Posted on 06/04/2004 11:22:29 AM PDT by hollandintucson
He believed that his whole life had been leading up to this moment in history. The time was December 1941. Japan had sunk the American fleet at Pearl Hitler and Hitler’s Nazi legions were at the gates of Moscow. He believed that the fate of the civilized world depended upon America resolve. Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall picked him to lead the most powerful military force ever assembled—the soldiers of the greatest generation. He accepted the charge and led the nation to victory in the bloodiest conflict in world history . . . The story goes that he was a relatively unknown officer, plucked from obscurity by General Marshall to lead the Allied armies in World War II. However, like many popular stories, this was a myth . . .
FYI..all this weekend, the 1964 program, Eisenhower at Normandy, 20 years after, will be shown many times....it's marvelous...well, worth watching, and taping.. best lines, IMHO, when asked how he felt knowing that many of the troops would die, he said, ( paraphrasing here)"As a commander, you want to do your best to make sure that as few as possible are killed, and that those that died did not do so in vain.."
I remember a 60 minutes segment with Mike Wallace and Eisenhower on the beach at Normandy for one of the anniversaries. I just don't remember which anniversary it was although 1964 sounds about right.
The only thing I remember about that interview was that Eisenhower was telling Wallace about the landing craft being overturned as they approaced the beach, the terrible height of the waves, crying about how the foul weather took a disastrous toll and generally bemoaning the horrible conditions as if someone ELSE had chosen that particular day for the landings.
Eisenhower was an indecisive "yes" man and not very bright, to boot. Calling for a landing in weather he KNEW would be destructive and disastrous has to be one of the most grotesque acts of idiocy of all wars.
This was with Walter Cronkite...
You, my arrogant friend, are the not so bright one. You should read some history before you pop off. June 6 was the last day when the moon and tides would be right for a landing for over a month. The next possible date for a landing would be in July, and the odds of keeping the location secret from the Germans for that long were slim to none. If Rommel had found out where the landing would be, no one would have left those beaches alive. Even giving Rommel another month to plant more millions of mines on the beaches and strengthen the Atlantic Wall with more artillery would have added tens of thousands of killed and wounded.
In fact, the weather worked out to be in Ike's favor. There was about a 12 hour break in the storm that allowed us to take the beaches and bring in reinforcements before it got really bad again. Ike knew the break was coming. Rommel didn't, and he left the front to go back to Germany for his wife's birthday figuring that there would be no invasion for another month. Rommel didn't even find out about the invasion until all the beaches were secured. Some consider that storm, and the break in it which the Germans had no way of predicting, to have been an act of God.
BTW. Where did you get the BS that Ike was an indecisive "yes" man? People who reported to him sure as hell didn't consider him either indecisive or a yes man.
Now let's see if I have this right.
I say that Eisenhower was not very bright so you insult me, personally, by saying that I am arrogant and not very bright then ask a question and expect a reasonable answer?
That's the best attempt at humor and irony I have seen in a long time.
Why would you be asking a question of someone who is obviously far less bright than you.....also far less arrogant than you?
ROFL
The mere fact that you had to resort to insults and inferred name-calling says a lot about YOU, not me! :-)
Perhaps you should consider an apology to Ike for your rude and uninformed slur against him as well. Or maybe you should find a more polite forum where stupid comments are simply ignored instead of rebutted.
Nice Work, however you failed to mention that el salsa dancer also got it wrong about Mike Wallace. That famous interview was with Walter the "I've lost my mind now" Cronkite.
Yea. I think Wallace was still a game show host pushing Pall Malls back in 64.
You got rude and continue to be rude while I still have not been. :-)
As well, I shall apologize to Ike if and when I find out that what I said was not the truth and if and when I see him but certainly not to you because I haven't been rude with you, haven't insulted you and haven't inferred names to your detriment. If you want to believe the history books as opposed to eye witnesses you are free to do so. :-)
Now, when are YOU going to apologize to me for the insults, inferred name-calling and continued rudeness?
That's what I thought.
You are much too high above me in the social order and much more intelligent than I so that you don't have to stoop to my level to apologize to the peon, huh?
ROFL
You sound like the typical knee-jerk Socialist.
Come down off your high horse.
You just learned something about history,don't believe it?
Better look it up.
Look it up? Now you sound like Casey Stengel. ROFL
You have the intestinal fortitude to tell me to come down off of my high horse?
Wow!
I'll repeat, if you want to believe the history books that is your prerogative.
In the meantime, I'll believe my dad. He was there with Ike on D-Day and the preceding days.
All right, tell us more about your dad.
You must be joking if you think I'm going to do that.
Besides, I'm still waiting for your apology for being so rude with me for no reason other than my having expressed thoughts. You are not the thought police and have no reason whatsoever for being rude and obnoxious with me unless you are just a rude and obnoxious person by nature.
It does not bode well for others to see rudeness and attitude on FR. Appearances matter.
I'm certainly NOT joking, you brought up your father's
experiences and denigrated our views of this moment, where is your proof?
Was he on Ike's staff?
What?
An indecisive yes-man held onto his job after D-Day (and for the rest of the war),
then was elected twice to the Presidency of the USA by The Greatest Generation electorate?
Now there's a good start to a doctoral thesis in Political Science.
I bet it would make it past a doctoral committee with flying colors at Harvard,
Yale, Berkely, etc.
Seeing how the putative "yes man" was a Republican.
I'm terribly sorry sir. You keep changing the subject.
I'll communicate no further with you until you apologize.
I would never even think to be as disrespectful to my dogs and certainly with no other human being as you have been with me.
Until you learn some respect for a fellow human being, stop the rudeness and inferred name-calling along with the sarcasm I kindly ask that you please stop messaging me.
Thank you in advance for respecting my wishes. :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.