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.