspected they would.  As planned and from a safe distance, the ODA called in what was meant to be a devastatingly lethal air strike.  However, after the dust settled, the team moved cautiously forward only to be reengaged but now by massed heavy weapons.  They had sprung a very sophisticated ambush.  There were bunkers beneath the structures where the insurgents had taken shelter.

The patrol was taking massed heavy fire and had taken substantial causalities to include the ODA commander.  They were outnumbered, outgunned, exposed and were quickly drifting into circumstances from which there was no return.  Doing his duty, as only an SF man can, Miller took a forward position and showed his determination by directing fire and providing cover for his men. He showed his extreme depth of courage and his devotion to his men through the simultaneous engagement of several enemy positions with deadly and withering suppressive fire and by deliberately compromising his position so as to draw fire.

As such, he provided time for his team to reorganize and fire and maneuver their way to cover.  Even though repeatedly injured, he continued to shoot and move but to also intermittently drop his cover.  In doing so, he knowingly drew the fire from more than 100 insurgents, ultimately saving the lives of his fellow team members and sacrificing his own.

Robby’s unwavering courage and selfless actions embodied the highest principles of Special Forces and the Army and are a testament to the real American values that he lived by every day.

SSG Miller's Memorial

Robby Miller's casket being carried aboard air transport at Bagram Airfield, 27 January, 2008

 The motto of Special Forces is DE OPPRESSO LIBER; “To free the oppressed.”  These were the words that Staff Sergeant Robby Miller lived by; and because he truly lived by those words, he died by them.  LTC Ashley made the same observation, that Robby sacrificed his life helping to bring freedom to the oppressed people of Afghanistan.  “He placed his life on the line so that others would have a chance to experience freedom.”

May God Bless him and keep him forever safe.  May Robby’s family draw some comfort from the fact that Robby is deeply missed and he will live on in all of our hearts.  Rest in peace, brother.

The photographs (above) were taken by SSG Corey Dennis.

Born Hero

Some people become heroes by responding to the circumstances that they are in, while others are just natural born heroes and look for the circumstances in which to let loose their inner selves. I personally don’t know which is more desirable or which is more truly heroic, but I do know one thing; Colonel Robert Lewis Howard falls into the latter category. He was some man. Considering that he did a total of five tours in Vietnam, he has to be one of the Army’s most combat-seasoned veterans ever.

Howard won the Medal of Honor (MOH), Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Defense Superior Service Medal, four awards of the Legion of Merit, four Bronze Stars, and eight Purple Hearts. When evaluated by the number of promotions he received, military decorations he received, level of education he attained, and the results he produced; he has to be considered the most successful US Army Soldier of all time.

Here are some snippets of information about his life and career: 

Bob Howard was born July 11, 1939, in Opelika, Alabama. He enlisted in the Army in 1956, went to Jump School as a private and joined the 101st Airborne Division. He began as he meant to finish. He was the quintessential Paratrooper.

In 1965, during his first tour of duty in Vietnam, Howard was wounded by a bullet that ricocheted off his weapon and gashed his face, leaving scars which were to last forever. While recuperating in a Combat Support Hospital, he was recruited into the Special Forces. This is where his career as it came to be known began.

He became an SF Demolitions man and having had a taste of action, he wanted more. As such, he became part of the Vietnamese Studies and Observation Group or “SOG,” which were involved in covert operations in Cambodia and Laos along the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) maintained Ho Chi Min Trail. In SF parlance, he went ‘Sneaky Pete.’ This is where his life started to become interesting.

SFC Howard with SOG Team Members

As an example of his behavior, when he was in a rear echelon area and standing in a chow line, a Viet Cong (VC) motorcycle team lobbed a grenade into the mess facility. Everyone but Howard dove for cover. Howard snatched an M-16 from a petrified guard, dropped to one knee, shot the driver and chased the passenger for almost a half mile before killing him too.

Most of the SOG missions would be to go into the NVA’s backyard, set up and monitor the trail and at prearranged times, they would then use code burster devices to radio the intel about what was passing along the trail. The operations people would calculate speed and distance of the elements moving along the trail and set up aerial ambushes to fire upon the bad guys when they were well out of the SOG operating area. The overall SOG mission was to disrupt traffic along the trail, remove enemy combat resources from the battle area and to divert enemy resources sent out to look for the ‘Sneaky Pete’ operations.

A "Moonbeam" flying a fire support mission.  The Moonbeams were C119's converted into night-time flying gun platforms 

For every SOG team member on the ground the NVA would, at times, commit in excess of 100 of their own men to find them. Most members of SOG were content to do their duty, call in the intel and stay alive, but not Bob Howard.

During the night on one such occasion, he lay alongside a Laotian portion of the “Trail” when an NVA convoy drove past with fresh troops headed for the battlefields in the south. Running alongside an enemy truck in pitch blackness, he spun an armed claymore mine over his head, then threw it among the Soldiers crammed into the back of the truck and detonated it. With his team, he then beat feet out of the area.

The NVA didn’t know where the attack came from. With the noise of the convoy’s engines and the trucks bouncing along, it could have been an aerial attack and they just didn’t hear the aircraft. That would have been probable, but whatever they thought, the SOG team was out of the area by the time the NVA was able to respond.

In one 13 month time frame, he was nominated for the Medal of Honor three times. Previously, no one had ever been nominated more than twice.

The first action that got Howard nominated for the MOH came in November, 1967. He was now a Sergeant First Class and he was with a larger SOG element sent to destroy a large and vital enemy cache. Howard screened forward and confronted a large enemy force. He killed four enemy Soldiers and then took out an NVA sniper. He then happened upon two machine gun crews that had slipped away. The gun crews unknowingly moved in and set up in directly front of him (one being just inches from Howard’s face.) The gun began blazing away and Howard was temporarily pinned down under the muzzle of the gun. At point blank range, he opened up with his rifle, killed that gun crew and then lobbed a grenade into one of the other gun positions, knocking it out too. Being so rapidly, violently and effectively engaged; the enemies were stunned. They knew neither the location of their opposition or the numbers. Howard’s muzzle flash had mixed in with the crew’s own light and noise and his grenade seemed to come from nowhere. Confused and panicked, they withdrew.

That nomination for the MOH was downgraded to a Silver Star for mission security.

This is a photograph from the Green Beret magazine showing SFC Howard being awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster for
his DSC. This was for the action for which he ultimately received the MOH; but it occurred during the indecision
concerning security and before the MOH was actually awarded to him.

The second nomination came a little over eleven months later. He was with a larger SOG force, but he single-handedly knocked out an enemy PT-76 tank, a day later he wiped out an anti-aircraft gun crew, and afterward he rescued the crew of a downed Huey. Repeatedly wounded, he bled from his arms, legs, back and face, but he refused to be evacuated. He was again nominated for a MOH, and it was again downgraded for security reasons, but this time to a Distinguished Service Cross.

The third nomination for the MOH got muddled in red tape and intelligence matters. After being downgraded then restored and downgraded again, it was finally awarded. To read about that action, read the previous entry.

After the MOH engagement, Howard was evacuated to a Combat Support Hospital. He was burned and slashed by shrapnel but fearing that he would be sent to Japan or Walter Reed, he went AWOL from the hospital. He hitched a lift on a Huey and went back to the front wearing only his pajamas. Howard trusted the SF medics for cleansing, debridement of the dead flesh around his wounds and removing the sutures.

On a subsequent mission, Howard was now a Master Sergeant and was the NCO in charge but after sustained firefights he became the senior man on the ground and was given a battlefield commission to First Lieutenant. There were other senior Sergeants on the mission and the promotion was made to give Howard the unquestionable authority to give the orders to follow through and complete the mission.

The man was a legend. During the Paris Peace Talks, the US maintained that the North was engaged in the fighting in the South, which they of course denied. To settle that discussion, when Howard happened upon an NVA Lieutenant Colonel operating in the South, he captured the man. He handed the officer over so that the he could be presented in person in Paris to prove the North’s fighting presence.

Howard carrying a wounded NVA prisoner and showing compassion that is beyond what would be expected.

It would have been more expedient to simply kill the LTC. But a live and talking prisoner beats a cold dead body, so Howard gave them a live prisoner. Simple… or rather, simple for Howard. Furthermore, Howard never killed anyone needlessly.

Another incident that typified Howard’s combat experience was when he was notified that he had finally been approved for the MOH. General Westmoreland had to pull him out of another fire fight to tell him, of course.

But that was Howard. In SF, the name Howard was then the byword for thinking outside the box and doing everything with nothing. It was passed down that when you got in a precarious situation, you were meant to ask yourself, “What would Howard do?”

Captain Howard after receiving the Medal of Honor from President Nixon.

In typical Bob Howard style, prior to the MOH ceremony he was told that there would be a Marine Corps band playing and that the ceremony was formal so he was meant to wear Dress Blues. Howard said that there were going to have to be some changes. He was an Army man, so there would be an Army band. Furthermore, he was a Paratrooper and he would be wearing his Class A uniform with bloused boots. (Don’t try to understand that unless you are Airborne. It’s a Paratrooper thing.)

He stood up to the protocol coordinator so he contacted the Secretary of Defense. Howard also stood up to him. Howard’s grandfather had been killed in WWI; and in WWII, his father and three of his uncles were all Army Airborne and had all died from combat wounds. He modeled himself after his dad and had gone Airborne to emulate him. To him, the MOH ceremony would be a private memorial dedicated to his family.

After the award ceremony, at which then President Nixon presented him with the MOH, Nixon asked Howard what he would like to do. Nixon gave Howard his choice of any number of options from a private lunch with the President to a private tour of the White House. Howard simply asked to be taken to the Tombs of the Unknown Soldiers where he wanted to share his thoughts and commune with those who had gone before him. Howard connected with the war dead of our country and he wanted time to share his emotions with them.

Major Howard at the dedication of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, DC.

He was also a huge force behind the development and idea for a Vietnam Veteran’s memorial and he was always a supporter of it after its dedication.

He received a bachelor's degree in administration from Texas Christian University in 1973 and received two master's degrees from Central Michigan University; one in management in 1980 and the other in public administration in 1981.

After retiring from the military, he worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs as a liaison to other veterans.

He retired in 2006 after 52 years of government service that included 14 years with the VA.

His thirty six years of military service included over 33 years on airborne
status.

Colonel Howard prior to his retirement.  The years were weighing heavy but the scars were still visible.

 
For the VA, he frequently made trips to battle zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan to speak with troops to ensure that they knew how to proceed with the VA once they separated. For the troops, as still-serving Soldiers, he talked about his experiences to inspire them and to give them hope.

Bob Howard often expressed a variation of what Jesus is noted for saying, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s.” But Howard’s expression was something like, “Never forget your country or your God.” Those are some pretty good words to live by.

The Medal of Honor

Colonel Howard died on December 23rd 2009. Time and secondary effects of his wounds finally did what the enemy never could.

Voices of 1918; Captain Harry S. Truman’s Combat Experience in World War I - The Finale

Summary and Observations of the Combat Operations

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive started on 26 Sep., 1918, and continued on until the last moment of the war at 1100 on 11 Nov., 1918.  It was the biggest American operation of the war and it was the most costly in US history.  There were 26,277 dead and 95,786 wounded; more than any other battle.  That notwithstanding, the Allied gains as a result of the battle, the casualities inflicted on the Germans and the battle's logistical pressure on the German war machine were all important factors in their agreeing to the armistice, shortening the war, guaranteeing Allied victory and actually saving Allied lives in the long-term.

Due in part to a general lack of artillery support in the 35th Division sector, the Germans slipped in their own artillery and made huge gains in that portion of the battle.  On his own initiative, Truman countered some of this.  CPT Truman and Battery D contributed significantly to the Allied victory in the Argonne Forest and by his personal actions directly saved countless lives.  He later rather humbly wrote, “The battery has shot something over 10,000 rounds at the Hun and I am sure they had a slight effect.”

In this battle, the 35th Division lost in excess of  ¼ of it’s men as casualties which was about 7,300 men, and approximately 6% of all the American casualities.  It was unreasonably large and blameworthy, but without Truman, that statistic would have been considerably higher.  It was only the supreme efforts of Truman's one small battery of 194 men with the help of the 110th Engineers and the 128th Machine Gun Battalion that turned back the Germans, saved the 35th, and therefore saved the Allies.

In the words of General Pershing, U.S. First Army commander, "We were no longer engaged in a maneuver for the pinching out of a salient, but were necessarily committed, generally speaking, to a direct frontal attack against strong, hostile positions fully manned by a determined enemy."  In other words, a relatively straightforward and strategically sound operation had bogged down. The initiative and momentum had been lost.  The line had to be stabilized and a redoubling of effort had to be made to regain ground to reach even it's initial objectives.  All these positive developments were eventually accomplished and they were facilitated by in large part by the actions of Battery D and CPT Truman.

Allied Commanding Generals Foch (French, left) and Pershing (US, right)

While Truman was on active duty he was to receive little recognition for it.  In fact what he did receive initially was several verbal reprimands for firing "out of sector" in the defense of his division's exposed flank and additional reprimands for disregarding his direct orders to not fire out of sector.  All of these dressing downs were from Colonel Klemm, the 129th Regimental Commander.  After the first day at the orchid, COL Cheppy Klemm actually threatened CPT Truman with court-martial for the destruction of the German battery because it was out of his sector.  But characteristically, the next day, the Captain saw that both of his high value targets, the German OP as well as the opposing battery, were out of sector and yet he still fired them up.  It’s interesting to note that a corps liaison officer was present for at least one instance of cross sector firing and he heartily approved of it.

The 60th Brigade as a whole did receive commendations for excellence from three different senior commanders as well as from General Pershing.  Mr. Wooden said, “God, they gave him hell for firing out of his sector, you see.” He then went on, afterward, saying, “we got a letter from the commanding general (of the 28th Division, who benefited from the fire) congratulating us for doing it, see.” 

Even after Battery D got a letter of recommendation from a neighboring division commander, Colonel Klemm kept silent.  Similarly General Traub never officially recognized the valiant efforts of Battery D.  Only when he was criticized by the press did he give Truman any credit at all.  Even that was always a sideways-on compliment and was mostly used as a defense of his leadership. 

Truman made an analysis of each situation and made the correct decision even when it involved disobeying orders.  He stood by his actions, but he never publicly discredited his commander.  Although there are several angry accounts of other Klemm actions against Truman in letters to his fiancé, Bess, and a in field notebook, there is no record (even in Truman's voluminous postwar writings) of the future president's response; only a dry note of irony in two brief references.  (Giangreco, 2002.)

An affectionate cartoon, "Give 'em hell, Harry"in WWI

The best that CPT Truman got while on active duty was a written commendation about the condition and the maintenance of his guns.  As Truman said, “I got a letter of Commendation, capital C, from the Commanding General of the 35th Division. The Ordnance Repair Dept. made a report to him that I had the best conditioned guns after the drive that he had seen in France.” (Truman, 1 Nov., 1918)

It is interesting that Truman received this after General Pershing’s endorsement of the actions of Battery D that had so heavily contributed to the battle at the Argonne Forest and to the war.  Typical of Truman, he endorsed a copy of the letter and gave it to Mr. Wooden, who actually did the maintenance.  Truman gave credit where it was due.

The Story Behind the Story to Include the Food Fight

1)  In total, Truman had two men wounded in combat.  One of these men fully recovered but the other eventually succumbed to his wounds after the war’s end.  Only one other man died under his command and that was from appendicitis.  That too, occurred after hostilities had ceased.  Under the combat conditions that the battery survived; that was, in and of itself, an incredible accomplishment.  Combined with his exploits in the Argonne Forest, that feat possibly makes CPT Truman the most underrated, undervalued and most unrecognized hero the US Army had in it's combat history to that point.

2) In quoting Truman, it was written above that France lost a half million men.  That was only at that particular location - Verdun.  A total of 1,600,000 French Soldiers were killed in combat during WWI.  In fact, 714,000 casualties were in combined total by both the French and the Germans at Verdun.

3)  One medal that Truman did get was the Victory Medal which he applied for himself, after he was off active duty.  (See below)

This is basically a campaign medal, and he received it with three Battle Clasps reflecting his combat service in St. Mihiel, the Meuse-Argonne offensives and Verdun.  Post-war, CPT Truman received a routine Officer Evaluation Report completed by his National Guard battalion commander, Major Gates.  Major Gates described him in January 1919 as "an excellent battery commander . . . excellent instructor . . . resourceful and dependable."  This is the same MAJ Gates who crossed the Aire River with CPT Truman looking for the armor brigade that they were supporting, so his combat commander knew him for what he was.

4)  It may seem that Truman wrote about a lot of sensitive information, but that was only after censorship was loosened up.  He wrote, “Since the censorship was eased up somewhat today I am going to try and tell you from the beginning to end and tell you just what happened to me…”  (Truman, 23 Nov., 1918)  That quote should also explain why that letter in particular was used so much here.

5)  Finally, the men of D Battery were not rogues.  They were predominately Irish, and they were just being Irishmen.  They were naturally good-natured men.  They were almost always up for a good time and they were rather enthusiastic drinkers, as you would expect.  They  were basically friendly, unruly boys, which didn’t change any at all from when Truman was first introduced to them to after they were back home. 

The Battle of Dugny in the Words of Mr. McKim

“Dugny was a railhead close to Camp La Beholle, and after the Armistice we took all of our guns down there and put them in a gun park close to the railroad station. Later we had to go down to clean up those guns. They had been sitting out there for quite a while, and while we were doing this work some Frenchman came along with a five gallon demijohn full of cognac, which he started to peddle and some of the boys got pretty high. So we knocked off for lunch and went into town. There was a headquarters of some infantry outfit there and some fights started. One of our fellows who was pretty tight suddenly left the group, ran over and started slugging some strange soldiers. So, the fight started there and pretty soon the whole battery was in it. Our boys went into this headquarters and threw papers, records -- they just tore the place apart.” 

The boys were having fun celebrating the end of the war and going home, that’s all.  If you are Irish or male (preferably both,) it will help you to understand the logic here.

At the Battery reunion of 1921, a food fight erupted.  “But it ended up in quite a brawl. Somebody sent a riot call to the police and they sent down two policemen, and one of them happened to be George Brice who had been in the battery. They proceeded to practically undress him. Well, we finally got them calmed down and subdued…Mr. Truman had to pay the bill right afterwards, not that night but the next day. It ran up into important money, a couple of hundred dollars as I recall, for the damage done.” (Mr. McKim)

Proposal on Rectifying the Oversight

German battery being shelled

CPT Truman’s combat actions are the epitome of a good combat leader.  At great personal risk, he unquestionably accomplished his missions and did so considerably beyond expectations.  He looked after the welfare of his men to an unprecedented level on his part of the battlefield.  He displayed both resourcefulness and initiative, which saved the lives of countless Americans and greatly facilitated the winning of the war.  His actions reflected well on the 129th Field Artillery, the 35th Division and the United States Army.  Unfortunately, the efforts of both his men and of him have gone unrecognized and largely unrewarded.

It is time to correct this oversight.  A proposal has been made by this author to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum as well as to Senator McCaskill of Missouri to initiate the process to finally award the military honors due to CPT Truman and Battery D.  Senator McCaskill has already been active in recognizing the contribution of the Soldiers from Missouri to the WWI victory.

Qualification of Material

The men quoted here were all men serving in Truman’s command in France.  Like all witness accounts, there are inconsistencies, with no two being exactly alike; but furthermore when some bad guys are trying to shoot you, you have better things to worry about than getting your thoughts together so you can talk about it in the future.  As Mr. Wooden said when asked about a specific action, “I can't tell you the dates, mister, because hell, time didn't mean anything to me, no.  As far as the dates on that are concerned I don't know.”

Neither the grammar nor the verbiage of these histories has been changed.

Similarly the letters that are quoted here were written by Captain Truman to his fiancé, Bess Wallace.  Most of which were written while he was in the battle area.  As such, in those letters there are also some scattered minor differences and errors of omission.  Nonetheless, they clearly detail what he saw, what he did, and what he felt.

All the data from all the sources have been woven together to get a uniform but more human result; that is not necessarily fully in line with official documents.  What is presented here is completely accurate, historically, in regard to the events and the outcomes.  It does reflect who the combatants were as well as what they experienced and thought.  In keeping with that, the spelling errors of CPT Truman have been left in.  However, on occasion, Truman’s writing had to be tidied up a bit, but this was only to make it understandable to the reader.  These acts of editing are apparent but inconspicuously so.  Like a lot of great people, he couldn’t spell worth a darn but that reflects who he was. 
The color photographs are original and were taken during fighting in WWI.  They are representative of the war's experiences but they were taken at Passchendaele, which was before Battery D’s trial by combat.

Promotion order of 1LT Truman to Captain

Truman's Application for Victory Medal

Thanks, References and Credits

A special thank you is due Randy Sowell, Archivist, Harry S. Truman Library.

References:
Giangreco, D.M (2002.) Soldier from Independence: Harry S. Truman and the Great War. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Gilwee, William J. (2000.) Capt. Harry Truman, Artilleryman and Future President. Doughboy Center: The Story of the American Expeditionary Forces.  www.worldwar1.com/dbc/truman2.htm  Accessed 25 Jul 2010.

Moore, Victoria (2007) Hell on Earth: The never before seen colour photographs of the bloody battle of Passchendaele. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-467811/Hell-Earth.  Accessed 25 Jul 2010.

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive:  Part II: Pershing’s Report.  The Great War Society.  www.worldwar1.com/dbc/bigshow2.htm  Accessed 1 Aug 2010.

Harry S Truman Library and Museum.  Personal letters of Harry S Truman and Oral histories.  www.trumanlibrary.org/library Accessed 18 Jul 2010
   
Accessed and used letters of Captain Harry S. Truman, 129th Field Artillery, American Expeditionary Forces to Bess Wallace dated:
1 Sep 1918, 8 Sep 1918, 15 Sep 1918, 6 Oct 1918,  8 Oct 1918,  11 Oct 1918, 20 Oct 1918, 30 Oct 1918, 1 Nov 1918, 2 Nov 1918, 5 Nov 1918, 10 Nov 1918, 15 Nov 1918,  23 Nov 1918.

The oral histories accessed and used were: Frederick J. Bowman, A sergeant in Battery D, 129th Field Artillery Regiment.  La Jolla, California March 24, 1970 by J. R. Fuchs; Vere C. Leigh Member of Battery D, 129th Field Artillery Regiment. Stockton, California March 4, 1970 by J. R. Fuchs; Edward D. McKim Served under Capt. Harry S. Truman, Battery D, 129th Field Artillery Regiment, 1917-19, Interview Transcripts February 17 & February 19, 1964; Walter B. Menefee  Sergeant in World War I in Battery D,129th Field Artillery Regiment. Clinton, Missouri May 28, 1970 by J. R. Fuchs; Floyd T. Ricketts Private in Battery D, 129th Field Artillery Regiment. Rancho Santa Fe, California March 24, 1970 by James R. Fuchs; McKinley Wooden Mechanic in Battery D, 129th Field Artillery Regiment. Lee's Summit, Missouri February 12, 1986 by Niel M. Johnson

Credits:
Photographs, records and cartoon (except as noted) were obtained from the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum as well as the United States Army Archives.

Voices of 1918; Captain Harry S. Truman’s Combat Experience in World War I - Part 4 of 5

From the Killing Fields of Verdun to the Armistice.

Life in the trenches at Verdun

After being pulled off the front at the Argonne Forest, the men from Battery D took a much needed rest for a few days.  “Every one of us was almost a nervous wreck and we'd lost weight until we looked like scare crows.”  (Truman, 23 Nov., 1918)  Baths were still difficult to take with most of the officers and men getting one only when pulled back from the front.  For the battery, this was the first opportunity in about a month.  Normally, they shaved and bathed what they could out of their canteen cups.

On 16 Oct., 1918, they were sent back to work but in a "quiet" sector to do a little “position warfare” where you shoot at the enemy occasionally and duck incoming rounds occasionally but mostly you’re time was spent drying out your boots and socks and just being bored.  The word “occasionally” being relative to their previous hellacious experiences.  Ironically, this “quiet” little sector had been one of the bloodiest battlegrounds in world history - the Verdun battle area.  It is still a sensitive subject between the French and the Germans.  In this engagement, it was the stated German directive to “bleed the French white” (to kill as many Frenchmen as possible to destroy the Allied war effort.)  As it often happens with this type of thinking, it didn’t work, but it did instill a hatred that has persisted.

Out of the mud for a break (Moore, 2007)

Battery D was assigned a sector somewhat near a little town of La Beholle just out of the city of Verdun.  CPT Truman wrote, “My battery position for 3 weeks was right between Ft. Tavannes and Ft. de Souville and about 3 kilos (three kilometers or almost 1.5 miles) from the famous Douamont.  The impregnable fort that saved Verdun and Paris.  I have already told you how we were shelled most every night and what a dreary desolate place it was.”  (Truman, 23 Nov., 1918) 

As Mr. Wooden said, they had been relocated "near to Verdun up on Dead Man's Hill. We moved it up there one night about 10 or 11 o'clock. It was the prettiest moonlight night you ever saw in your life. We put the guns in some old French gun pits. There were some dugouts there the gun crews got into.  I found a little old ammunition shelter right close to the guns. Well, I spread my blankets out and went to bed. I woke up the next morning; the sun was shining. I looked over on this shelf, and there was a skull there, a bullet hole right through there. Then, over here on this shelf, there was another skull, a bullet hole right through here. I looked outside and saw a blown-off man's leg sticking up out of the ground.”

An old French trench in Verdun: "Le Mort Homes"

It was a macabre sight and beyond a macabre place.  In oral histories, several members of the battery mentioned there were scattered pieces of more bodies all over the entire battleground.  Every time a German artillery shell impacted in their area, it disinterred at least one body that had been previously covered by the dirt of the battlefield.  CPT Truman said it best, “There is one field over west of me here a short distance where every time a shell lights, it plows up a piece of someone. I guess it must be Le Mort Homes.” (Truman, 1 Nov., 1918)  (If it were spelled correctly, “Le Mort Homes” would be French for “The Dead Men” or the “Place of the Dead Men.”

It is believed that it was possible that the Germans fired about a million shells a day at the French during the intense fighting around Verdun.  This resulted in what some theorists have calculated as a yard of soil from the entire battlefield being removed from the face of the earth during the artillery duels that ensued.

Shell holes and slaughter (Moore, 2007)

“I am still bearing that charmed life and… I attribute it to your prayers. Things that happened to us in the drive sure made believers out of most of us.”  (Truman, 30 Oct., 1918)  He had previously mentioned that he had enemy artillery impacting on either side of him as he was moving through the battlefield.  He went on to write about the huge forest which once was filled with the most beautiful trees that were now reduced to sticks with “naked branches sticking out, making them look like ghosts.  The ground is simply one mass of shell holes.”  He also said, "how when the moon rises behind those mere stumps, you can imagine that the ghosts of the ½ million Frenchmen who were slaughtered here are holding a sorrowful parade over the ruins.” 

It was a static front but the Germans were still doing their part in keeping up the appearance of a war.  "A German plane dropped some bomb not far from me last night and sort of shook things up.” (Truman, 10 Nov., 1918)  The war, for the Americans, was winding down.  Battery D stopped firing early in the morning of the last day.  They didn’t see the point and their heart wasn’t in it.  They didn’t know when the war would be over, but they knew it would be soon.  On the other hand, the French pumped shell after shell at the Germans in an unrelenting rage of revenge.  They seemed to be expending all of their ammo, firing round after round of high explosives and gas at the Germans.  They were firing as fast as they could and they absolutely wanted to fire off as much as they could.  When asked, the French replied that the Germans were filth and deserved to die because of what they had inflicted on the French Soldiers.  (Please note that this is a very sanitized version of what actually was said.)

Crippled gun and dead gunner

Of the ending of the war Mr. Wooden said, “Well, what I was going to tell you... That morning we fired 150 rounds in support of the infantry over there. They had a little attack, I guess about 7 or 7:30. Twenty minutes after 10 Harry came along. His office was down in the chat road about 100 yards. He said, 'McKinley, look here.' He pulled out a piece of white paper about as big as my hand. It said, 'Please cease firing on all fronts 11/11/11, General John J. Pershing.' Prettiest piece of paper I ever saw in my life. He went up and told the rest of the battery. We weren't firing. The French battery there did; they fired right up until 11 o'clock, and there was no need of it.  Well, sir, it was the damnedest feeling you ever experienced when that stopped. Words can't express it. Just a few hours before you were killing people, and all of a sudden, France was in peace for the first time in four years. Well, we just stood around there and looked at one another. Finally someone said, 'Why don't we go home?'”

“I am most awful glad it's over and I hope I never have to fight in another one. But it gives a fellow a kind of a satisfied feeling when he knows he's done his best.”  (Truman, 23 Nov., 1918)   CPT Truman’s best was pretty good, too.

Destroyed German Bunker and Dead German Soldier

Voices of 1918; Captain Harry S. Truman’s Combat Experience in World War I - Part 3 of 5

The 35th Division’s Withdrawal from the Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Battery D removed two entire batteries from the German's order of battle and did serious operational damage to a third battery.  Nonetheless, the 35th was still taking serious damage. Extremely anxious about the ability of the 35th to accomplish their mission or even hold the line, General Pershing went forward on 28 September to see first-hand what was going on.  Upon interviewing the commander, General Traub detailed the terrible flanking fire from Apremont and the Argonne Forest and explained that he was unable to respond because of the First Army's standing order forbidding divisions from firing outside of their own battle area.  An astounded and appalled Pershing replied, "But surely you do not obey that order?" From that point on, the 35th's artillery was encouraged to engage targets in the 28th’s sector but the damage had already been done by allowing the German guns to slip under and through the Allies’ covering fire. (Giangreco, 2002.)

Shot down German biplane in the Argonne, 4 Oct., 1918

The 35th's assault on 29 September at Exermont was thrown back with great losses and the ensuing German counterattacks nearly succeeded in breaking the American lines.  (Gilwee, 2000.)

However, Truman once again showed what an analytical, decisive leader he was.  During the German counterattacks, he turned his anti-aircraft machineguns into anti-personnel defensive weapons, set them into defensive positions and began blasting the attacking enemy.  In the fatalistic attitude that often creeps into the combat Soldier, this piece of terrain that they were fighting over was dubbed, "a cemetery of unburied dead.”  (Giangreco, 2002)


As a result of the disproportionate and unacceptably large numbers of casualties inflicted on the 35th Division, as well as some tactical blunders made by the senior command structure, the 35th was deemed to be rendered infective.  The 1st Division then moved up and replaced the 35th.  They, in turn, suffered 6,000-plus casualties in this same area until the end of the operation and the war.

Even though the Infantry of the 35th Division had been rendered ineffective, Battery D was still operational beyond all expectations.  Mr. Wooden noted, “They kept us there for four days to support the artillery of the First Division, you see. They couldn't get their artillery up. We finally got a letter of recommendation from the major general of the First Division for backing them up.”  It was a horrific time, but it could have been worse.

Artillery crew pulling gun out of the mud of the battle area.

Amazingly, virtually all the casualties of the 35th occurred within a three mile radius of Truman's artillery battery as it fought and moved forward through the battlefield.  The battery was bombed and strafed by air, hit with incoming mustard gas and high explosive artillery, ambushed by dug-in and camouflaged machinegun nests, and attacked by infantry.  Yet, for the entirety of Truman’s combat command (11 July, 1918 through the end of the war on 11 November, 1918,) not one man was killed in his battery and only two were wounded.  This was a feat that requires forethought, tactical ability, organizational skills as well as luck.  As said by Mr. Leigh, “There's such a thing as sticking your battery in a spot where they shouldn't be, you know, and Truman didn't make those mistakes.”

For example, on one occasion the battery’s firing position had been detected and counter fire had been called in on them.  The enemy observer walked in rounds and had bracketed their position.  In lightning quick response, Battery D hitched up and started to move out.  Just as the enemy order for fire for effect had been complied with, the last of the caissons had rolled on.  Unfortunately, the only cover and concealment for them to quickly roll into was in-between the lines of “No Man’s Land” and there they had got stuck in the mud.  They got into a significant depression and were not observable but the Germans knew they were there and were searching them out with their artillery.  One wagon got hit and a man seeking cover in a shell hole had an incoming dud hit right between his legs.  They stayed where they were until well past dark; then pulled what equipment they could out of the mud.  It was 3am before they reached the adjoining woods.  Two carriages had to be left behind and the remnants are probably still there.  As for the men, nobody received so much as a scratch.


That there were no casualties was attributable to CPT Truman’s forethought in planning for possible counter-fire and knowledge of the depression.  Furthermore, that this depression that they used was in “No Man’s Land” wasn’t what the opposing observer would have expected or planned for, giving the battery a little extra time.  The move was successfully accomplished in a rapid manner, which required a huge amount of training and discipline as well as cool thinking. 

Battery D went through a lot during both the build up and offensive and the actual battle.  “There were some three or four weeks from September 10 to October 6 that I did nothing but march at night and shoot or sleep in daylight.”  (Truman, 8 Oct., 1918)  The men ate on the march or caught a bite behind their guns and sleep was a luxury.  On several occasions, Truman went more than two and a half days without sleep.  After one such stint, he was ordered to rest by his battalion commanding officer.  He slept for 24 straight hours, which happened more than once.  “Once I was up so long I thought I never would want to go to bed any more.”  (Truman, 15 Nov., 1918)

“It was the most terrific experience of my life and I hope I don't have to go through with it many more times” (Truman, 30 Oct., 1918)

Come back Friday for Voices of 1918; part 4 of 5