Dear Bess: December 25, 1917
Transcript
Happy holidays from the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast, Harry S Truman National Historic Site and the National Park Service. We simply wish to share this letter with you from Christmas Day, 1917, while Harry S Truman was in the midst of some Army training, preparing for his service in World War I.
We wish all of you a safe and happy holiday season…let’s listen to what Lieutenant Harry S Truman wrote to his sweetheart, Miss Bess Wallace, while in training in Oklahoma.
December 25, 1917
Dear Bess: I should be severely reprimanded for this week's work. A whole week has gone since I wrote you. I wired you last night and hope it arrived today. I have been the busiest little bee in the hive I guess doing a full days drill and trying to get my country store off the rocks. I succeeded very successfully in accomplishing the latter. It will run with its usual regularity from now on. I got your package and simply couldn't wait any longer than today to open it. It sure was grand. Those gloves and that sweater were exactly what I needed. Your mother's cake is simply too pretty to cut. It looks exactly like a big Christmas bell. I'm not going to cut it until Christmas Day. Hope you got your package all right. I haven't seen it but if it's according to directions I am hoping it will be acceptable.
There were some promotions in our regiment this week. Kelly, Phelps, Flynn, Joes were promoted from second to first lieutenants. The Colonel and Lt. Col. are going to San Antonio to school and Col. Danford is going to take over our regiment for a month. He's an artillery man for sure and I suppose we must be making some progress to get the use of a man like him. He's written a book on field artillery that is considered a regular Bible by most artillerymen. I guess we'll have to put in a few more hours than we have been now to learn that book. We're lucky to have been using it already for a text book.
Perry is home on a permanent furlough. You asked me how he could be home. That's how. They put him before an efficiency board. We doing real military now and politicians don't count.
Mary S. B. has the scarlet fever in Lawton and Kenneth can only call her up. She has a nurse and is getting along all right. Please don't hold it against me this week and I won't let it occur again. Write as often and as long as you can.
Most sincerely, Harry
Written on Christmas Day, 1917, Lt. Harry S Truman fills in Miss Bess Wallace with the latest from his Army training camp in Oklahoma, while raving about his future mother-in-law's Christmas cake!
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/december-25-1917?documentid=NA&pagenumber=3