A page from the official Wembley Stadium Distinguished Visitors Book signed on the occasion of the Chelsea v Charlton Athletic 1944 Football League (S

A page from the official Wembley Stadium Distinguished Visitors Book signed on the occasion of the Chelsea v Charlton Athletic 1944 Football League (South) War Cup Final signed by General Dwight Eisenhower and other dignitaries, sold with a colour scan of the original front cover to the Wembley Visitors Book that was employed between 1935 and 1947; and digital archive match reports from The Times newspaper (3) The 1943-44 Season was the fourth season of special wartime football matches played in Britain during the Second World War, after normal Football League and Football Association Cup football was suspended in England in September 1939. Teams were split into a north and south regionalised system. The Southern Cup final was contested between Charlton Athletic and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on 15th April 1944. All 85,000 tickets were sold and all players were professionals, which was not always the case during the war years. Charlton won the game 3-1 and then went on to play the Northern Champions Aston Villa in a play-off at Stamford Bridge. The game ended 1-1 and honours were shared. The Visitors Books bears signatures of some Illustrious personalities who were present at the match, and is a unique record of the Chelsea v Charlton War Cup final. Importantly, the book bears the signature of General Dwight Eisenhower who, at the beginning of 1944, had been ordered to Britain from the Mediterranean to be Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. A photograph of Eisenhower meeting the Chelsea team on the Wembley pitch before the game was reproduced on p.596 of The Guinness Record of the F.A. Cup by Mike Collett (Guiness Publishing Ltd., 1993). Less than three months after the Chelsea v Charlton Cup final, the D-Day Landings commenced on 6th June 1944, ultimately leading to the declaration of victory on V.E. Day 8th May 1945. The following month H.M. King George VI conferred the Order of Merit on Eisenhower, who later became the 34th President of the United States of America in January 1953 and serving two terms until his retirement in 1960. He died in 1969. Other signature in the Visitors Book include: Harold Alexander (later Earl Alexander of Tunis), Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theatre of War 1944-1945; Rt. Hon. Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour and National Service 1940-45; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1945-1951; Firoz Khan Noon, Indian Representative, British War Cabinet, 1944-45, later leader of the Pakistan Republican Party; 1st Baron Wigram, Colonel of the 19th Lancers, Indian Army, and Extra Equerry to King George VI 1936-1952; Group Captain Sir Louis Greig, Gentleman Usher in Ordinary to King George VI 1924-36, Extra Gentleman Usher 1937-1952 (he also played international rugby for Scotland); William Phillips, Personal Representative of the President of the United States to India 1942, Political Officer (U.S.) on General Eisenhower's Staff, London, 1943-44; Sir Frank Newson-Smith Bt., Lord Mayor of London 1943-44; 1st Earl of Woolton, Member of the War Cabinet 1943-45, Minister of Reconstruction 1943-45; General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, Adjutant-General to the Forces 1941-46; General Sir Frederick Alfred Pile, GOC-in-C, Anti-Aircraft Command 1939-45; and others.