Harry S. Truman

===National Guard===
Due to the lack of funds for college, Truman considered attending the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point, New York]], which had no tuition, but he was refused an appointment because of poor eyesight.{{sfn|Hamby|1995|pp=17–18, 135}} He enlisted in the [[Missouri National Guard]] in 1905 and served until 1911 in the Kansas City-based [[Artillery battery|Battery]] B, 2nd Missouri Field Artillery Regiment, in which he attained the rank of [[Corporal#United States|corporal]].{{sfn|Gilwee|2000}} At his induction, his eyesight without glasses was unacceptable [[Visual acuity|20/50]] in the right eye and 20/400 in the left (past the standard for legal blindness).{{sfn|McCullough|1992|p=105}} The second time he took the test, he passed by secretly memorizing the eye chart.{{sfn|Truman Library, Eye|2012}} He was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, [[gray eyed]], dark haired and of light complexion.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/ww1/documents/index.php?documentid=324&pagenumber=3|title=Harry S. Truman's National Guard Enlistment Papers, June 22, 1917. RG407: Records of the Adjutant General's Office: Military Personnel File of Harry S. Truman, Subject Files. Service File, 1917–1957 [1 of 3].|access-date=May 12, 2019|website=Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum|page=3}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[File:Harry S. Truman in his World War I Army uniform.jpg|thumb|left|Truman in September 1917]]