William Rudolph Gruber, (December 17, 1890 – January 27, 1979) Brigadier general, was an instructor at the Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth when Dwight D. Eisenhower was a student there.[3] Following Eisenhower's graduation, Gruber and his wife Helen Drennan Gruber were joined by Dwight D. and Mamie Eisenhower on a 17-day, 1800 mile motor trip through Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France in 1929.

Brigadier General

William Rudolph Gruber
Field Artillery branch insignia, featuring two crossed field guns
Nickname(s)"Bill"
Born(1890-12-17)December 17, 1890
DiedJanuary 27, 1979(1979-01-27) (aged 88)
Allegiance United States of America
Service / branch United States Army
Years of service1911-1946
Rank Brigadier general
Battles / warsWorld War I:

World War II:

Awards
Silver Star

with Third Oak Leaf Cluster

French Croix de guerre 1914–1918
RelationsEdmund L. Gruber, (1879-1941), Brigadier general who wrote "The Caisson Song",[1][2]

They left Paris on August 28, 1929, and drove to Brussels, Belgium. Their route then took them to Bonn, Germany, south along the Rhine River to Coblenz, Heidelberg and through the Black Forest. They then went to Switzerland, spending seven days and visiting Zürich, Lucerne, Interlaken, Montreux, and Geneva, and surviving a harrowing crossing of the Furka Pass high in the Alps. From Switzerland the travelers went to Besançon, then to Romagne in France where they visited the American War Cemetery. While the ladies stayed to visit with a mutual friend, Gruber and Eisenhower toured the World War I battlefields in the area. Eisenhower was an expert guide having just completed work on a guidebook for the Battle Monuments Commission.[4] The Grubers and Eisenhowers returned to Paris on September 13.[3]

References

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  1. ^ http://www.music.army.mil/music/armysong/soldierssong.asp [dead link]
  2. ^ "U.S. Army". Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  3. ^ a b http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1630.cfm, Eisenhower, Dwight D. To William Rudolph Gruber, 16 November 1955.
  4. ^ Trout, Steven (May 29, 2012). On the Battlefield of Memory: The First World War and American Remembrance, 1919–1941. University of Alabama Press. pp. xxvi–xxvii. ISBN 978-0817357238. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
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  • [1] Papers of William R. Gruber, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
  • [2] William Rudolph Gruber papers, The Hoover Institution Archives.
  • Generals of World War II