Eisenhower, Dwight David “Ike”.

Eisenhower, Dwight David ” Ike”, born 14-10-1890 in Dennison, Texas, one year after Hitler, was the third of seven boys born to David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth , born Stover, of German and Swiss ancestry. His original name was David Dwight Eisenhower, but the two first names were soon swapped because the name David was more common in the family. The name Dwight was named after the famous evangelist Dwight Moody. The boys were often referred to as Ike, a shortening of the last name Eisenhower. Dwight kept that pet name for life and during his election campaign the slogan was “I like Ike”. His ancestor Hans Nicolas Eisenhauer, who hails from Karlsbrunn in the present-day German Saarland, had emigrated with his family to Lancaster (Pennsylvania) in 1741. In 1892, Eisenhower’s father and mother moved to Abilene, Kansas, where he graduated from Abilene High School in 1909. He received his further education at West Point, the famous military academy, where he graduated in The class the stars fell on. While stationed in Texas he met Geneva Doud (1896–1979), whom he married in 1916. Together they had two children. The eldest son, Doud Dwight Eisenhower (1917–1921), died of scarlet fever as a three-year-old toddler. The youngest, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (1922–2013), rose to Brigadier General of the Reserve and then served as United States Ambassador to Belgium from 1969 to 1971.

He was called Dwight, so he reversed the order of his given names when he enrolled at West Point Military Academy in 1911, graduating as second lieutenant in 1915.   During the late 1920s and early 1930s Eisenhower’s career in the peacetime Army stagnated, many of his friends resigned for high-paying business jobs. He served as chief military aide to General, Douglas MacArthur  Army Chief of Staff, until 1935, when he accompanied MacArthur to the Philippines. Eisenhower returned to the U.S. in 1939 and in June 1941, he was appointed Chief of Staff to General Walter Krueger.  He was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff under Chief of Staff General, Georg Catlett Marshall,  who spotted talent and promoted accordingly. At the end of May 1942, Eisenhower accompanied Lieutenant General, Henry “Happy” Arnold  Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, to London. On 23-06-1942, he returned to London as Commanding General, European Theater of Operations. As Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force  in 1944, he was charged with planning and carrying out the Allied assault on the coast of Normandy in June 1944 under the code name Operation Overlord. Ike talked to my 101 Airborne friend, Louis “Lou”Merlano

   a few hours before they left for Normandy. From then until the end of the War in Europe on 08-05-1945, Eisenhower through SHAEF had supreme command of all operational Allied forces and through his command of ETOUSA, administrative command of all U.S. forces, on the Western Front north of the Alps. Although he had never seen action himself, he won the respect of front-line commanders. He dealt skillfully with difficult subordinates such as Georg Smith Patton and allies such as Winston Churchill Field Marshal, Bernard Montgomery and General, Charles De Gaulle.  Eisenhower confirmed the execution order on 23-12-1945 for Private Eddi Slovik, who was sentenced to death for desertion. Although over 21.000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik’s was the only death sentence that was actually carried out (see Edward “Eddi”Slovik). Eisenhower driver in Europe was Kay Summerby , Kay Summersby

here with General Omar Bradley , was a member of the British Mechanised Transport Corps during World War II, who served as a chauffeur and later as personal secretary to Dwight Delano Eisenhower during his period as Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force in command of the Allied forces in north west Europe. They were together a great deal until the war ended, when Eisenhower cut ties and returned to the United States. It is generally agreed that Summersby and Eisenhower became extremely close during the war, and some writers have suggested that they had a sexual relationship, although several people who knew both of them at the time have rejected that claim, as have most of Eisenhower’s biographers.

  Eisenhower was the only General to serve as President in the 20^th century and the most recent President to have never held elected office prior to the Presidency.

Death and burial ground of Eisenhower, Dwight David ” Ike”.

  

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