#ww2gen

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Eisenhower speaks with U.S. Army paratroopers before D-Day invasion deployment, June 5, 1944, Greenham Common Airfield,England

"It would be difficult to conceive of a more soul-racking problem." - Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

It had been determined that the success of the June 6, 1944, Allied Normandy Landing, "might well turn on the success of the paratroopers behind the lines." 

Four days before the invasion, it was estimated that the 75% of the paratroopers might be killed or wounded before reaching the ground.  But if the paratroopers did not seize and secure the causeways, the landing on the beach would have little success.  After a great deal of soul searching, Eisenhower sent in the paratroopers.

On June 5, Eisenhower went to the Greenham Common Airfield, England to see the men off.  In this iconic photo, Eisenhower is seen talking to Lt. Wallace C. Strobel.  Strobel is wearing the number 23 around his neck.  The number signified that he was the jumpmaster of plane number 23 in the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.  Strobel and a second man can be seen wearing a live Hawkins Mine (used to blow the tread off a tank) strapped to their leg.

Eisenhower and Strobel talked about fishing in Strobel’s home state of Michigan. 

"Eisenhower told Capt. L. 'Legs' Johnson, 'I've done all I can, now it is up to you.' He told a group of enlisted men not to worry, that they had the best equipment and leaders in the world, with a vast force coming in behind them. A sergeant from Texas piped up, 'Hell, we ain't worried, General. It's the Krauts that ought to be worrying now.'"

Eisenhower had gone to see the boys off to boost their morale.  Stobel would later note, “I honestly think it was his morale that was improved by being with us."

“A Red Cross worker was at the airfield passing out doughnuts and hot coffee to the paratroopers that night when Ike drove up. She gave him a cup of coffee, too. But, then, she noticed his hand was shaking so badly the coffee threatened to spill over -- could burn him -- and eased the cup out of his hand.”

Eisenhower would later recount, "The airborne boys did their job. …. And, I am happy to say, the casualties were only 8%."

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General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur

“I shall return” – U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur

On December 8, 1941, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s Far East Air Force in the Philippines was destroyed in a surprise attack by the Japanese.  

The Japanese drove the retreating Allied Forces on to the Bataan Peninsula.  MacArthur established his headquarters on the island fortress of Corregidor.  

In March 1942, MacArthur and his family were ordered to leave the area and escape by PT boat to Australia by President Franklin Roosevelt.

MacArthur and FDR had first met prior to World War I.  As Governor of New York, FDR told an adviser that he thought MacArthur was one of the two “most dangerous men in America.”

As President, FDR told MacArthur, “Douglas, I think you are our best general, but I believe you would be our worst politician.”

MacArthur would spend the next two years and a half year commanding an island-hopping operation in the Pacific.  

On October 20, 1944, MacArthur would wade ashore at Leyte Island as the battle still raged.  As the World watched, MacArthur announced, “I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil.”

On December 18, 1944 General Douglas MacArthur would receive his fifth star.  

On September 2, 1945, MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri.