Radio Address Delivered by Senator Harry S. Truman, "Freemasonry Helps the Armed Forces"

Radio Address Delivered by Senator Harry S. .Truman of Missouri, Grand Master of Masons in that State, on July 24, 1941, at 8:00 P.M. E.S.T. at Washington, D.C. FREEMASONRY HELPS THE ARMED FORCES At its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. in February of this year, The Masonic Service Association of the United States - an organization of the majority of the forty- nine Grand Lodges of Freemasons of the nation - heard General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army, state that morale is of paramount importance to an army, and that he hoped that the Freemasons of the United States would cooperate in the movement to foster it. Immediately thereafter, the delegates enthusiastically authorized the Execu- tive Commission of the Association to engage in Masonic welfare work for the armed forces. I now report to Freemasons, to the families of Freemasons, and to all who may be interested, as to what the Masonic Service Association has done to carry out that mandate, and what it expects to do. The Executive Commission adopted plans which, under Major Charles S. Coulter U.S.A. Retired, Director of Welfare of the Association, had been years in the making and which have been approved by military authorities. These plans show the need for forty Masonic Centers in the various camps, cantonments and training areas. The estimated average cost was $5,000 per year per Center, with a twenty per cent allowance for overhead, supervision, traveling inspector service, and so forth, in addition, or a total amount of $250,000. This amount can be raised by a contribution equal to ten cents per member from all of the forty-nine Grand Jurisdictions of the United States. In these days of big money, when even billions are a matter of course and a million is small change, I might be excused if I were apologetic for the small sum asked of the two and a half millions of Freemasons of the nation. But as a matter of fact I am proud that the small contribution requested can go so far and do so much. I am proud because I know why it can do so much; proud that so many devoted Masons are willing to give of their time and strength, sell their goods at cost, work for nothing or for a pittance, for the love of their fellow members of the oldest fraternal organization in the world. The emotional appeal of Masonic relief is greatest in time of great disaster, such as devastating floods and earthquakes. This nation suffers now from neither flood nor earthquake, but the flood of fear for democratic institutions and the earthquake of world conflict has shaken the United States so hard that the greatest effort of man-power, money, and effort in all our history is being made. Masons by the hundreds of thousands are being drafted, serving in the National Guard, or enlisting. That they need from their brethren all that brotherly service may supply them while giving up a year or more of their lives, while away from home and family, while serving their brethren, while serving the nation, is certain. Masons responding to their country's needs average more than 50% of the officers, and over 10% of drafted and enlisted men. Masons' relatives constitute another 10 to 15% of the armed forces. A noted Masonic historian estimated that in the first World War, Masons and relatives formed approximately 24% of this country's armed forces. At Camp Stewart, in Georgia, fifty-four members of one small Lodge are in the service. In a National Guard division in the far south, of nine thousand eighty-twc men of all ranks, an investigation disclosed that more than five thousand are members of the Fraternity, AUNAN Opened February first of this year, the Masonic Center at Columbia, South Carolina, during its first three months served Masons from twenty-three States, Hawaii and the Philippine Islands.