The old saying, “sometimes bad things happen to good people,” was
certainly the case for Captain Dwight Eisenhower during 1920 and 1921.
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Eisenhower at Fort Meade, Maryland shortly
before being transferred to Panama |
Both Eisenhower and his good friend George Patton were posted to the Tank
Corps in Camp Meade, Maryland, in 1919. Ike was an infantry man and
Patton belonged to the cavalry, but both had strong interests in developing
the new idea of mechanized warfare with the tank as the centerpiece. In
those days, the United States Cavalry used horses exclusively and the Infantry
moved on foot. But during World War I the two young officers worked
with the tiny group of tanks that came into use during the latter stages
of the war. Ike had trained “tankers” in Pennsylvania
and Patton had led the first American-manned tank combat unit in the last
major battle of that war.
The two officers developed a force doctrine for tanks with the notion that
tanks could roll up the enemy’s flank to make way for advancing infantry. In
1920 they published articles in their respective military journals setting
out their ideas for future tank battle tactics. In the eyes of the
generals at the time, their ideas were heresy. Both men were ordered
to Washington and received harsh reprimands by general officers for publishing
dangerous nonsense. Strict orders were issued that neither officer
would ever again publish such anti-doctrinaire assertions. Shortly
afterwards, the Tank Corps was disbanded. In the autumn of 1920 Patton
was sent back to the horse cavalry and Ike to the infantry.
In December, while Ike was still at Camp Meade awaiting reassignment, the
Eisenhower’s only child, Doud Dwight, became seriously ill. The
boy, affectionately called “Ikky,” was barely three years old
when scarlet fever struck. Ike and Mamie were in the Camp Meade infirmary
when the child died on January 2, 1921. Both parents were devastated. Throughout
the ordeal of the funeral and grieving months to follow they did their best
to comfort each other, but it was the worst part of both their lives. A permanent
scar was left on each of them. Ike adopted stoicism as his method of
handling the tragedy and he almost never spoke of it. In 1948 in a
letter to a friend he wrote, “I was on the ragged edge of a breakdown.” When
Actress Helen Hayes lost her daughter to disease in 1949, Ike wrote to her, “We
were once in the same black pit….” After writing his memoir
in 1966, Ike had Ikky’s remains removed from his original burial ground
in Denver and re-interred in the Chapel at the Eisenhower Center in Abilene,
where Ike and Mamie would eventually rest.
A few months later, the Inspector General of the Army, Brigadier General
Eli Helmick, charged Ike with the offense of defrauding the U. S. government. The
amount of money in question, $250.67, may seem almost trivial today, but
was a very serious matter. The Inspector General wanted him court-martialed
and discharged from military service. The accusation arose because Eisenhower
had received a dependent allowance for Ikky during five months in 1920 when
the child was living with Mamie’s aunt Eda Carlson in Boone, Iowa. The
charge was based on Army regulations which indicated such payments were due
only if the dependent was living in Ike’s quarters at Camp Meade.
Captain Eisenhower felt that he had not broken the regulation, but offered
to refund the $250.67 immediately. His commanding officer, Colonel
Rockenbach, believed that restitution and a reprimand were sufficient punishment
for the offense, but the Inspector General disagreed and ordered a court
martial. There followed months of memoranda and endorsements up and
down the chain of command. During the long process Eisenhower was
scrupulously honest in his response that he had knowingly applied for the
allotment and truly believed the regulations to be at best ambiguous on the
subject. In the end, the Inspector General withdrew his insistence
on a trial. Putatively, he relented because Ike was able to document
that many other officers had committed the same error without realizing that
it could be against regulations. Other opinions indicate that some
higher ranking generals overruled Helmick because they already had their
eyes on Ike as a rising star in the army and did not want to lose him.
While the untimely death of his son inflicted more pain on Eisenhower than
the threat of a military trial during the long ordeal, he handled the latter
experience with equanimity throughout. In fact, some historians believe
that Ike’s didn’t even mention it to Mamie until after the issue
was resolved and he had to actually write the check to reimburse the Army.
By the time Eisenhower received his transfer orders to an infantry battalion
in late 1921, he was a very downhearted soldier. During the previous
eighteen months he had received two reprimands from general officers and
was still coping with the loss of his infant son. He even considered
leaving the army. Little did he know that his next commanding officer
would lead him out of his despair and put him directly on the road to military
stardom.
(To read about this rejuvenating episode in Eisenhower’s life,
look at the story entitled, “The Man
Who Made Eisenhower.)
