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EISENHOWER DWIGHT DAVID
(1890-1969).
Signed autograph letter, signed « Ike »,
[London] 7 July [1944], to his wife Mamie
EISENHOWER in Washington; 4 pages
in-4 format, with the original envelope
franked and marked, “Censored by:
Dwight D. Eisenhower, General, U.S.
Army,” and bearing an autograph note
signed, D.E. : “George goes home,
starting tomorrow morning, and I want
him to carry a letter to you. I have been
away for the past five days, with no
chance to write. I strongly suspect you
are now in Benning [Fort Benning], but
if he mails this fromWashington, you
should have it quickly…”; in English.
8 000 / 10 000 €
Moving letter to his wife, four weeks
after D-Day. Eisenhower discusses their
son Johnny, fresh out of West Point and
speaks of their wedding anniversary (1 July
1916). “Johnny” was Eisenhower’s only
surviving son. John Eisenhower served in
the European theatre during the war, under
his father’s command.
“How I miss Johnny. While I was keen to
see him, I didn’t know just how much I
appreciated having him by my side until he
was gone. He would have thoroughly enjoyed
goin g with me these last few days. I left
here the day after he did - and I’ve ploughed
through rain and mud and seen lots and lots
of troops. I’m so glad that lots of the officers
around here got to see him some to talk to
him a while. Almost everyone that comes in
gets on my good side right away by saying
‘what a fine son’…”
“Unquestionably he [John] has given you a
good picture of how we live. In some ways
it is a most hum-drum existence, but since
there is never a moment that doesn’t have its
strain or particular problem, the time rushes
by and you wonder where it has gone. While
I often feel that I cannot remember the time
when I was not carrying these burden, I feel,
on the other hand, that it was only yesterday
that we were at Ft. Myer together, and you
stood by the flagpole to wave good-bye.
Sometimes I miss you so much I could do
anything except to act sanely. There is no
one else but you, so far as I’m concerned…”.
The invasion of France at Normandy was
launched on June 6. By July 4, the British
resumed their attempts to take Caen with a
drive on Carpiquet. Three days later, they
followed up with an attack on Caen itself.
A few minutes before 10 p.m. on July 7,
an armada of 500 four-engine bombers
dropped 2,500 tons of bombs on the edge
of the city. Early on the morning of July 9,
German units began evacuating across the
Orne River...
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