[35] At his induction, his eyesight without glasses was unacceptable 20/50 in the right eye and 20/400 in the left (past the standard for legal blindness).[36] The second time he took the test, he passed by secretly memorizing the eye chart.[37] He was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, gray eyed, dark haired and of light complexion.[38]

Truman in September 1917.
World War I
When the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, Truman rejoined Battery B, successfully recruiting new soldiers for the expanding unit, for which he was elected as their first lieutenant.[39] Before deployment to France, Truman was sent for training to Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, near Lawton, Oklahoma, when his regiment was federalized as the 129th Field Artillery.[40] The regimental commander during its training was Robert M. Danford, who later served as the Army's Chief of Field Artillery.[41] Truman recalled that he learned more practical, useful information from Danford in six weeks than from six months of formal Army instruction, and when Truman served as an artillery instructor, he consciously patterned his approach on Danford's.