Letter from Jefferson Randolph Kean to Philip Showalter Hench, March 31, 1950

2804 N St. N. W- 31 March 1950
My dear Dr Hench

    The papers of the correspondence between
Gen. Truby and Lambert with your very interest-
ing letter of the 27^th came yesterday and I have
read them carefully- I think that Truby's first
impulse was the best-simply to file Lambert's
letter and not answer it- It is all res adjudicata
It has been gone over thoroughly and judicially
by General Ireland and later by you and a dici-
sion made- No two men that I know could be
more just- But the dicision did not suit Lambert-
He has an idée fixe and nothing except what he has
in mind will content him- So why should we
give him the encouragement of listening to him-
Only one thing in his letter strikes me- That is that
Dr. Ames's grave is unmarked by any stone-
why should that be? His widow, when she came to
see me about 20 years ago I think to get her
husband's name added to the roll of honor, seem-
ed to be prosperous and good looking, and she
was on the government payroll as a clerk in the office
of the Texas Senator who was on the Military Affairs
Committee- She spoke of her two sons then in their teens
I think- They should now be middle aged men. Why
should they not see to it that Dr. Ames had a
stone? If Dr. Brumby of Houston Texas, whom Truby
mentions in his letter to Lambert, will take up a
subscription to do what the family have failed to do-

    I was surprised that Lambert should allude to
Dr. Ames' performance at Fort M^cIntosh on the
Rio Grande, when he put an infected mosquito on a
young soldier there- I think the less said about that
matter the better for Ames' memory-

    I think we are all agreed that any appropriation
for Dr. Reed's memory should be handled by the
Walter Reed Memorial Association as that it
it was organized for that purpose, some 56
years ago-

    I think we should still call on the Surgeon
General to defend the Y. F. Roll of Honor
against intrusions, though the danger gets still
less each year- That is also a duty of the
W. R. Memo- Assn. and I think the Surgeon
General should be reminded of it, the
first time we have him at a meeting,
he being now a member ex officio-
Well - now as to your engagements in April-
Mrs Kean says that her plan was not to have
the M^cCoys give you a dinner but for us
to invite the M^cCoys to meet you at dinner here
as she was desirous to meet you- But nothing
has been said about that yet- We hope to see
you when you come to Wash- but realize perfectly
now you are tied up by engagements- We are going

    Please give our cordial regards to Mrs Hench
and tell her that we look to her to keep the
brakes on you-

Affectionately Yours

J. R. Kean
All papers returned herewith except originals
of your letters-