In the Kansas town that was home, the astonishing story of Eisenhower lives on

ABILENE, Kan. - They still like Ike in Abilene.

And why not? He executed the military plan that turned the tide of World War II in Europe, stopped Hitler and ultimately brought the war in that theater to an end. He did it by getting big-ego military leaders to work together by subjugating his own, by believing in his troops, by being willing to take all of the blame if it failed and none of the credit if it worked.

That he was the driving force behind the biggest invasion modern generations have known is made more stunning by knowing his hardscrabble story began not in Kansas but in Texas and ended not in Kansas but in Pennsylvania.

But Abilene is where Eisenhower's story is laid out for anyone to see and, as the 75th anniversary of D-day approaches, to remember.

Dwight David Eisenhower was born Oct. 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas, but father David and mother Ida soon moved the family to Abilene, a