Hoffman, Frank G. Papers

Corporal, Battery D, 129th Field Artillery Regiment, 1918-1919

The papers of Frank G. Hoffman include correspondence, printed materials, military personnel records, and other items relating to his service in Battery D of the 129th Field Artillery Regiment during World War I, his subsequent military career as a reserve officer during the 1930s and on active duty in the Army during World War II, and his association with Harry S. Truman and other veterans.

Size: Less than one linear foot (approximately 800 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Randy Sowell (2024).

Francis Gerard (Frank) Hoffman was born on April 24, 1896. During World War I, Hoffman served as a corporal in Battery D of the 129th Field Artillery Regiment under the command of Captain Harry S. Truman. He was a captain in the Infantry Reserve during the 1930s, and commanded workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). After the United States became involved in World War II, Hoffman returned to active duty with the rank of major, and served on the staff at the Presidio in San Francisco. In later years, he was an active member of the Battery D Association and the Disabled Officers Association. A native of Fort Logan, Colorado, Hoffman resided in Atherton, California after World War II and worked as an insurance claims examiner. Hoffman died on October 19, 1983.

The papers of Frank G. Hoffman include correspondence, printed materials, military personnel records, and other items relating to his service in Battery D of the 129th Field Artillery Regiment during World War I, his subsequent military career as a reserve officer during the 1930s and on active duty in the Army during World War II, and his association with Harry S. Truman and other veterans.

Most of the collection consists of personnel records and certificates detailing Hoffman’s service in the Army, and printed materials pertaining to various aspects of his life and career. The correspondence includes a few letters Hoffman received during World War I, as well as letters from Harry and Bess Truman and from veterans of Battery D. Hoffman’s work during the Great Depression as the commanding officer of a company of CCC workers in the California forests is documented in an official report and several letters of commendation. Press clippings, programs, membership rosters, and newsletters reflect his involvement in the reunions and other activities of such veterans’ organizations as the Battery D Association and the Disabled Officers Association. The contents of two scrapbooks (which mostly consist of press clippings) provide further information about Hoffman and the later years of Mr. Truman’s life. A number of photographs of Hoffman and related subjects have been transferred from the papers to the Truman Library’s audiovisual collection.

The Truman Library also has the papers of other World War I comrades of Truman who remained close to him in later years, including Edward P. Meisburger, Edward McKim, John Thacher, Vic Housholder, Lorain Cunningham, and L. Curtis Tiernan.