Ike's Life

Born on October 14, 1890 in a little town called Denison, Texas: his name was Dwight David Eisenhower or better known as "Ike". He moved to Abilene, Kansas in 1891, where he lived untill he was accepted to the United States Military Academy in 1911. After he graduated in 1915 he was posted in the infantry at Fort Sam Houston Texas, where he met his fruture wife Miss Mamie Doud. They later married on July1, 1916 in Denver, Colorado.

He had many duty assignments which included attendance at the command and general staff school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for a year. He then finished first in his class out of 275. Following graduation from the Army War College in 1928. Ike became Assistant to the General Douglas MacArthur in 1935 over in the Phillippines and five years after that he was promoted to Chief of Staff, Third Army. At World War II he was selected to head the operations division of the War Department and he was named Commanding General of the European theater in 1942.

Allied forces under the command of Eisenhower had liberated North Africa and Sicily in 1943. There they had formed the Axis and had eliminated Italy as an Axis power. He was named as Supreme Commander. He allied expeditionary forces by president Franklin D. Roosevelt. The invasion on Normandy was from land, sea, and air waws directed by Ike. The invasion was on D-day: June 6, 1944.

Ike was promoted to General of the Army in December 1944. He accepted Germany's unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945, he was appointed Commanding General of the United States Forces in Europe. Eisenhower was elected Army Chief of staff on November 19, 1945. He served as President of Columbia University and a Supreme Allied Comander of the forces under the NATO pact. Ike retired from the Army in 1952 as a standard bearer for the Republican Party. He easily won the election to become the 34th president of the United States.

The Navy's neclear shipbuilding program experierced significant growth during Eisenhower's presidency. During Eisenhower's eight years of administration, 29 nuclear attack submarines, the first 14 polaris submarines, 2 nuclear cruisers and the first nuclear aircraft carrier were authorized:USS Enterprise.

On January 20, 1961 president Eisenhower left office after 50 years of service to his country. By public law 87-3 signed by President John F. Kennedy, Ike was returned to the active list of the regular army with the rank of General of the Army near Gettysburg, PA, where he lived the life of an elder statesman untill his death on March 28, 1969.