| On the afternoon of July 11, 1944, General Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) came across a forgotten note tucked inside his wallet. He called in his naval aide, Captain Harry C. Butcher (November 1, 1901 – April 20, 1985), who, taking the paper, read: “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone. [Misdated[ July 5, 1944.” It was dated, in Eisenhower hand, July 5. Butcher knew it had to have been — and was — written June 5, when “Bravery and devotion” might yet fail the Allies on Normandy’s beaches. That July afternoon was D plus 35. On June 6, D-Day, the largest armada in history had crossed the English Channel, landing 9 divisions of sea and airborne troops in a sweeping assault upon Nazi German-occupied France that put the Allies on the road to victory. Eisenhower penned such notes on the eves of other amphibious operations, secretly tearing each 1 up afterward. “I told him I wanted it,” Butcher would later recall. Eisenhower gave in, reluctantly. The sheet of beige paper — at 4 1/2 inches by 7 inches, it looks as if it came from a notepad — is brittle and fragile, like many of the once strapping young men who advanced through surf and bullets, each carrying as much as 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of equipment. The paper doesn’t carry the letterhead of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. It’s cheaply made. The 4 sentences on it are written in pencil, and were composed on a portable table. Archivists at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, call it the “In Case of Failure” message. It’s safeguarded in an acid-free folder in the security vault there, a veteran, too, of dark days when freedom hung in the balance. An initial invasion force of some 156,000 men, launched from the United Kingdom on Eisenhower’s word for a 50-mile (80-kilometer) stretch of French coastline, code-named by beach: The United States Army 4th Infantry Division was to take Utah Beach; the United States Army 29th and 1st Infantry Divisions, Omaha Beach; the British Royal Army 50th Infantry Division, Gold Beach; the Canadian Royal Army 3rd Infantry Division, Juno Beach; and the British Royal Army 3rd Infantry Division, Sword Beach. “This operation is planned as a victory, and that’s the way it’s going to be,” Eisenhower had declared. “We’re going down there, and we’re throwing everything we have into it.” He meant everything: 11,000 aircraft, 6,000 naval vessels, and a total of 2,000,000 men, including reinforcements for the 1st wave. He issued an Order of the Day — only 1 of 10 in his name from 1944 and 1945 — to be distributed to every soldier, sailor and airman in “Operation Overlord.” The language is epic and undaunted: “You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade,” he began. “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. …The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! ” …Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” An invasion was inevitable after France fell in 1940. It was Soviet Premier and Dictator Joseph Stalin (December 18, 1878 – March 5, 1953), who pressed United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), and United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) in late 1943 to name a supreme commander for Overlord. “Who carries the moral and technical responsibility for this operation?” Stalin demanded. The job fell to Eisenhower. “General Ike,” as Butcher called him, named June 5, 1944, as D-Day. But gale-force winds and sheets of horizontal rain descended, postponing the operation twenty-four hours. Eisenhower set a new date: June 6. “The mighty host,” he said of the troops, “was tense as a coiled spring.” At noon June 5, he sat at the portable desk and assumed, in writing, any failure upon his shoulders alone. He edited the note in 4 places with a heavy pencil. He began the 2nd sentence with, “This particular operation,” crossed that out and began again with, “My decision to attack.” Under the words “mine alone” is a single, long dash — perhaps meant to emphasize those words, or just to signal the statement’s end. In the bottom right corner is the date, which has required explanation ever since. Eisenhower’s was this: “The July 5 date must have been a careless error,” he concluded in 1966 after reviewing the note, according to the editors of “The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower: The War Years III.” He doesn’t allude, at least here, to the drama of the moment. The note’s brevity was classic Eisenhower. A year later, when Eisenhower wrote Army Chief of Staff George Marshall (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) of Germany’s unconditional surrender, he had only this to say about the end of the war in Europe: “This mission was accomplished on May 7, 1945.” At 1830 Hours on June 5, Ike left his headquarters to join the tide of men preparing to embark. “The stars on the running board of his automobile had been covered, but the troops recognized ‘Ike,’ and word quickly spread of his presence.” He met with the British 50th Infantry Division, then the United States Army 101st Airborne Division. His grandson, David (born March 31, 1948), recounted the scene in Eisenhower at War: 1943-1945: “He asked their names and homes. ‘Texas, sir!’ one replied. …’Where are you from, soldier?’ ‘Missouri, sir.’” Eisenhower stood by as the paratroopers began to take off, knowing a great many wouldn’t be coming home. The next morning, an hour and a half after the 1st landing craft hit the beaches, but before he had any news of the invasion, Eisenhower sent a message to Washington telling of the men he’d met and how “the light of battle was in their eyes.” Lieutenant Wallace C. Strobel (June 5, 1922 – August 27, 1999), 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, was among them. As a photographer clicked away, he and Eisenhower talked about fishing in Strobel’s native Michigan. In his gear he carried Eisenhower’s Order of the Day, with all its valiant imagery and confidence. In Eisenhower’s wallet was that other message, the 1 that was forced to imagine an unimaginable defeat. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0868.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.44 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 2373 x 3844 |
| Photographer | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Photographer Title | United States Army |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 5, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Hampshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 186470 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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