1964–65 Volume 89 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

This informal chat with Major General HarryH. Vaughan (Westminster '16) appeared in theWestminster Report, alumni publication of thecollege. It is reprinted through the courtesy ofJoe B. Humphreys, vice-president in charge ofalumni relations. A long-standing trustee ofWestminster College, Brother Vaughan servedas military aide to his close, personal friend,former President Harry S. Truman. A devotedPhi, Gen. Vaughan is now in retirement inAlexandria, Virginia, but he is a regular atWashington (D.C.) alumni club gatherings.LOOKING BACKwithGEN. HARRY VAUGHANGEN. HARRY VAUGHAN graduated fromWestminster in 1916 and went to workas a chemist for a food preserving companyin St. Louis. In late 1917 he found himself atFort Sill, Okliahoma, a member of the 128thField Artillery, 35th Infantry Division. Aftersome months as an artillery sergeant, he wassent to officers training school, graduating threemonths later as a second lieutenant."This school," says Vaughan, "was known tothe inmates as the 'University of Doubt.' Itwas a tough schedule and we read the bulletinboard every Sunday morning to see who hadgotten the axe. It was the policy, a wise one,not to send a newly commissioned man backto his former outfit, so I, coming out of the128th as a sergeant, went to the 130th as a 2ndLieutenant."The 128th (St. Louis, 129th (Kansas City)and 130th (Kansas) regiments comprised the60th Field Artillery Brigade, commanded by atough old Indian fighter of about the class of1880. His idea of a fair deal was to schedulean officer's call for 3 p.m. He'd get there at2:50 p.m. and start the meeting. Anyone arrivingat 2:51 p.m. was late and caught thedevil."One afternoon several of us were walkingover to such a meeting. We were talking andlaughing and got inside the room before werealized the meeting had started. Some 150officers were stiffly at attention, and the B.G.was giving one particular officer a going over.I was the first in the door and possibly makingthe most noise, and the General turnedhis attention to me. The conversation wentsomething like this:"The General: 'What's your name. Mister?'(In those days one must be a 1st Lieutenantto have rank. Shavetails were called Mister.)"Me: 'Vaughan, Sir.'"The General: 'How long have you beenan officer in the U.S. Army?'"Me: 'Three days. Sir.'"With that the General went into considerabledetail as to how he doubted that I wouldever be a credit to the U.S. Army if I lived tobe a hundred. While this display of the General'scommand of English went on, the officerhe'd been giving hell to stepped back with therest and, when the General got through withme, he had forgotten what he was doing andwent on with the meeting."On he way out this officer came by me,grabbed my arm and said 'Much obliged. Mister,you got me off the hook nicely,' and went on.I was walking with one of the officers in myregiment and I asked 'Who was that guy?''Well,' he answered, 'that's a first lieutenantfrom over in the 129th' Field Artillery—a guynamed Harry Truman.' And that's the firsttime I ever saw Truman."From then on Vaughan ran into Trumanfrequently—on the front line in France duringWorld War I where they both commandedgun batteries, and, after the war, in summerencampments with the Reserves.Now bosom pals, Vaughan, living in Milwaukee,was only moderately active in Truman'ssuccessful campaign for the Senate in1934."And then in 1940, Truman was campaigningfor reelection to the Senate. The situationin Missouri in 1940 was §imUar to the situa-[196]