This photograph shows General Dwight D. Eisenhower giving the order of the day – “Full victory-nothing else” – to paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division in England. Eisenhower visited them on the eve of the Normandy invasion, moments before they boarded airplanes to participate in the first assault of occupied France on D-Day.
The paratrooper with the number 23 around his neck, 1st Lt. Wallace Strobel, recalled that the two discussed fishing. Strobel felt that besides encouraging the troops, Eisenhower wanted reassurance about his decision to commit the men to battle, and he got it.
