General Dwight D. Eisenhower smiles as he speaks with paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division at a marshalling camp in England on June 5, 1944, the evening before the airborne assault into Normandy that opened the D-Day invasion. Eisenhower personally visited departing airborne units that night to offer encouragement before what he privately feared could be extremely costly operations. This photograph, taken from the original safety-film negative, is one of several documenting his visit to men of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment. Project: 218668