WWII general knew how to prove regard for his dead
By Tom Burke / Herald columnist
Who was Lucian Truscott Jr., you ask? Most will probably not recognize the name unless knowledgeable about American military history. Those who do, however, will identify him as an outstanding European theater World War II general who suffered, in terms of popular recognition, three “flaws:”
• He was a superior fighting general, but not a big-name diplomat or grand strategist, as was Dwight Eisenhower.
• He was dedicated to his men and not publicity, forbidding his name to be used in news about his troops’ successes; instead, identifying the noteworthy unit or soldier rather than take personal credit.
• George C. Scott did not play him in a movie.
And aside from his truly unparalleled combat record, he did something singular in the annals of military history: He turned his back on a bunch of army brass and Congressional bigwigs to give a speech.
On Memorial Day, 1945, at the American military cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, he talked not to the living but turned away from the assembled dignitaries and spoke directly to the hundreds of scattered, make-shift markers in that muddy, raw-earth field where the men who sacrificed their lives for our freedom were buried.
No record of his exact words is known.
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