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In accordance with his wish, the former general was buried in a regular soldier's coffin made of steel. To be more specific, it was a standard silver gray colored square design with stationary bars serving as handles and with a neutral, ivory colored crepe interior. The US government provided this casket to its active and retired soldiers at a price of $ 80 at that time - a price well below wholesale cost. The only "extra" distinguishing the casket of the former president from an ordinary soldier's casket was the equipment with an inner glass lid which converted the unsealed casket into a hermetically sealing one, making the coffin air and water tight. This specially ordered feature cost an extra $ 115, raising the total price of the casket to $ 195 - less than a tenth of a typical "presidential" luxury casket. As possible manufacturer of the casket the (former) Toccoa casket company can be named: although the company had lost in 1969 already its pre-Vietnam War position of being the largest supplier of caskets for the US military, Toccoa - unlike the new big government supplier Batesville - still manufactured caskets with inner glass lid. Eisenhower's personal choice of a regular soldier's casket reflects the modesty of this great man and the solidarity of this exceptional soldier with his comrades.

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10y ago

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