Harry S. Truman letter to Bess Wallace - March 24, 1919
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[American Officers’ Hotel letterhead] Paris, France March 24, 1919 Dearest Bess: I am as you can see by the stationary in Paris again. It took a right good conversation and some maneuvering to land me here but I got to come and bring three of my sergeants along with me. All the officers who came over first have trunks at the American Express Company. Someone had to come and get them. I succeeded in getting my Battery Fund and my personal account balled up so that a Philadelphia lawyer couldn't tell which is my money and which is the Battery's. You know French bookkeeping is a deep dark mystery
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and they had credited me with battery money and the battery with mine, charged my checks to the battery and the battery's to me, and had done it without favor to either side, but it fixed the accounts so you could not tell head or tail. I had to come up here and draw the whole of both accounts and put my money in one pocket and the battery's in another. When the baggage trip came up why my having an account to fix and trunks also got me the job. I asked for help and they gave me three sergeants. Naturally I brought three of my own. I let 'em draw for it and just to show you my battery's not entirely Irish Tierney, Cheney and Seiben won! I hired a taxi and took 'em sightseeing today. I'm afraid they were
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[American Officers’ Hotel letterhead] more interested in the girls than the sights but they pretended to be very much impressed with Notre Dame and Napoleons tomb. We also went to see the Pantheon de la Guerre which is a grand painting of the war. Its about forty feet high and is painted around the inside of a circular building about 100 feet in diameter. I'd judge the picture to be 300 feet long if it was stretched out. The background shows all the battlefields of France beginning at the Belgian coast and running to the Vosges. In the foreground are life sized pictures of the heros, presidents, generals etc. A section is devoted to each country. Ours of course has Woodrow, Josephus Newton Daniels, Gen. Pershing along with the various Admirals and generals
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we've had on the fighting line. The British shows George V and the sweet little Pricipe [sic] de Gales along with Admiral Beattie Marshal Haig and other British lights and lesser lights. It takes a set of steps to show all the French while only a narrow margin is devoted to Japan and Portugal. People will come from the ends of the earth to see it when traffic in tourists is resumed. France has to do something to get American money after we're gone. I'm for the French anyway. They fought bled and died more than all the rest of the world (except poor old Russia) and if they want to bleed a little money out of us I'm for 'em. If you could see Verdun and Chemin des Dames where more Frenchmen were killed than we ever had men on the front you'd sure be glad to help 'em any way you can. They do say that the Germans are treating our men so well that the
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[American Officers’ Hotel letterhead] whole Army of Occupation will go home German sympathizers. It's a peculiar human trait I guess to forget Belgium and ruined and devastated France, forget the Lusitania and the ruthless cruelty of the Huns and remember only that they gave us feather beds when we went among them as conquerors and the French gave us barns although the we came to help them. The French gave their own soldiers barns too. We'll remember that the French raised prices on us yet our own patriotic citizens did us the same way at Lawton and in New York. For my part I hope the great things of France will be remembered and the small ones forgotten, that the awful cruelties and atrocious treatment of Belgium and
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northern France will be remembered and the pie and feather beds forgotten in Germany's case.Well Paris is Paris and a great place to be if you were only here too. But I wouldn't give a certain Jackson County Missouri farm I know of for the whole _____ town, with the rest of France thrown in for good measure. I saw the hats of the Archbishops of Paris who were beheaded in the Revolution today also a lot of the personal equipment of the Great Napoleon. His tomb is all clear of sandbags now and is the most beautiful place of the kind I ever saw. A man had to raise a lot of sand in the world to get planted as handsomely as he is. You can't imagine what a beautiful place it is. The sarcophagus itself is of red granite or some kind of red stone polished till a fly can't stand on it. It stands in a circle beneath a great golden dome. There are statues of Victory
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[American Officers’ Hotel] and all the other Goddesses holding out wreaths to the dead Emperor. The building itself is as large as a church and is of the finest Corinthian architecture. Jerome Napoleon and Joseph are also buried there. So are Marshal Turenne and Vauban. There are two empty rooms which I guess are being saved for Marshals Joffre and Foch. All Napoleons captured flags are around his tomb and there are a great many of them. I had my photograph by one the sergeants in front of the Arc de Triumphe and also on the Pont Alexandre III which is the finest bridge across the Seine. We are going to sail about April 15th nothing interfering and I hope
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most sincerely that nothing does. I should see you about May 8th or thereabouts. Capt. Pete Allen has been sent to the 4th Division and my good Lt Jordon to the 1st. They are going to stay in the army. I don't know how Pete will square himself with Hanna when she finds he's not coming [sic] home for another year. He did the proper thing though because he's got the best job he ever had and he has ability and inclination in that direction. I guess Klemm and Elliott are home by now, God bless 'em. It looks very much as if Lt Col Gates would bring us home. I hope he does.Write as often as you can to one who's pining for you daily.I love you always Harry.Harry S. Truman Capt Bty D 129 FA American E. F.
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[ms torn: 2 wds] American Officers’ Hotel American E.F. Paris Officers Mail [stamp] U.S. Army [ms torn: 1 wd] Miss Bess Wallace 219 Delaware St Independence [Missouri] U.S.A. OK Harry S Truman Capt. 129 Fa [stamp] A.E.F. Passed As Censored [ms illegible: 1 wd] A.E.F.
Details
| Title | Harry S. Truman letter to Bess Wallace - March 24, 1919 |
| Creator | Truman, Harry S. |
| Source | Truman, Harry S. Letter to Bess Wallace. 24 March 1919. Papers of Harry S. Truman Pertaining to Family, Business and Personal Affairs; Correspondence from Harry S. Truman to Bess Wallace, 1910-1919. HST-FBP_6-23_01. Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, Ind |
| Description | Letter from Harry S. Truman to his future wife, Bess Wallace, telling her that his trip home was delayed due to an accouniting issue and that he was in Paris. Captain Truman was placed in charge of Battery D of the 129th Field Artillery Regiment from July 11, 1918 through the end of the war on November 11, 1918. During his military service Truman frequently wrote to Bess informing her of his experiences. |
| Subject LCSH | Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972; United States. Army. Field Artillery Battalion, 129th; World War, 1914-1918--Military life--United States; United States. Army. Division, 35th; Military discharge; |
| Subject Local | WWI; World War I; Camp La Beholle |
| Site Accession Number | HST-FBP_6-23_01 |
| Contributing Institution | Harry S. Truman Library and Museum |
| Rights | Documents in this file are in the public domain. |
| Date Original | March 24, 1919 |
| Language | English |