PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/08/1918 - HFSID 55816

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
The wife of the WWII hero, Jonathan Wainwright, answers the Navy's call in WWI while her husband fights "over there".
Comprises: (1) Typed Letter Signed: "F.D. Roosevelt" as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 1p, 8x10. Navy Department, Assistant Secretary's Office, Washington, 1918 May 8. To Mrs. J.M. Wainwright, Scranton, Pa. In full: "Your prompt and patriotic response to the NAVY'S call for binoculars, telescopes, and spy-glasses, is most appreciated. The glasses will be very useful in the prosecution of Naval Operations until victory is won. At the termination of the war, if possible, every effort will be made to return them to you when it is hoped that you will feel compensated for any evidence of wear, by the knowledge that you have supplied 'Eyes for the NAVY' during a very trying period. On behalf of the NAVY, I wish to thank you most heartily." Lightly creased. Fine condition. (2) Carbon Typed Document signed: "R.A. Price" in ink as Chief Yeoman, U.S. Navy, 1p, 8x10½. U.S. Navy Recruiting Station, Coal Exchange Building, Scranton, Pa., 1918 April 12. In full: "Received from Mrs. Wainwright, 720 Clay Ave., Scranton, Penna. one pair of binoculars for shipment to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., for use of the Navy Department during the war." Lightly creased. Fine condition. (3) Printed Document, not signed, 1p, 8x10½. Headed: "Navy Department/(Bureau of Supplies and Accounts)/Washington, D.C./Navy's Call for Binoculars, Spy-Glasses,/Telescopes, Sextants and Chronometers." In part: "The enclosed check payable to your order, in the sum of $1.00, is payment in full for article purchased from you by the NAVY. However, if practicable, at the termination of the war to return same to you, the $1.00 payment will then constitute the rental price...." Lightly creased. Fine condition. (4) Printed Check, 8½x3¼, Treasurer of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1918 May 29. "Pay to the Order of Mrs. J.M. Waoinwright (sic) $1.00/One Dollars Only". Never cashed; not endorsed. Lightly creased. Fine condition. (5) Original Navy Envelope, 9½x4, postmarked Scranton, Pa., April 12, 1918, addressed to Mrs. J.M. Wainwright. Lightly creased and soiled. Pencil note (unknown hand) at bottom left margin: "Contains autograph of FDR/(RWW-12-15-50)". Union Commander Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright II (1821-1863) was killed in battle as he defended his ship, the U.S.S. Harriet Lane, in the Battle of Galveston on January 1, 1863. Two of his sons, Robert Wainwright and Jonathan Wainwright III, followed in their father's footsteps and, like their father, both died while in military service. Jonathan III died while on duty with the U.S. Navy in 1870. In honor of his deceased brother and father, Robert would christen his own son, Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV in 1883. Robert died in 1902 while stationed in the Philippines with the U.S. Army. Jonathan IV, like his father, was graduated from West Point and entered the Army. In October 1940, he was assigned to duty in the Philippines under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. When MacArthur left Bataan, the command was turned over to Lieutenant General Wainwright, who was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the surrender of Corregidor. Wainwright spent 3½ years in Japanese prison camps. He returned to the U.S. at the end of WWII, at which time he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and made a full General in September 1945. JONATHAN M. WAINWRIGHT IV (1883-1953) married ADELE HOLLEY (1887-1970) on February 18, 1911. They are buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The five items in this lot were sent to Mrs. Adele Holley Wainwright after she did her patriotic duty and donated a pair of binoculars to the war effort. Six months later, on October 8, 1918, under her husband's command, Sgt. Alvin C. York single-handedly captured 132 German soldiers and 35 machine guns in the Argonne Forest and was awarded the Medal of Honor. In the same action, Wainwright won the Distinguished Service Medal as the 82nd Division supported the rescue of the Lost Battalion. While FDR "binocular" letters are not rare, those sent to known people rarely appear on the market. The Navy-Army connection in the Wainwright family and the presence of the $1.00 check make this lot especially desirable. Five items.