She was dead within days. Some pages of the narrative are almost verbatim the text of the diary, with personal references toned down or eliminated., Although perhaps mentally satisfying, such activities did little for Pattons morale and he soon became moody and tense. Professor of Adolescent Health at the University of Melbourne and the Director of the CAH, as well as Patton's wife. Walter T. Patton met his end during the infamous ill-fated attack known as Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Another was Sean Flynn, Erroll Flynns son, who was a combat photograher at the same time and who almost certainly would have photographed someone as significant as a Patton descendant in combat. Patton wrote in his diary, I guess there is nothing left for me but the undertaker.. I was stationed in Germany in the early 1970s and was hospitalized for several weeks at the US Army Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany. Greg Wehner. She was the bridesmaid for both the Patton girls. He was obviously in a post which he was unsuited by temperament, training or experience to fill. The Real Story of General George Patton, Jr's Death & Final Days In August this year, I was at American cemetery in Luxembourg where General Patton is buried. Patton was just an average general, nothing more. I enjoyed reading about the times from the end of the war in Europe to Pattons tragic accident and death. His beloved dog, Willie, was to follow later. In the aftermath of the Battle of Kasserine Pass, US II Corps passed to the command of General Harold Alexanders 18th Army Group. On the face of it, a conspiracy in the death of Patton might sound silly or inconceivable. Just Berlin! It was accompanied by a cover letter saying Smith thought Patton was out of control in Bavaria and that Ike ought to come back and take the matter in hand before any further damage was done. During their two-hour meeting Eisenhower was more excited than I have ever seen him, remembered Patton in his diary. A very unique man indeed. There are many famous and controversial figures to emerge from World War II, but General S. Patton is arguably one of its most controversial. Virginia Tech was not the worst school massacre in U.S. history. Furthermore, his problems were compounded by the fact that Washington was intent on demobilizing its warrior soldiers as quickly as possible, thus reducing his pool of skilled American manpower. Nobody would have thought anything unusual about it, and even would have thought it to be proper. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. General George S Patton Car Accident Crash Pictures With blood covering his face and scalp from cuts that had gone through to the bone, he was diagnosed as having a fracture of the third cervical vertebra, with a posterior dislocation of the fourth cervical vertebra. Whether or not the spinal cord had been transected or merely traumatized remained a matter of conjecture. They should have cut him loose with the Third army and the 7th and there would have never been an East Berlin! PDF The Many Faces of George S He was at his best when commanding his men and was extremely instrumental in the victory of the allies over the Germans. And why? Awesome quotes from General Patton - We Are The Mighty Seems that just days after Patton's untimely death after a car accident in 1945, his widow asked for a meeting with Jean Gordon, Patton's alleged mistress. General Patton's Car Accident Remains Controversial Today - Motorious Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. It told him he was to assume his new appointment on October 8. At least, I have done my best as God gave me the chance.. Three days after VE-Day, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower called a conference of all his U.S. Army commanders and told them that they were not to criticize publicly any of the campaigns that had won the war and of the need for solidarity in the event that any of them were called before any congressional committees. The route from Luxembourg City station to the U.S. cemetery was lined by troops from the United States, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, and the cortge was followed by Prince Felix of Luxembourg, two French, one Italian, and numerous American generals, including Gay and Truscott. But Gordon had reappeared in Europe during the war, alarming Beatrice. He knew he was seriously injured and apparently murmured, I think Im paralyzed, and later, This is a helluva way to die.. This picture of Willie, Patton's dog, was taken a few days after the General's death as preparations were made to send home his effects. George Patton - Death, WW2 & Military Career - Biography Top Image:General George S. Patton, Jr., one of Americas greatest battlefield commanders died on December 21, 1945, in an Army hospital in Heidelberg, Germany. He did both quite well. It was a mistake to suppose a free-swinging fighter could acquire overnight the capacities of a wise administrator. RIP, amen. (Image source: WikiCommons) A Family Affair Jean Gordon. george patton was the living, walking, talking definition of antifa & he had no use or patience for cowards like captain bone spurs. For accurate reading concerning Patton, read Patton The Man Behind The Legend, 1885-1945. George Patton, in full George Smith Patton, Jr., (born November 11, 1885, San Gabriel, California, U.S.died December 21, 1945, Heidelberg, Germany), U.S. Army officer who was an outstanding practitioner of mobile tank warfare in the European and Mediterranean theatres during World War II. Very Deep story. George S. Patton (son) George S. Patton (grandson) Colonel George Patton Sr. (June 26, 1833 - September 25, 1864) was a Confederate colonel during the American Civil War. PDF Patton Faked his Death Sometime in October, Patton resolved to quit outright, not retire. General George S Patton's wife is pictured . Gen. Patton's Dog After His Death Now, more than half the Germans were Nazis and we would be in a hell of a fix if we removed all Nazi party members from office. With hind sight many people think if we would have went to war right away with the Russians things would be different today. Patton's granddaughter revisits father's time as armor commander Omissions? The previous afternoon it had been necessary to give him oxygen to restore his breathing and X-rays revealed that a small pulmonary embolism had obstructed his upper right lung. George passed away on the 23 rd of September 2018, aged 72. Fighting the Allies during the North African campaign of 1942-1943, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommels Afrika Korps (DAK) was resupplied by a concerted air and sea lift effort. When Fort Knox shipped out most of its old Army tanks in 2011, the General George Patton Museum seemed destined to follow. They range from the improbable plot of Brass Target, a 1978 film starring George Kennedy as an overweight Patton who was allegedly assassinated in order to stop his investigation of a gold heist by . Thank you for the long article. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his paralysis and breathed his last before the move could be made. He was promoted to colonel in 1938 and temporary brigadier general in 1940. The first American home that I stayed in, back in 1988, was that of General Ben Partin (U.S. Air Force). George Patton died peacefully at 1755 hours on December 21, 1945. Then, before a crowd of up to 50,000, he made a speech in which he said, My name is merely a hook to hang the honors on. Shortly after Beatrice Patton buried her husband, Gen. George S. Patton Jr., she summoned a woman to her hotel room. This is the offical version of the accident and death. Assassins!A Confederate spy was accused of helping kill Abraham Lincoln. His wife, Beatrice, a novelist, and their three children suffered greatly, according to the author, as Georgie went through periodic drinking bouts and began an affair with his wife's. He complained that some Germans were being interned there as political prisoners without justification. Early life Jean Gordon's father died at an early age and her invalid mother was the half sister of Patton's wife. It is rather sad for me to think that my last opportunity for earning my pay has passed. We already had atomic weapons and had used them on Japanese cities twice-perhaps some historians have suggested as a demonstration and warning to Moscowbut I am interested in the details of how we would have lost to the Russians, in some detail of course ie our objectives vs theirs and precisely how wed have failed in ours while they suceeded in defeating an American armed forces at the apogee of their war potential and still in Europe prior to Operation Magic Carpet. Gen. John J. Pershing and accompanied him on a punitive expedition into Mexico. Patton was 50, and in the midst of a midlife, between-wars crisis. Sadly, generals have no say in the world when a war comes to an end. His career climaxed with World War II, where he led corps and armies from North Africa, to Sicily, to the continent of Europe. The room was empty except for a hospital bed and a few other pieces of standard furniture of that long-ago era. How could the deaths of so many more American solders made to day any better? Been reading a book about Patton and ran across this. Gordon made a play for the general, DEste wrote, and after Patton and Gordon returned from an unchaperoned trip to another island, Beatrice realized that they were having an affair, he wrote. He was a very opinionated man who spoke exactly what he wanted to say! After the German surrender, Patton campaigned vigorously for a command in the Pacific theatre in the ongoing war against Japan. VERY CONVENIENT ACCIDENT SO I SUPPOSE THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOME DOUBT IN SOME MINDS!!!!!! George S. Patton Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Upon arrival in Luxembourg, a light rain fell as the casket was brought to the cemetery on December 24, the day before Christmas. Patton was rushed to the 130th Station Hospital in Heidelberg, 12 miles away. Pattons medical records for that day read, Prognosis for recovery increasingly grave. Spurling and the other doctors knew that it was impossible to operate to relieve the pressure on his badly damaged spinal cord to eliminate the paralysis. Woodring was unable to stop in time, and the two vehicles collided at a 90-degree angle, with the right front bumper of the truck smashing the radiator and bumper of the Cadillac. The two men did not get on. This was, of course, completely contrary to the political direction he had received from Eisenhower for the denazification of the American zone of Germany. May the Great Worm gnaw your vitals, Beatrice pronounced, uttering what DEste said was a feared curse she had learned in Hawaii years before. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Extremely captivating story and well written with plenty of facts to back up the story. Thirty-year-old Lieutenant Patton managed to build an acquaintance with the general. We, as a nation and an Ally, were fortunate to have him on our side. There are a number of sources available to consult and the reader can decide for themselves. Youre all hoping I will! His daughter, who worked in the amputee ward as an occupational therapist, recalled later that when her father saw the soldiers there he burst into tears and exclaimed, Goddammit, if I had been a better general, most of you would not be here. The men, who were not looking for sympathy, cheered him as he left. He led a series of wildly successful offensive operations in Europe during World War II, but his controversial and erratic behaviour off the battlefield damaged his reputation and hampered his own career advancement. Gen. George Patton's wife put a Hawaiian curse on his ex-mistress. She He wrote in his diary, If we let Germany and the German people be completely disintegrated and starved, they will certainly fall for Communism, and the fall of Germany for Communism will write the epitaph of democracy in the United States. By V-E Day (May 8, 1945), Pattons Third Army had fought for nine months since becoming operational, capturing more than 80,000 square miles (more than 200,000 square km) of territory. When Beatrice appeared, she took off her hat and coat, looked angrily at Gordon and pointed a finger at her. Needless to say, the press ran with this story, particularly the Democrat versus Republican analogy. A jeep driven by Technical Sergeant Joe Spruce followed, carrying the guns and a gun dog. What Happened to Brenda Gantt husband? Her kids & family George Patton was born into a life of privilege. On March 1 those forces took Trier, precipitating one of the most famous exchanges of the war. He died Dec. 21, and was buried in a military cemetery in Luxembourg. If any of my gunners started firing at your people before they had closed to less than 700 yards, Id have them court-martialed for cowardice.. Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the Third Army to relieve Bastogne, and Patton repositioned his force with astonishing speed. Best of regards, Sam Virzi, Hemet, CA. Death car at the General George Patton Museum. The ambulance, which eventually arrived at the scene with two medical officers, took Patton to the 130th Station Hospital in Heidelberg, 15 miles away, where he was admitted at 1245 hours. Thats what your Grandpa did to me. After inspecting the American garrison responsible for administering and guarding the camp, he met the German commander of the prisoners. Ike found not only appalling conditions but German guards, some of whom were former SS men. Mr. Hymel has also worked as the director of research for WWII Historyand WWII Quarterlymagazines, as well as the associate editor of ARMY magazine. Even now, twenty-six years after his death, he can be pictured clearly as the Army He was no fan of the Atomic Bomb -or perhaps that it was largely a creation of Jewish minds His idea of what war was supposed to be was forever changed by atomic weapons.. His attack based agenda worked.. and yes had he been given sufficient resources, the war would have been much shorter and many lives would have been spared as a result The history of Europe since WWII would have been very different. He was . General Patton saved Bradleys ass at the battle of the bulge. https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Smith-Patton, Jewish Virtual Library - Biography of George Patton. Dead from injuries sustained in a car crash after the close of WWII, General George S. Patton, Jr. left in his wake a tremendous legacy. He was buried in Luxembourg. This is a wonderful account of his final days when his transition from a powerful general to a peacetime administrator showed that that was never going to be a role which he was able to do. Today's blog was written by David Langbart, Archivist at the National Archives at College Park. If I can parse the weird grammar on the Wikipedia page correctly, she wasn't actually related to Patton. Patton was commanding general of the western task force during the successful U.S. landings at Casablanca in November 1942. I have been a student of General George s. Patton for some 40-45 years and this is a well written article, very accurate. In early July in Paris, Patton again confided in his close friend Everett Hughes that he was glad to be out of the States and back in Europe. On November 11, Pattons 60th birthday, he was thrilled to find his staff had arranged a surprise party. He was promoted to the temporary rank of colonel and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery under fire. Wife of David Crockett: Spouse(s) James Patton (d. 1813), David Crockett (1815-1836) Children: George Patton, Margaret Ann Patton, Robert Patton, . A Viking on his way to Valhalla. He should have been president. Of course, she declared, he should be buried here. Although there was no eulogy, various holy men, including a group of rabbis wearing their concentration camp uniforms, prayed over Pattons grave. Laterwhile attending the Mounted Service School in Fort Riley, KansasPatton was designated an instructor of swordsmanship and received the title Master of the Sword. She wanted the body returned to the United States and buried near their Massachusetts home. There is information (although perhaps not necessarily reaching the level of evidience, be that as it may) of foul play. His obituary revealed that he had died just a few weeks after he'd ushered in his 50 th wedding anniversary. One person even stated an admission of responsibility for his purported role in the attack-make of that what you will. While I knew little of this great man save what minor things that I had learned in my youth I was moved to silence. There were, of course, no seat belts in those days, and whereas Gay and Woodring, having seen the oncoming truck, had braced themselves for the impact, Patton, who had been looking out the side window, had not. He could think of no better way to spend his last Sunday in Europe than hunting with an old and trusted friend. George Smith Patton - Major General, United States Army This article appears in: November 2007 By Major General Michael Reynolds The commander of the U.S. For General Patton's Family, Recovered Ground Death: October 01, 1871 (89) Lincoln County, Kentucky, USA . Was General Patton Murdered? New Light on an Old Conspiracy Ive always admired Patton, he was a great leader of fighting men and a natural leader of men. He died from his injuries on December 21, 1945. He told them, while his wife was out of the room, that he believed his luck had run out. There he will have an honored place. The first stop of Patton's last ride, however, was after only about five miles when he saw General Keyes's car, who left earlier for his headquarters, stalled on the side of the road with mechanical trouble. As a grieving widower, he was keeping proper company with Patton's older sister, Nita. In November 1917, Patton, now a major, left Pershings headquarters staff and became the first officer to be appointed to the new U.S. Army Tank Corps. In December 1944 the Germans launched a massive surprise counterattack in the Ardennes Forest, encircling the U.S. 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, Belgium. German 10th army escaped to the defensive line and prolonged the war in Italy. He should be reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery, in the country he loved so dearly. Cartoonist Bill Mauldin describes the moment: "Beside him, lying in a big chair was Willie, the bull terrier. Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), Patton organized the Desert Training Center near Indio, California, to simulate combat and maneuvers in the harsh North African climate. He had learned fencing at West Point and continued his study of swordsmanship while in Europe. So, how did Patton die? (Read Sir John Keegans Britannica entry on the Normandy Invasion.). During World Wa. 3. He made emotional speeches in all three places, with 100,000 people, including many Hollywood stars, turning out to hear him in the Los Angeles Coliseum. But Ive been in Garmish and numerous places where your Grandpa was and it ALWAYS moved me to tears! If its a choice between them and the Russians, I prefer the Germans., Worse was to follow. Only two months earlier he had told Ike, I cannot eat at the same table with Beetle Smith, and before he died he told Beatrice that he did not want either of them to attend his funeral. The brief ceremony over, Beatrice exited the tent clasping the tri-folded flag that had covered her husbands casket. One can start with O-Reillys book. May God bless you and your family the way HE has blesses your Grandpa! With the Generals passing, Beatrice had to decide where his remains would reside. Stories of General George Pattons encounters with the Russians are legendary, and some may well be apocryphal. I will ALWAYS say and think that he was the greatest General that the 20th century ever seen and I wished they could have unleashed him because the world would look quite different if they did. Over the next 10 years, the marriage was salvaged, and the general went on to become a legendary, if controversial, figure in the defeat of Nazi Germany. Pershing, commanding the 8th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, had recently lost his wife and three of his four children in a tragic fire. Finalist Benjamin Franklin Award (for Biography) - Announcement on May 5, 2023. Seventh Army into Sicily, employing his armour in a rapid drive that captured Palermo in July and Messina in August. Corrections? New Jersey couple arrested after allegedly trying to mow down officers Eisenhower and the allies handed over Eastern Europe to the Russians. It was during WWII that Patton hit the high point of his military career. December 21 is the 70 th anniversary of the death of General George S. Patton, Jr., renowned and controversial general and subject of the unforgettable 1970 eponymous motion picture. Adcocks civilian deputy, Walter Dorn, was a history professor on leave from Ohio State University. No one was hurt except Patton, who, despite a nasty gash on his head, immediately realized he had been paralyzed. As the Third Army approached the German border, the advance was slowed because of supply shortages, but it was not stopped until it met the strong German defenses at Nancy and Metz in November. He briefed Ikes chief of staff, General Walter Bedell Smith, who sent the report of the incident to Eisenhower who was on leave in the South of France. Best personal history of Patton. Tolbukhin, a Soviet Army Group commander, who tried to get him drunk and whom he described as a very inferior man who sweated profusely. He did admit that the Russian soldiers put on a tremendous show [they] passed in review with a very good imitation of the goose step. Keyes had already thumbed a ride back to Patton's headquarters, but Patton didn't continue his ride until That includes Patton's own wife Beatrice, who believed George and Jean were a couple. Jeter Downs needs to play to develop. Patton renamed the barracks Flint Kaserne, after Colonel Paddy Flint, an old friend and one of his regimental commanders who had been killed in Sicily. Hustonville, Lincoln, Kentucky: Immediate Family: Daughter of John Carpenter Wife of James B Patton Mother of Priscilla Patton . By now Bedell Smith, Adcock, and others had come to the conclusion that Patton was mentally unbalanced. Prior to the Normandy Invasion, he was publicly placed in command of the First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG), a fictitious army whose supposed marshaling in eastern England helped to deceive German commanders into thinking that the invasion would take place in the Pas-de-Calais region of France. The Death of a General: George S. Patton, Jr. His public criticisms of the Allied postwar denazification policy in Germany, coupled with ill-advised comments to the press, led to his removal from the command of the Third Army in October 1945. The only alternative was resignation. Bradleys reputation is always polished by Ernie Pyle. Patton accepted with enthusiasm. Pattons body, draped with his personal four-star flag, lay in state for two days in the Villa Reiner, a 19th-century mansion overlooking Heidelberg and the Neckar River. She shaped the man, fortified the soldier, and created the legend He earned a Masters degree in American History from Villanova University and resides in Arlington, Virginia. To get things done in Bavaria, after the complete disorganization and disruption of four years of war, we had to compromise with the devil a little. Neither he nor Gordon knew the purpose. He announced that he intended to return to the States by March 1946 at the latest and that he expected all the necessary reports about the European campaign to be finished by then. Even so, he took little serious interest in the work other than to ensure, according to Eisenhowers son John, a lieutenant on the Fifteenth Army staff, that Pattons Army was mentioned about three times as often as any othereven though John Eisenhower himself felt that the First Army had contributed more to victory than had the Third. Few unbiased military historians would disagree with that view. Pattons biographer, Carlo DEste, has suggested that his melancholy and increasingly extraordinary behavior may have been due to brain damage that resulted from a series of head injuries caused by a lifetime of falls from horses and road accidentsthe most serious being an accident in Hawaii in 1936 that had resulted in a two-day blackout. During his final minutes before he died, he asked a fellow soldier, Davy Crockett, to deliver his . In the past three years I did my utmost to kill as many of them as possible. He goes on to say, however, that we shall never know, for after his death Beatrice refused to allow an autopsy on the body despite a request from the Army. On December 22, an Army ambulance brought Pattons body to Villa Renier, where it would lie in state to be visited by friends, soldiers, and the general public. They are a scurvy race and simply savages. The attack garnered much publicity and was notable for being the first time that automobiles had been used in combat by the U.S. Army. Genealogy for Mary "Polly" Patton (Carpenter) (1782 - 1871) family tree on Geni, with over 245 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. He shortened the war in Europe and saved many lives, civilian and military, while predicting what would happen if the Russians were given free reign.