Harry S. Truman photo

Remarks at an Officers Luncheon, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

October 04, 1949

General Hodge, General Gillem:

You fellows get ready now, this is a great whistlestop gadget!

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today. The last time I saw General Clark was in Chicago, when the Shriners were putting on a great performance for all of us. I had a very pleasant time with him there. The last time I saw General Gillem was down in Miami, Fla., where they say it never gets hot, but it was 100 in the shade and about 210 in the sun, and I had to change all my clothes when I got back on the plane after that appearance there, although we had a grand time in Miami. The last time I saw General Hodge, I think he was reporting to me about Korea. And Korea is still a problem. I hope we will get it settled.

I told the generals in command here today that I had been down here at Fort Bragg along in 1942 and 1943, to inspect the construction that was going on here, as chairman of the Senate Committee that made some investigations of the national defense program, and that I had gone up with a bunch of paratroopers and had asked the commanding general if it would be all right for me to jump out with the troops.

I have a witness right here who was present when that took place. And he will remember that the commanding general at that time told me that if I jumped out of that plane, he would be courtmartialed as soon as I got to the ground. I thought it wasn't right to have a major general courtmartialed, so I didn't jump out.

I have appreciated most highly all the things I have seen here today. This luncheon has been perfect--the food has been good, and more than Dr. Graham likes to see me eat, but he isn't here today.

I have enjoyed the music over there at the organ console. The gentleman has played the sort of music that I like, and I always like good music.

This review today was a wonderful one. I have seen some great reviews in my time. I have never seen a better one than this one.

The first review on anything like the scale of this one was at a little town in France called Commercy, and it was a review of the 35th Division by General Pershing. And I remember that I was in a battery of field artillery, at that time, on the left of the line; and General Pershing insisted on walking around every company and battery in the division. There were some 25,000 or 26,000 troops in the line, and by the time the General got to my battery, I was ankle-deep in water. I had on boots, thank God. I didn't get my feet wet. And it was 4 hours after he had started.

Then the review took place, and the Prince of Wales--afterwards Edward VIII--was with him. As we marched off the field, General Pershing and the Prince of Wales and his staff were crossing a little creek from me. Now, my battery was one that could have been taken to have come from Boston, it sounded as if you were calling the roll of the Ancient Order of Hibernians when the roll was called. And as we marched on the other side of the creek with the General and his staff, one of these disrespectful corporals, or sergeants, in the battery of mine yelled, "O, Capitaine, what did the little so and so say about freeing Ireland"? This was after he had made a speech to our division.

Well, I was in a very embarrassing position, because if Pershing had decided to hear that remark, I suppose I would have gone to Leavenworth and stayed there the rest of my life. He didn't hear it, thank goodness.

Well, the next review that I remember seeing that had anything likely to approach this one was at Fort Bliss, Tex., outside of El Paso, when about 13 Congressmen and Senators had been on a tour in 1939 to investigate the defenses of Panama and Central America, and all the rest of the points that needed defense in the United States.

I was a member of the Military Affairs Committee of the Senate at that time, and the Chairman of the Military Affairs Committee and myself took the review at Fort Bliss. It was a cavalry division, and we had been informed by the Congressman from that point--El Paso--that when we arrived there, we would find the place where the sunshine spent the winter. This was along in November, and when I got there, one of those famous Texas northers was blowing from the Rocky Mountains and it was about, I'd say, 5 or 10 degrees below freezing point. And we had just come from Panama, had nothing but summer coats, and I never came as near to freezing in my life as I did then. And I didn't enjoy that review very much.

But this review, as Charlie Ross said today, is the most impressive one I have seen for a long time.

You know, I have reviewed the Navy twice, and I have reviewed the Air Force twice, but the Army, being rather timid and remembering that I at one time was a battery commander in the Army, has always felt a little backward about asking me to look at a review for the Army. So I called up the Secretary of the Army and told him that I had reviewed every military setup in the country except the Army, and I would like to see an Army review just once.

Well, if you gentlemen were present and saw that review, you would have felt very proud of the Army. It was a wonderful review. Well put on, and well handled-from start to finish.

And I was particularly interested in Colonel Compton's explanation to me of the progress that has been made in the field instruments that are used when combat actually takes place on the ground. And I think the loudspeaker over there would go with this gadget right here. You can almost pick it up and put it in your pocket; and you can hear it for a miles. Maybe more. It took 31,700 miles for me to be completely heard, and I hope I will never have to do that again.

I want to say to all of you that it has been a most pleasant day for me. I want to compliment all the people who had a hand in today's entertainment, in the review which has taken place, and in the part which we are due to see this afternoon. I know all of you have worked arduously to be sure that the President sees what he ought to see, and I appreciate that more than I can tell you.

I am going back to Washington in a very happy frame of mind, and I hope when the Navy and the Air Force get all their troubles settled, that the Army, as usual will go along.

Note: The President spoke at 1:40 p.m. In his remarks the President referred to Lt. Gen. John C. Hodge, commanding officer at Fort Bragg; Maj. Gen. Alvan C. Gillera, Jr., commanding general, 3d Army, Fort McPherson, Ga.; Gen. Mark W. Clark, commanding general, 6th Army, Presidio of San Francisco, Calif.; and Brig. Gen. Wallace H. Graham, White House Physician.

The 31,700 miles referred to by the President is the mileage that he covered during his campaign trips in 1948. Between June 3 and November 5, 1948, the President traveled 31,739 miles.

Harry S Truman, Remarks at an Officers Luncheon, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230129

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