War-dated ALS, one page both sides, 5.75 x 3.5, Sagamore Hill letterhead, September 19, 1918. Letter to Clarence H. Mackay, son of Comstock Lode founder and communications magnate J. W. Mackay, in full: “Another imposition on your kindness! My sister, Mrs. Robinson, cabled the news of her husband's death to her son Captain Monroe Robinson Co. B. 302 Ammunition Train, American Expeditionary Force, France. She has had no answer; the casualty lists are long delayed; she is anxious. Can you cable the message to him and ask for a reply. Hoping I am not trespassing too much on our friendship and courtesy.” In fine condition.
His sister Corinne’s inability to contact her son, who was serving as a captain in the 77th division in France during World War I, hit close to home with Roosevelt. Just two months prior to writing this request, his youngest son Quentin, an intrepid pilot with the American forces in France, was shot down behind German lines. First receiving word through an unintelligible dispatch regarding ‘one of the Roosevelt boys,’ Theodore and his wife pieced together their son’s death before receiving official notice. With his empathetic comment that “the casualty lists are long delayed,” and that his sister “is anxious,” Roosevelt’s own experience of the same situation is in the forefront. Fortunately, this tense period of waiting and wondering ended with much brighter news: nephew Monroe survived through the war and returned home safely. Attempting to learn the fate of his nephew on the fields far from home, this letter revisits Roosevelt’s own loss, the loss that he carried to his death less than four months later. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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