George Elsey, One of the Last Survivors of World War II White House, Dies at 97

[underpants]

An incredible participant in history

One of the last survivors of the inner sanctums of the White House during and immediately after World War II, Mr. Elsey died on Dec. 30 in Tustin, Calif. He was 97.

During the war, Mr. Elsey was a naval officer working in the Map Room, the nerve center of communications on the ground floor of Roosevelt’s White House. He sometimes wheeled the disabled Roosevelt around the room. He bumped into Winston Churchill one night in a dark hallway and transmitted secret messages to Joseph Stalin. He took a leave from the White House in 1944 to record the Normandy invasion as a naval historian, and was on Omaha Beach while it was still being shelled.

On the ship home, Mr. Elsey received a top-secret message, decoded it and handed it to the president. A presidential order had been carried out. “Big bomb dropped on Hiroshima 5 August at 7:15 p.m. Washington time,” the message said.

He also changed the direction the eagle faces. It had looked left, which the heraldic experts he consulted described as sinister. He turned it around to face right.

In an interview with NPR in 2005, Mr. Elsey said, “I sort of chuckle to myself and say, ‘Well, that’s one thing I did.’ ”

[Renew Deal]

1. Which eagle are they talking about?

I just checked the presidential seal and it looks left based on the 1945 design. It has gone both ways through the years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_the_President_of_the_United_States

[underpants]

2. The Presidential flag not the seal.

Changed in 1945

[Renew Deal]

3. Interesting

Thanks