When Ohio farm boy Ernest Tresch, now of Oregon, Wis., enlisted in the Army Air Corps Nov. 7, 1941, he just wanted to find a job that would let him do what he loved--fly. Little did he know the flying job he enlisted for would take him soaring with the highest ranking military official of World War II, and the future president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
After flying 40 combat missions over Africa, Sicily, Sardinia and Italy as pilot of a Martin B-26, Tresch was flying shuttle runs of supplies to Paris and wounded soldiers back to the U.S. After one of those runs, in November, 1945, Tresch got a call from Gen. Eisenhower's staff. They needed a pilot for their crew and wanted him to interview for the job.
"I was at home when I got a call from the colonel at the base who said Gen. Eisenhower's pilot was getting out of the service and he wanted me to come in for an interview. But, after the interview I came back through operations and told the operations officer that I didn't expect to hear anything more. I never expected they'd pick me."
Then, about 7 a.m., the next morning, Tresch got a wake up call from General George. "He asked if I had any relatives in Germany. I said 'no;' he said 'thanks' and slammed down the phone."
That afternoon, the farm boy received orders to join General Eisenhower's crew in Frankfurt, Germany.
"How I wound up on that crew I could never tell you because I had absolutely no political or military pull."
Tresch started flying with Gen. Eisenhower during the six weeks before the general returned stateside after the war and when he was serving as Army Chief of Staff. Tresch was co-pilot and pilot on Eisenhower's C-54 aircraft (similar to a commercial DC-4) for a year until the fall of 1946.
From day one Tresch was impressed with the general not only for his military achievements in World War II but for his personal character.
"The first time I saw him was when I reported to his headquarters in Frankfurt. It was rather a good feeling. My first introduction to him was just a very formal one in the office with the general's aide and me as the new crew member."
Shortly after that, Eisenhower was needed in Berlin and Tresch's career flying the top brass of World War II around the world took off.
Tresch says the general was a great boss and a great man. "He was really a wonderful fellow to work for. The reason I say this is that all the time I was on his crew he was continually doing something for somebody else instead of tooting his own horn. I've made the comment many times. General Ike was the most man in one individual that I ever had the privilege of meeting."
Tresch recalls the general was serious most of the time, yet sensitive. "He had great character and little ego. Look at General Douglas MacArthur who was a hell of a showman; General Ike was just the reverse. He was always concerned about the other guy. I admired that."
As an example, Tresch recalls one very personal thing the general did for him.
"About six weeks after I joined the crew, my father was taken with a heart attack. We'd brought Gen. Eisenhower back to the states before that and were returning to pick up more of the supplies from his headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, when my family called his office trying to get a hold of me to tell me my father had died.
"Word caught up with me on a shuttle flight down in Bermuda. He had the base commander come to meet the airplane and tell me. We refueled and went right to Washington.
"When I got there, Colonel Jim Stack, the general's aide, was there to meet the plane with a personal letter of sympathy from Gen. Eisenhower and his personal offer to have his staff take care of travel arrangements and, if necessary, Gen. Eisenhower wrote: 'use my plane to your better advantage.' A five-star general just doesn't have to do that for a first lieutenant!"
But that's how Gen. Eisenhower was all the way through, he adds.
"The general had a sense of humor too but he was always so doggon busy that most things were business. Sometimes, he'd come up to the cockpit and pat the breeze with us though. He was a regular kind of guy." Occasionally, Gen. Eisenhower would even take the controls himself on long flights as he had a commercial pilot's license.
After their year together, Gen. Eisenhower accepted a job as president of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Tresch was assigned to the special air mission squadron out of Bolling Field in Washington, D.C., where he continued to fly top brass and politicians for another year and a half.
Then, in 1948, Tresch heard his old boss was running for the biggest job in the country, president of the United States.
"I was very glad to hear he was running. I was out of the service and flying a corporate plane out of Marietta, Ohio."
Knowing the general so well, Tresch was sure he'd make a great president.
"He was always thinking of the other guy and what he could do to make it better
for the other guy, whether that was an individual or the whole army. He was truly selfless."
Read more about Ernie Tresch's experiences flying Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's planeas well as the 40 combat missions he and his B-26 bomber crew survived before he ever met the future president in his chapter in The Hero Next DoorTM. Click on the Shop button above to order.
