Leslie Coffelt

Leslie Coffelt
Born	Leslie William Coffelt (1910-08-15)August 15, 1910 Oranda, Virginia,U.S.
Died	November 1, 1950(1950-11-01)(aged 40) Washington, D.C.,U.S.
Cause of death	Gunshot wound
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery,Washington, D.C.,U.S. 38.880°N 77.070°W/38.880; -77.070
Spouse	Cressie Morgan ​ (m.1937)​
Relatives	Cora Jane Wilson (stepdaughter)
Police career
Country	United States
Department	D.C. Metropolitan Police Department White House Police Force
Service years	1929–1936, 1941–1950
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1943-1945
Unit	B Company, 300th Infantry Regiment
Rank	Officer

Leslie William Coffelt(August 15, 1910 – November 1, 1950) was an officer of theWhite House Police,a branch of theSecret Service,who was killed while successfully defendingU.S. PresidentHarry S. Trumanagainst an attempted assassination on November 1, 1950, atBlair House,where the president was living duringrenovations at the White House.

Coffelt was wounded during theassassination attempt,which twoPuerto Rican nationalistscarried out. Though mortally wounded by three bullets, Coffelt returned fire moments later and killed one of the attackers with a single shot to the head. The other was convicted by a federal jury and sentenced to death; Truman commuted the sentence tolife imprisonmentandJimmy Carterreleased the man from jail in 1979.

Acknowledging the importance of the question of Puerto Rico's status, Truman authorized areferendum in Puerto Rico in 1952to determine its relationship to the U.S.

Personal life

Leslie Coffelt was born to Will Coffelt and Effie Keller in theShenandoah Valleytown ofOranda, Virginia.He had four siblings; Harry, Hollis, Norman, and Mildred. He grew up hunting and handling firearms. Coffelt was the second in his family to graduate fromhigh school,and he was described by those who knew him as an expertsharpshooter.

Coffelt met Cressie Elinor Morgan ofUniontown, Pennsylvania,who was training to become anurse.Coffelt and Morgan were married on October 5, 1937, inPrince George's County, Maryland.They moved into an apartment in Washington. Coffelt was also a Freemason and a member of Potomac Lodge #5 F.A.A.M. in Georgetown, Washington D.C.

Career

In 1928, Coffelt left Oranda to look for a job inWashington, D.C.,and became a police officer with theMetropolitan Police Departmentin 1929. He was assigned to Precinct 3, which ran the length ofK Street.In 1936, he resigned to become a building technician.

In 1941, Coffelt returned to the Metropolitan Police. In 1942 he requested and was awarded a transfer to the White House Police.

That year, as the U.S. enteredWorld War II,Coffelt was drafted and assigned to B Company, 300th InfantryRegiment,United States Army.Coffelt served less than two years and never made it overseas; the Army gave him a medical discharge. In 1945, he returned to duty with the White House Police.

Coffelt is buried atArlington National Cemeterywith his wife Cressie (1912–1985).

Truman assassination attempt

Main article:Attempted assassination of Harry S. Truman

Murder of Leslie Coffelt
Part ofattempted assassination of Harry S. Truman
Location	Blair House 1651 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′56″N77°2′19″W
Date	November 1, 1950(1950-11-01) 2:20 p.m. (EST)
Target	PresidentHarry S. Truman
Attack type	Shooting
Weapons	Walther P38,Luger pistol
Deaths	Two: Leslie Coffelt,Griselio Torresola
Injured	Three: Donald Birdzell,Oscar Collazo,Joseph Downs
Perpetrators	Oscar Collazo, Griselio Torresola
Motive	Political status ofPuerto Rico

A plaque on theBlair Housefence commemorating Coffelt's sacrifice

On November 1, 1950, would-be assassinsGriselio TorresolaandOscar Collazo,nationalists who supported the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States, attacked officers at theBlair Housein order to assassinate President Truman. He was living there because of a major renovation at theWhite Housefor structural problems.

Torresola approached from the west side while Collazo engaged Secret Service agents and White House policemen from the east. Torresola approached the guard booth at the west corner of the Blair House and fired at Coffelt from close range. His three shots struck Coffelt in the chest and abdomen, mortally wounding him. A fourth shot passed through the policeman's tunic.

Torresola shot two other policemen before running out of ammunition, then moved to the left of the Blair House steps to reload. Coffelt went out of his booth and fired at Torresola from 31 feet (9.4 m) away, hitting him behind the ear and killing him instantly. Coffelt limped back to the booth and blacked out. He died of his wounds four hours later in a hospital. He was survived by his wife, Cressie Elinor Coffelt (née Morgan), and stepdaughter, Cora Jane Wilson.

A civilian named Elroy Sites was near Coffelt and helped put him into an ambulance stretcher after the shooting.

External audio
Newsreel scenes in English of the assassination attempt on U.S. President Harry S TrumanonYouTube

Aftermath

Coffelt's tombstone atArlington National Cemetery

President Truman wrote in a letter a short time later:

I'm sorry I didn’t get to talk to you and (cousin) Nellie at the dinner or after it. But I'm really a prisoner now.

...The grand guards who were hurt in the attempt on me didn't have a fair chance. The one who was killed was just cold bloodedly murdered before he could do anything. But his assassin did not live but a couple of minutes – one of the S.S.(Secret Service)men put a bullet in one ear and it came out the other...

The S.S. chief said to me, "Mr. President, don't you know that when there's an Air Raid Alarm you don't run out and look up, you go for cover." I saw the point but it was over then.

Hope it won't happen again. They won't let me go walking or even cross the street on foot. I say 'they' won't, but it causes them so much anguish that I conform... But I want no more guards killed. - Letter from Truman to his cousin, Ethel Noland, dated November 17, 1950

Coffelt's widow, Cressie E. Coffelt, was later asked by the President and theSecretary of Stateto go to Puerto Rico, to accept the condolences and expressions of sorrow for her husband's death from various Puerto Rican leaders and crowds. Mrs. Coffelt made a speech acknowledging that the island's people were not responsible for the acts of Collazo and Torresola.

Oscar Collazo was convicted and sentenced to death in federal court; Trumancommutedthe sentence to life imprisonment. Acknowledging the importance of the question of Puerto Rican independence, Truman allowed aplebiscite in Puerto Rico in 1952to determine the status of its relationship to the U.S.The people voted to continue as a Free Associated State, as established in 1950.

Coffelt was buried inArlington National Cemeteryon November 4, 1950, in Section 17, Site 17719-59. Hisepitaphreads, "White House Policeman: Who Gave His Life in Defense of the President of the United States During an Assassination Attempt at the Blair House, Washington, D.C." To this day, Coffelt is one of only four Secret Service members to take a bullet while defending the President, the others being Donald Birdzell and Joseph Downs, who were wounded during the same incident, andTim McCarthy,who was wounded in the abdomen byJohn Hinckley Jr.during theattempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.

In 1979, PresidentJimmy Cartercommuted Collazo's sentence to time served and granted him release from prison.Collazo returned to Puerto Rico, where he died in 1994.

A plaque at the Blair House commemorates Coffelt's sacrifice. The day room for theU.S. Secret Service's Uniformed Division at the Blair House is named for Coffelt. The Secret Service Office of Training's Leslie Coffelt Marksmanship Award is awarded to graduating recruits with the highest average score for all courses of fire using the agency's standard-issue pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, and rifles.

References

General references

• Stephen Hunterand John Bainbridge Jr.,American Gunfight: The Plot To Kill Harry Truman – And The Shoot-Out That Stopped It,Simon & Schuster (2005),ISBN0-7432-6068-6.
• Truman, Harry S.(1980).Ferrell, Robert H.(ed.).Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman.Harper & Row. pp. 198–199.ISBN978-0-8262-1119-4.

External links

• Leslie William Coffeltat ArlingtonCemetery.net, an unofficial website
• Officer Down Memorial Page