Dwight D (Ike) Eisenhower

Dwight David Eisenhower was born on 14 October 1890, at Denison, Texas, the third of seven sons of David Jacob and Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower.

The family returned to Abilene, Kansas, in 1892 where Eisenhower graduated from Abilene High School in 1909. After leaving school Eisenhower worked at the Belle Springs Creamery until 1911.

Eisenhower entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, on 14 June 1911, and graduated on 12 June 1915, going on to be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant three months later.

In 1916 Eisenhower married his fiancée, Mamie Geneva Doud of Denver, Colorado. Their first son, Doud Dwight, was born on 24 September 1917 and died on 2 January 1921. Their second son, John Sheldon Doud, was born on 13 August 1922.

Eisenhower served with the Infantry from September 1915 to February 1918 in Fort Sam Houston, Camp Wilson and Leon Springs, Texas and Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He then served with the Tank Corps, from February 1918 to January 1922 in Camp Meade, Maryland, Camp Colt, Pennsylvania, Camp Dix, New Jersey, Fort  Benning, Georgia, and Fort Meade, Maryland.

During this time he was promoted to First Lieutenant, Captain, Major (temporary) and Lieutenant Colonel (temporary). He reverted to the permanent rank of Captain on 30 June 1920 and was promoted to Major on 2 July 1920.

Eisenhower volunteered to participate as a Tank Corps observer in the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy and was then assigned as executive officer to General Fox Conner, at Camp Gaillard, Panama Canal Zone.

Eisenhower entered Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, on 19 August 1925, where he graduated first in a class of 245. He then served as battalion commander, 24th Infantry, at Fort Benning, Georgia, between August 1926 and January 1927.

Next Eisenhower was assigned to the American Battle Monuments Commission, where he wrote a guidebook to World War I battlefields. Between 1929 and 1933 he served as executive officer to General George V. Moseley, Assistant Secretary of War, Washington, DC, then as the chief military aide to General Douglas MacArthur, Army Chief of Staff, until September 1935.

By the time he was assigned to the General Staff in Washington in December 1941, Eisenhower had been named Deputy Chief in charge of Pacific Defences under Chief of War Plans Division, General Leonard Gerow.

Eisenhower conducted a mission to increase co-operation among World War II allies in May 1942 and was designated Commanding General, European Theatre, in London in June 1942.

He was named Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces, North Africa, in November 1942 and promoted to General (4 stars) (temporary), on February 11, 1943. Eisenhower was appointed Brigadier General on 30 August 1943 and was promoted to Major General on the same date.

Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces in December 1943, and in this role, he commanded the forces of the Normandy invasion, on June 6, 1944.

He was promoted to General of the Army (5 stars) in December 1944, and shortly after the German surrender on May 8, 1945, Eisenhower was appointed Military Governor, US Occupied Zone, Frankfurt, Germany. In April 1946, his wartime rank of General of the Army was converted to permanent rank.

Eisenhower was designated as Chief of Staff, US Army on November 19, 1945, and by 1950 he was serving as Supreme Allied Commander, of NATO. Eisenhower retired from active service on 31 May 1952 and resigned his commission in July 1952.

Eisenhower announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for President on 4 June 1952 in Abilene. He was nominated at the Republican convention and elected on 4 November.

Eisenhower served two terms as President of the United States, between 20 January 1953 and 20 January 1961.

He saw the end of the Korean War, promoted Atoms for Peace, and dealt with crises in Lebanon, Suez, Berlin, and Hungary in foreign affairs.

Eisenhower saw Alaska and Hawaii become states, and was concerned with civil rights issues and the interstate highway system in domestic affairs.

In March 1961, by Public Law 87-3, signed by President John F. Kennedy, Eisenhower returned to the active list of regular Army with the rank of General of the Army. He maintained an office at Gettysburg College and a residence at his farm near Gettysburg, PA.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower died of congestive heart failure on 28 March 1969 at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC.

He was buried in the Place of Meditation at the Eisenhower Centre, Abilene, Kansas on 2 April 1969.