Been feeling out of sorts, lately. Frustrated at the lack of decency often seen in the world. The lying. The disingenuous words flying about.
Then I recalled an incident that made me remember that there have been true leaders out there. Like Lucian Truscott.
Truscott isn't one who comes up in the pantheon of popular WWII generals. He didn't seem the limelight. He wasn't a military academy grad. He started out as a poor schoolteacher before wrangling a commission as a cavalry officer
By WWII, he was leading troops in North Africa
Truscott was a good combat leader. Tough. Dependable. Not flashy. Willing to speak his mind. He fought through North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, leading @3rd_Infantry, before taking control of the disastrous beachhead at Anzio. He would fight in Italy all through the war till 1945
But that's not why I think of him
On Memorial Day, 1945, Truscott, as 5th Army commander, was asked to speak at the US cemetery at Nettuno. Lots of VIPs & press present. Truscott took the stand, facing his expectant audience. Then he turned around
And faced his 20,000 fallen
Ignoring the living, Truscott, in his raspy voice, apologized to the dead for their presence there. And he talked of his own grief: "everybody tells leaders it is not their fault that men get killed in war, but that every leader knows in his heart this is not altogether true"
He said that he hoped that if any were there because of a mistake of his, that they would forgive him, but admitted that was "asking a hell of a lot considering the circumstances."
He would not speak, he said, of the glorious dead; he didn't see much glory in young men dying
If any, he said, ever spoke of how death in battle was glorious, especially those who had a chance to grow old, he would straighten them out. It was the least he could do, he rasped.
No one recorded this final heart-rending speech from a commander to his troops.
Thankfully, Bill Mauldin - creator of the iconic Willie and Joe, who showed the world the true GI - was present, and made the only known notes of Truscott's speech.
Mauldin would go on to be a civil rights advocate, btw
True honesty and genuine care seems so rare these days that when you see it, it rather takes your breath away
It's what I think of, when I think of what this country is, at its roots. Or rather, what it can be. And it keeps me pushing towards that goal.
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