It’s not often a five-star general comes to Seward.
One was in town for the 2021 Fourth of July celebration. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (portrayed by Chan Taylor) was at the Nebraska National Guard Museum July 3 and 4.
Taylor has been Eisenhower for four years as part of the America’s Great Stories program. AGS focuses on the faith of the historical persons it portrays.
Taylor said he is still trying to find a statement about Eisenhower’s faith. He said Eisenhower believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but he hasn’t seen a definitive statement.
To prepare for his portrayal, Taylor “read a whole bunch of books,” he said.
He usually portrays Eisenhower later in his career, so getting into the character as a lieutenant colonel was a new challenge. Taylor was able to wear a 100-year-old uniform from the Nebraska National Guard Museum and said he was nervous to keep the uniform in his closet.
“As terrifying as it is, it’s a great adventure,” Taylor said. “You get to know the man very intimately.”
As a performer, Taylor said, he tries to reflect Eisenhower’s mannerisms.
“He was just a regular guy from a small town,” Taylor said. “No one was more surprised to be appointed supreme commander than he was. He recommended everyone but himself.”
Eisenhower grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Abilene, Kansas, Taylor said.
“He was a hard worker and very disciplined,” he said. “That’s why he was appointed supreme commander. He knew how to bring people together.”
Cross country
His Seward program was the transcontinental convoy in 1919. Eisenhower was part of an Army entourage that traveled across the country from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, California. They left Washington July 7, 1919, and arrived in San Francisco Sept. 6, 1919.
“We didn’t know it could be done,” Eisenhower said, adding that he joined the convoy “for a lark and to learn.”
Delays were common, he said. The trip chronicler was “a meticulous recorder of disasters.”
On day one, for example, the convoy advanced 46 miles in just over seven hours. On day two, it went 62 miles in 10 and a half hours.
“The maintenance crews were constantly on the job,” he said.
Taylor shared anecdotes from Eisenhower’s memoirs, focused primarily on his friend Major Serano Brett. Some of the convoy members were from big cities and were unfamiliar with the Great Plains. Because he was from Abilene, Kansas, Eisenhower knew what to expect.
They started out spreading a rumor that Brett was suffering from shell shock. He would set up his tent outside the camp and shriek before going to bed and after getting up.
In Wyoming, Brett climbed a cliff to set up his tent, howled before going to bed and, in the morning, threw his bedroll off the cliff before coming down to the camp.
Eisenhower and Brett stopped at a restaurant in Wyoming and got the patrons to help them with another scheme. Once the soldiers were there for supper, the residents started arguing about the possibility of an Indian attack.
“We thought the army would frighten the Indians away,” they said.
That trick almost backfired, however. The soldier who sent reports back to the office wrote up the incident. Eisenhower and Brett had to catch the report before it was sent and black out the Indian attack.
The end result of the cross-country convoy was Eisenhower’s desire to see a better road system across the country.
