I WANT to tell you how very much I appreciate your coming. I consider it a great personal tribute to me, not as President of the United States, but as your former Battery Commander.
You have a place of honor in the parade, and I am satisfied that although some of you may have rubber tires around here, you can make that mile and a quarter at 120-to-the-minute without any trouble.
[At this point the President was presented with a walking stick. He then resumed speaking.]
Well, that is wonderful! That is the symbol of our Battery, which is marked D-129. That is a beautiful walking stick. I use one every morning. I was intending to walk up here this morning, but I was afraid to wear out the newspaper correspondents, so I came in the car.
But I appreciate that most highly. It is something I can use, something that is worthwhile, and something that my daughter can perhaps some day give to my grandson.
I want again to thank you, and tell you how much I appreciate this honor you have paid me.
Note: The President spoke at 7:45 a.m. in the Sapphire Room of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. During World War I the President was Captain of Battery D, 129th Field Artillery, 35th Division.
Harry S Truman, Remarks at the Battery D Breakfast. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/229844
