General Dwight Eisenhower, speaking with soldiers of the 101st Airborne, prior to the D-Day invasion.Seventy years ago, the allied invasion of Normandy, France, marked the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler and his Nazi empire. The largest military invasion in human history came to be known as D-Day. Remarkably, the man who planned the massive and complex combat operation grew up in the small town of Abilene. As the free world remembers the events of June 6, 1944...we remember the man responsible for D-Day's success: Dwight D. Eisenhower, or Ike, as he was known. KPR's J. Schafer recently spoke with Tim Rives, the deputy director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, to find out why Ike was selected to lead this invasion.
That's Tim Rives, Deputy Director of the Eisenhower Library and Museum in Abilene. He was speaking with KPR's J. Schafer. The Eisenhower Museum has a whole host of activities commemorating the 70th anniversary of D-Day. You'll find a complete list of them online at Eisenhower.Archives.Gov.