When they first met, John's "boldness" and generosity surprised Eisenhower. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info But surprise to surprise, Eisenhower was also a man who understood. If it is the US military's own procurement project, no matter how bold he is, he will not dare to take this money. But this time, he helped the Philippine Army negotiate equipment procurement, and neither his old boss, Philippine Army Commander-in-Chief MacArthur, nor his card friend, Philippine President Quezon, would care that he made some "errand money" from it.

In fact, Eisenhower himself knew that MacArthur had been unloaded and killed by Roosevelt (MacArthur was appointed by President Hoover as chief of staff of the Army, and after Roosevelt came to power, in order to balance the situation and appease the military industrial tycoons, he let him stay in office. After the situation stabilized, he found an excuse to oust him from power), and after leaving the Philippines gloomily, he brought himself such an adjutant with him. Now that MacArthur has retired from service, he is also in an awkward position with the military advisory group in the Philippines. MacArthur now handed over this "fat difference" to him, which in itself meant to make up for his old subordinate.

In his opinion, John, a "big man" who has a lot of weight in both business and political circles, treats himself so favorably as a little lieutenant colonel with a "bleak future", and nine times out of ten he is courting MacArthur. No matter how hypocritical he is, it's just a bit "not a lift". So, after being slightly stunned, Eisenhower accepted John's kindness without moving.

From John's side, how to make his first impression in front of the future Allied commander-in-chief, NATO commander-in-chief, and US president is also quite a difficult matter. John himself was also very entangled, he never expected to meet Eisenhower so early, let alone that the first time the two met was such a naked relationship of interest.

But even if John is not very happy with this "opening", it is impossible to quit and start over like playing a game. Besides, this time someone took the initiative to send him to the door, and John couldn't turn him away.

Fortunately, John had done some homework on an important person like Eisenhower in advance, and he still knew him well, so he wouldn't mess up all of a sudden. After learning that Eisenhower had returned to China this time, in addition to his routine debriefing, he mainly wanted to be transferred back to China, so he took the initiative to arrange a party for the future "Allied Commander-in-Chief." More precisely, it was for the future Mr. "Allied Commander-in-Chief" to get a ticket to the gathering of the upper echelons of the military circles

The venue of this gathering was not in Washington, D.C., but at the Thayer Hotel near West Point. For West Point graduates like Eisenhower, the Thayer Hotel is the place they most often go to for reunions, and it's their own turf. During World War II, many officers moved their families here when they went overseas to fight. First Lady Eleanor's Officers' Family Mutual Aid Society was also based here.

The organizer of the gathering was Colonel Jacob Devers. Well, in a few days it will be possible to call him Brigadier General Devers. After graduating from West Point, this "reserve brigadier general" has only served in the front-line army for three short years, and the rest of the time has been studying or teaching in various military academies, and is a typical scholar-type officer. After Christmas, he will leave the military academy and go to Panama to serve as chief of staff of the garrison. Today's gathering is actually a farewell banquet for Devers and his old friends in the military circles.

I heard that hundreds of people attended the party that night, most of them were Defers' colleagues, classmates, alumni, students, superiors, and subordinates from the military academy. Eisenhower didn't know De Vers well, although he was his math and engineering teacher during his time at West Point. But that was 20 years ago, and the two never saw each other again after graduation.

But when Eisenhower arrived at the party, there was no sense of abruptness or embarrassment. Because most of the officers present he knew. Most of them graduated from West Point, and Eisenhower alone had several classmates, such as Lieutenant Colonel Bradley, assistant secretary of the Army Staff, who was chatting with Brigadier General Thomas Davis in the corner of the ballroom.

"Ike, here!" It was discovered that Eisenhower was not his old classmate Lieutenant Colonel Bradley with his back to him, but his former boss, Brigadier General Thomas Davis. During Eisenhower's tenure as MacArthur's adjutant, Brigadier General Davis was the adjutant general of the Army staff and was nominally his immediate superior.

Eisenhower and Davis were both "political" officers who were good at communicating with people, and during MacArthur's tenure as Army Chief of Staff, one of them was equivalent to the chief of staff secretary and the other was equivalent to the chief of staff of the General Staff. Even after MacArthur took Eisenhower to the Philippines, the two had never broken their relationship. Previously, Eisenhower had been repatriated to China through Brigadier General Davis.

"Ike, long time no see." Bradley also spotted Eisenhower and warmly embraced his old classmate. "Our handsome "center" (Eisenhower was the center on the varsity football team at West Point) is now starting to lose his hand and become a bad old man. ”

Eisenhower unceremoniously shot back at the ridicule of his old classmates: "You haven't changed, Omar, you were as old 20 years ago as you are now." ”

"I guess I was a little better than that prawn in Milburn." Colonel Frank Milburn, who happened to be passing by, was speechless at his innocent lying gun. The former attacker of the West Point football team is less than 1.7 meters tall, and he got the nickname because he held the ball in front of his chest and sprinted with his head down like a "prawn".

Don't look at Milburn's "ferocious" fighting (during the Korean War, he led the First Army of the U.S. Army to fight the 63rd Army of the Volunteer Army in Cheorwon), but in private he was honest like an old peasant in the countryside, and his temper was surprisingly good. Although Milburn was a senior and a senior, and his rank was higher than them, he didn't care too much about people making fun of him.

"Hello! Ike, Omar, and Thomas. Milburn came over with a wine glass and said hello to the brothers, "I heard that you are going back to China?" Ike, I thought you would join the Philippine Army with General MacArthur, but our principal (MacArthur was the president of West Point in 1919) didn't say to make you a general? ”

Historically, both Quezon (the president of the Philippines) and MacArthur had offered Eisenhower an offer to hire him for a key position in the Philippines with a high salary, but he later declined because he did not want to stay in the country for a long time.

"Don't tease him, what future can you have if you stay in the Philippines. Ike's good things are coming. "As the big brother, Brigadier General Davis spoke out to suppress a bunch of older students who were still as frolicking as they were when they were students.

"There's news from the Staff?" Eisenhower was taken aback, he hadn't heard anything before.

"Someone helped you dredge a big guy, and you'll find out in a moment." Brigadier General Davis bought a pass. He has been serving in the Adjutant General's Office of the War Department for a long time, and he has to deal with the military bigwigs in Washington every day. Davis knew very well which Buddha John was moving this time, and he was a little envious of Eisenhower's good fortune.

Brigadier Davis had met John a few times before. His younger brother was John's partner on a European expedition, Captain Davis of the White House Secret Service. Brigadier General Davis only knew that John had some influence in business and politics, but he didn't expect this young man to have so much energy in the military now.

After a while, the "big man" in Davis's mouth appeared, and he was the guest of honor at tonight's party, Stimson. All the soldiers present knew that it would not be long before Stimson would be the U.S. Secretary of War again. (Currently, the U.S. does not have a Department of Defense, and the Secretary of War is the Secretary of War who is responsible for the Army and Air Force, and is at the same level as the Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet.) Although the position was civilian, all U.S. Army forces, including the Chief of Staff of the Army, who was the first person in the Army, were his subordinates. The last time Stimson was appointed Secretary of War by President Taft was in 1911, when many of the people present were company and platoon officers, and Eisenhower and Bradley had even just been admitted to West Point as a cadet soldier.

As the host of today's meeting, Colonel Jacob Devers was the first to greet him. In fact, Devers's promotion was run by Stimson for him. Historically, without the appreciation and reuse of Stimson, the Minister of the Army, Devers, who had taught on the podium for half his life, would not have been so easy to become a four-star general and commander of the Sixth Army Group on the European continent.

Devers was followed by Colonel Patton, who was the commander of the 7th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Clark. Patton and Dforth were classmates, and he had served as Pershing's lieutenant during World War I, where he had met Stimson. As a representative of the Young Zhuang faction who was once responsible for the formation and training of the first tank unit in the United States, although Patton has not been promoted quickly in recent years, he has always been on the ranks of the War Department, and belongs to the kind of echelon "seed" that has been deliberately refrigerated. Patton, who often deals with high-ranking members of the Army and is born with a big heart, will not be "stage frightened" in the face of a big man like Stimson.

Apart from these two men, plus Brigadier General Davis, the other officers were all somewhat restrained after Stimson's arrival. After all, most of them are only colonel-level officers, and the gap between the two sides is a little too big. Stimson also knew that his presence would make the atmosphere a little awkward, and he didn't stay at the party for too long. After a brief chat with Devers, Barton, and Davis, and a glass of wine to everyone present, he called Eisenhower aside. The two men talked for about a quarter of an hour, and then Stimson got up and took his leave.