Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted to attend his son John’s graduation from West Point, but was unable to do so because he was “a bit too busy with work.” On graduation day – June 6, 1944 – the elder Eisenhower was overseeing the Allied invasion of Normandy.

Countdown to D-Day: how President Eisenhower’s Gettysburg home will mark the invasion’s anniversary

Inside the former Gettysburg home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower hangs a portrait of his son, John, when the younger Eisenhower was enrolled at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

“Of course, Ike was not able to be there for his son’s West Point graduation,” said Dan Vermilya, a park ranger at the Eisenhower National Historic Site. “In his letters to [his wife] Mamie in the days and weeks leading up [to the graduation], one thing he mentioned was how much he wanted to be there. But he made mention that, sadly, he was ‘a bit too busy with work’.”

That was because John Eisenhower graduated from West Point on June 6, 1944 – the same day that his father, serving as the Supreme Allied Commander for the Allied Expeditiona… Continue Reading (5 minute read)