Dear Mrs. Trueman
Nonfiction by Kim Clarke
“Mrs. Trueman” was my maternal grandmother, Virginia Trueman Smalley. She saved every piece of correspondence related to her husband’s service and combat death in World War II: personal letters from him and the men he served alongside, government telegrams, insurance policies and claims forms, receipts, and all manner of mundane paperwork.
Delbert Trueman died in 1944 after being shot down over Vienna, Austria. His death created a barrage of correspondence from many different departments and branches: War Department, Veterans Administration, Social Security Board, Treasury Department.
I have all this paperwork, now saved in archival polyester sleeves and held in a three-ring binder. I have always been struck by the change of tone in the government’s communications as the war receded from day-to-day life. It seems particularly harsh that the government ended a war widow’s benefits when she remarried, as if the pain and loss would evaporate with a new husband. It’s why I took this approach of simply pulling excerpts from the correspondence she received.
My grandmother and her husband had been married for eight years when he volunteered for the Army Air Corps. They had a daughter—my mother—who was six years old when her father died.
With her husband’s death, my grandmother was due a life insurance payment and a death pension through 1955. This monthly pension ended with remarriage. In its place, a smaller monthly check went to her daughter and continued until she turned eighteen (but not before the VA said it needed to know who had custody of her).
None of this correspondence about payments tied to death carried words of sympathy or condolence. And the mail arrived without my grandmother having any details from the government about the fate of her husband’s body. It was only in 1947 that the War Department told her Delbert Trueman had been buried in France after soldiers recovered his body from Vienna. (He later was reinterred in Indiana.)
When my grandmother remarried, it was to a Navy veteran and high school teacher who adopted and loved my mother and whom I knew and loved as my grandfather. My grandmother was fortunate. She found love again, had two more children, and lived a comfortable life. She outlived her second husband and died at age ninety-seven. Toward the end of her life, I asked if she had ever thought about her first husband. She paused and quietly said, “I miss them both.”
* * *
Oct. 31, 1944
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret that your husband Corporal Delbert W. Trueman has been reported missing in action since seventeen October over Austria. If further details or other information are received you will be promptly notified.
—J.A. Ulio, major general
Nov. 8, 1944
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
As a result of the intense anti-aircraft barrage over the target, your husband’s bomber was damaged and soon lost altitude. Other crews observed the course of the slowly descending aircraft as long as possible. Although five parachutes were observed in the area of the stricken bomber we have no way of knowing whether or not your husband was one of those fortunate enough to reach the ground safely.
—N.F. Twining, major general
Nov. 9, 1944
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
Experience has shown that many persons reported missing in action are subsequently reported as prisoners of war, but as this information is furnished by countries with which we are at war, the War Department is helpless to expedite such reports. However, to relieve financial worry, Congress has enacted legislation which continues in force the pay, allowances and allotments to dependents of personnel being carried in a missing status.
—J.A. Ulio, major general
Nov. 11, 1944
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
95% of the crew who are in a condition similar to this ship get out. Some of them return to base if found by partisans, the others are picked up by Germans and put in a prison camp. . . . I told my mother if they ever sent her word I was missing in action just figure I am in Switzerland or with the partisans in Yugoslavia, for that is where we would go. Del was one of the best boys I have ever been connected with.
—Lloyd F. White, lieutenant
Nov. 15, 1944
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
Please be assured that a continuing search by land, sea, and air is being made to discover the whereabouts of our missing personnel. As our armies advance over enemy-occupied territory, special troops are assigned to this task, and all agencies of the government in every country are constantly sending in details which aid us in bringing additional information to you.
—E.A. Bradunas, major
May 1, 1945
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
We shall not give up hope that Delbert was able to escape from the ship. Until we are in possession of more information than we are at the present time, we shall not abandon hope. You may rest assured that our prayers are being added to yours for your husband’s welfare. May God give you the courage bravely to face each day.
—John H. Keefe, chaplain
July 10, 1945
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
Since the defeat of Germany, all American soldiers have been released from German Prisoner of War Camps and returned to military control of either the American or Allied Forces. Lists of all liberated soldiers have been and are being reviewed in the War Department and their families promptly notified.
—Edward F. Witsell, major general
Aug. 11, 1945
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
Your husband was reported missing in action since 17 October
1944 over Austria. It has now been officially established from reports received in the War Department that he was killed in action on 17 October 1944 near Vienna, Austria. I know the sorrow this message has brought you and it is my hope that in time the knowledge of his heroic sacrifice in the service of his country may be of sustaining comfort to you.
—Edward F. Witsell, major general
Aug. 25, 1945
My dear Mrs. Trueman,
You will shortly receive the Purple Heart medal, which has been posthumously awarded by direction of the President to your husband, Corporal Delbert W. Trueman, Air Corps. It is sent as a tangible expression of the country’s gratitude for his gallantry and devotion. It is sent to you, as well, with my deepest personal sympathy for your bereavement. The loss of a loved one is beyond man’s repairing, and the medal is of slight value; not so, however, the message it carries.
—Henry L. Stimson, secretary of war
Feb. 25, 1946
Dear Mrs. Trueman,
You are hereby notified that as the unremarried widow of Delbert W. Trueman whose death was due to service, a death pension has been made to you under the provisions of the act of 3-20-33, as amended, at the monthly rate of $65.00 commencing 8-14-45; and $50.00 from 11-9-55. A check covering the initial amount due you under this award will be mailed within the near future.
—R.J. Hinton, Dependents Claim Service
Nov. 7, 1946
Dear Madam,
Information has been received in this office to the effect that you were remarried August 1, 1946. As you are not entitled to the full amount of the pension check issued to you by the Veterans Administration for the month of August 1946 as the unremarried widow of Delbert W. Trueman, it is requested that you return this check to the Division of Disbursement, Treasury Department, Chicago, Illinois. In the event the check has been negotiated, a refund in the full amount of $65.00 should be made by check, draft, or Postal Money Order, drawn to the order of the Treasurer of the United States, and forwarded to this office.
—F.V. Knapp, Beneficiaries Account Division
Nov. 19, 1946
Gentlemen:
I am returning the $65.00 pension check to you as per request.
—Mrs. Virginia Trueman Smalley
Kim Clarke lives in Michigan, where she writes narrative nonfiction. Her work has been published by The Washington Post, the American Historical Association, the University of Michigan Press, HerStry, Fly, The Detroit News, and other publications. She is working on a book about those who gave their lives during World War II, including her grandfather, Cpl. Delbert W. Trueman, and the unacknowledged heroes who brought them home.