Excerpt From D-Day Book 'The First Wave'

The clock in the war room at Southwick House showed 4 a.m. The nine men gathered in the twentyâ?fiveâ?byâ?fiftyâ?foot former library, its walls lined with empty bookshelves, were anxiously sipping cups of coffee, their minds dwelling on the Allies' most important decision of World War II. Outside in the darkness, a gale was blowing, angry rain lashing against the windows. “The weather was terrible,” recalled fiftyâ?threeâ?yearâ?old Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower. “Southwick House was shaking. Oh, it was really storming.” Given the atrocious conditions, would Eisenhower give the final goâ?ahead or postpone? He had left it until now, the very last possible moment, to decide whether or not to launch the greatest invasion in history.