President Franklin Roosevelt lost sleep deciding who would lead the United States fight against Germany during the war.

Once he made his decision, it would be Dwight Eisenhower who lost sleep while planning the greatest invasion in American history. He was a meticulous organizer and facilitator who always got the job done. Eisenhower was creative enough to adapt battle plans and strategies to the realities on the ground, and flexible and charmingly diplomatic enough to maintain cordial cooperation among the Allies.

As 1944 began Eisenhower faced the greatest challenge of his military career, in fact the greatest challenge faced by any US Army officer since Ulysses S. Grant marched south against Robert E. Lee 80 years earlier. Now, as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SCAEF) for the invasion of Europe, Eisenhower would direct Operation Overlord, the breaching of Adolf Hitler’s coastal defenses in Western Europe (the fearsome Atlantic Wall) and the subsequent liberation of German occupied Europe.

Part of Eisenhower’s SCAEF role was to work with Britain’s challenging General Bernard Montgomery (shown in Beret), seen here with Eisenhower and 3rd Armored Division commander Major General Leroy Watson during a February 1944 visit to Watson’s division. At the same time, my 101st Airborne father with thousands of other soldiers were on secret sea transport heading for Europe for the jump into Normandy on D-Day, June 1944.

“You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you…I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle.”
~ General Dwight D. Eisenhower

COMES A Soldier’s Whisper remembering history, one day at a time…

Photo/Text Source: America In WWII Magazine