June 7, 1945
Dear Colonel Johnson:
The transportation facilities of the nation are now called upon for the most gigantic task in
all the history of transportation. The American armies must be moved from the victorious
battlefields of Europe to meet and wipe out the tyranny of the East. In order to do this job most of
our soldiers will be transported the full length of the American continent.
It required every transportation ingenuity to assemble our armies in Europe over a period of four
years. This time the job is to be done in ten months. The contemplation of this task would overtax
our faith if we had not found during the course of this war that the impossible has become our daily
job.
I am asking you to extend my congratulations to all of our transportation agencies--and their
millions of workers--on the results they have accomplished. At the same time express my
confidence in them for the greater effort that lies ahead.
Sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[The Honorable J. Monroe Johnson, Director, Office of Defense Transportation]
Dear Colonel Johnson:
The transportation facilities of the nation are now called upon for the most gigantic task in
all the history of transportation. The American armies must be moved from the victorious
battlefields of Europe to meet and wipe out the tyranny of the East. In order to do this job most of
our soldiers will be transported the full length of the American continent.
It required every transportation ingenuity to assemble our armies in Europe over a period of four
years. This time the job is to be done in ten months. The contemplation of this task would overtax
our faith if we had not found during the course of this war that the impossible has become our daily
job.
I am asking you to extend my congratulations to all of our transportation agencies--and their
millions of workers--on the results they have accomplished. At the same time express my
confidence in them for the greater effort that lies ahead.
Sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[The Honorable J. Monroe Johnson, Director, Office of Defense Transportation]