This is my father–in–law’s Uncle Tom. Barbara Tuckman refers to him as “the mysterious Mr. H”
in her book, The Zimmerman Telegram.
Thomas Hohler was the person who picked up a
telegram
from a Mexican telegraph operator
that was sent by the German Foreign Minister, Zimmerman, to the Mexican government.
The telegram offered Mexico the Southwestern United States in
return for a declaration of war on the United States. President Wilson was shown this telegram and
the next day he proposed to Congress the arming of U.S. ships against German attacks. Thomas Hohler’s son,
Gerald Hohler,
lives at Trent Manor in Devon.
