A good friend of mine, Perry Burwell, (now deceased) grew up in Dwight Eisenhower's hometown of Abilene, Kan.

When Perry was in high school in the late 1930s he had an after-school job making home deliveries for a local dry cleaner, and routinely made deliveries to the Eisenhower home.

Two or three years passed, WWII started and Perry was drafted into the Army. He wound up in a tank outfit in North Africa. One day he drove his commanding officer to Allied Headquarters on some business or other. While Perry was sitting in his jeep waiting for his CO to reappear, several jeeps drove up and Gen. Eisenhower and his entourage alit. Perry said Ike walked past the front of his jeep, then stopped and asked, "Hey, where do I know you from?"

Perry told him, and Ike stopped and chatted about Abilene for a few minutes before turning his attention back to the war.

Perry always thought it was really something that someone of Gen. Eisenhower's stature would take a few minutes out of the war to chat with a kid from his hometown.