George S. Patton

George S. Patton
Nickname(s)	Old Blood and Guts
Allegiance	United States Army
Years of service	1909 - 1945
Rank	General
Commands	U.S. II Corps U.S. Seventh Army U.S. Third Army U.S. II Armored Corps U.S. 2nd Armored Division 3rd Cavalry Regiment U.S. Fifteenth Army
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross (2) Distinguished Service Medal (3) Silver Star (2) Bronze Star Purple Heart

George Smith Patton, Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a leading U.S. Army general in World War II. In his 36-year Army career, he was an advocate of armored warfare and commanded major units of North Africa, Sicily, and the European Theater of Operations. Many have viewed Patton as a pure and ferocious warrior, known by the nickname "Old Blood and Guts", a name given to him after a reporter misquoted his statement that it takes blood and brains to win a war. But history has left the image of a brilliant military leader whose record was also marred by insubordination and some periods of apparent instability. He once said, "Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way."

Family

George Smith Patton, Jr. was born in San Gabriel, California to George Smith Patton, Sr. (September 30, 1856 – June, 1927) and Ruth Wilson, daughter of Benjamin Wilson, a prominent local land owner and politician. The Pattons were an affluent family. As a boy, Patton was introduced to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the Bible, and the works of William Shakespeare. Patton's father was a friend of John Singleton Mosby, a cavalry hero of the Confederate States of America, serving first under J.E.B. Stuart and then as a guerrilla fighter. The younger Patton grew up hearing Mosby's stories of military glory. From an early age the young Patton sought to become a general and hero in his own right.

Patton came from a long line of soldiers who fought and often died in many conflicts, including the American Revolution and the American Civil War. Patton's paternal grandparents were Brigadier General George Smith Patton (June 26, 1833 – September 19, 1864) and Susan Thornton Glassell. Patton's grandfather in Fredericksburg, graduated from Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Class of 1852, standing 2nd in a class of 24. After graduation George Smith Patton had studied law and practiced in Charleston. When the Civil War broke out, he served in the 22nd Virginia Infantry of the Confederate States of America.

Dying among the casualties of the Battle of Opequon (the Third Battle of Winchester), Patton's grandfather left behind a namesake son, born in Charleston, West Virginia when that state was still part of Virginia. The second George Smith Patton was only a child during the Civil War. Graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1877 before taking up a career as an attorney, Patton's father served as the first city level District Attorney of Pasadena, California and the first mayor of San Marino, California.

It is rumored that Patton's mother kept paintings of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in their living room; Patton admired them as she read to him from her rocking chair. Patton is quoted as saying, " Until I was old enough to know better, I thought those were portraits of God the Father, and God the Son."

Education

Patton at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) where he would have been Class of 1907 had he not transferred to West Point after one year

Patton attended Virginia Military Institute for one year, then transferred to West Point. He flunked out after plebe year with Courtney Hodges (both "found deficient" in mathematics), but reentered to graduate in 1909.

Patton was an intelligent child, intensively studying classical literature and military history from a young age, but likely suffered from an undiagnosed case of dyslexia, the consequences of which would haunt him throughout his schooling. He learned to read at a very late age as a child, and never learned basic skills such as proper spelling. Because of these difficulties, it took him five years to graduate from West Point, although he did rise to become Adjutant of the Corps of Cadets.

While at West Point, Patton renewed his acquaintance with childhood friend Beatrice Ayer, the daughter of a wealthy textile baron. The two were married shortly after Patton's graduation.

After graduating from West Point, Patton participated in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, representing the United States in the first-ever Modern Pentathlon. Patton finished fifth in the event. He was leading before the shooting competition, in which he decided to use a .38 revolver instead of a .22, as the rest of the athletes did. Due to how powerful his choice of weapon was, the shots he was penalized for actually passed through the holes put in the target with previous bullets, instead of missing outright. He also ended up handing the French fencing champion his only defeat. Returning stateside after the Olympics, Patton was made the Army's youngest-ever Master of the Sword. While Master of the Sword, Patton improved and modernized Cavalry Saber fencing techniques and designed the M1913 Cavalry Saber.

Patton, along with many other members of his family, often claimed to have seen vivid, lifelike visions of his ancestors. He was a staunch believer in reincarnation, and much anecdotal evidence indicates that he held himself to be the reincarnation of the Carthaginian general Hannibal, a Roman legionnaire, a Napoleonic field marshal, and various other historical military figures.

Early military career

During the Mexican Expedition of 1916, Patton, while assigned to the 13th Cavalry Regiment in Fort Bliss, Texas, accompanied then-Brigadier General John J. Pershing as his aide during the Mexican Expedition in his pursuit of Pancho Villa. During his service, Patton, accompanied by ten soldiers of the 6th Infantry Regiment, killed "General" Julio Cardenas, commander of Villa's personal bodyguard. For this action, as well as Patton's affinity for the Colt Peacemaker, Pershing titled Patton his "Bandito". Patton's success in this regard gained him a level of notoriety back in the United States.

World War I

At the onset of the USA's entry into World War I, General Pershing promoted Patton to the rank of captain. While in France under the Third Republic, Patton requested that he be given a combat command and Pershing assigned him command within the newly formed U.S. Tank Corps. Depending on the source, he either led the U.S. Tank Corps, led the British, or was an observer at the Battle of Cambrai, the first battle where tanks were used as a significant force. As the U.S. Tank Corps did not take part in this battle and it is extremely unlikely that a U.S. officer would have commanded British troops, the role of observer is the most likely. From his successes (and his organization of a training school for American tankers in Langres, France), Patton was promoted twice to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was placed in charge of the U.S. Tank Corps, which was part of the American Expeditionary Force and then the First U.S. Army. He took part in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, September 1918, and was wounded by machine gun fire as he sought assistance for tanks that were mired in the mud. The bullet had passed through his upper thigh and for years afterwards, when Patton was tipsy at social events, he would drop his pants to show his wound and called himself a "half-assed general." While Patton was recuperating from his wounds, hostilities ended.

For his service in the Meuse-Argonne Operations, Patton received a Distinguished Service Cross, and was given a battlefield promotion to a full colonel. For his combat wounds, he was presented the Purple Heart.

The interwar years

While on duty in Washington, D.C. in 1919, Patton met and became close friends with Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would play an enormous role in Patton's future career. In the early 1920s, Patton petitioned the U.S. Congress to appropriate funding for an armored force, but had little luck doing so. Patton also wrote professional articles on tank and armored car tactics, suggesting new methods to use these weapons. He also continued working on improvements to tanks, coming up with innovations in radio communication and tank mounts. However, with little money in the peacetime military for innovation, Patton eventually transferred back to the cavalry—still a horse-borne force—for career advancement.

In July 1932, Patton served under Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur, as a major leading the cavalry {See 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment}, in an action to disperse the veteran protesters known as the "Bonus Army" in Washington, DC.

Patton served in Hawaii before returning to Washington to once again ask Congress to allocate funding for armored units. In the late 1930s, Patton was assigned command of Fort Myer, Virginia. Shortly after Germany's blitzkrieg attacks in Europe, Patton was finally able to convince Congress of the need for armored divisions. Shortly after its approval, Patton was promoted to Brigadier General and put in command of the armored brigade. The brigade eventually grew into the US 2nd Armored Division and Patton was promoted to major general.

World War II

During the buildup of the U.S. Army prior to its entry into World War II, Patton established the Desert Training Center in Indio, California. He also commanded one of the two wargaming armies in the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941. Fort Benning, Georgia, is well known for General Patton's presence.

Patton in 1943

North African campaign

In 1942, Major General Patton commanded the Western Task Force of the U.S. Army, which landed on the coast of Morocco in Operation Torch. Patton and his staff arrived in Morocco aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta, which came under fire from the French battleship Jean Bart while entering the harbor of Casablanca.

Following the defeat of the U.S. Army by the German Afrika Korps at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass in 1943, Patton was made Lieutenant General and placed in command of II Corps. Although tough in his training, he was generally considered fair and very well-liked by his troops. The discipline paid off as, by March, the counteroffensive was pushing the Germans east while the British Eighth Army commanded by Gen. Bernard Montgomery in Tunisia was simultaneously pushing them west, effectively squeezing the Germans out of North Africa.

Italian campaign

As a result of his accomplishments in North Africa, Patton was given command of the Seventh Army in preparation for the 1943 invasion of Sicily.

File:Ww2-92.jpg

Near Brolo, Sicily. 1943

He was charged with liberating the western half of the island, while Gen. Montgomery's British Eighth Army was to liberate the east.

Never one to allow his rival Montgomery to get the glory, Patton quickly pushed through western Sicily, liberating Palermo and then swiftly driving on east to Messina ahead of Montgomery.

Patton's bloodthirsty speeches resulted in controversy when it was claimed one inspired the Biscari Massacre in which American troops killed seventy-six prisoners of war. Patton's career nearly ended in August of 1943. While visiting hospitals and commending wounded soldiers, he slapped and verbally abused Privates Paul G. Bennet and Charles H. Kuhl, whom he thought were exhibiting cowardly behavior. The soldiers were suffering from various forms of "shell-shock," now known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and had no visible wounds (though one was subsequently found to have malaria). Because of this action, Patton was kept out of public view for some time and secretly ordered to apologize to the soldiers. Ironically, many modern day psychiatrists who have examined these incidents have professed that at the time Patton himself might have been suffering from battle fatigue. When news of Patton's acts was made public, there were calls from some that he should either resign or be fired from his position.

However, while Patton was temporarily relieved of his duty, his prolonged stay in Sicily was interpreted by the Germans to be indicative of an upcoming invasion of southern France and later, a stay in Cairo was interpreted as an upcoming invasion through the Balkans. The fear of General Patton helped to tie up many German troops and would be an important factor in the months to come.

Normandy

In the period leading to the Normandy invasion, Patton gave public talks as commander of the fictional First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG), which was supposedly intending to invade France by way of Calais. This was part of a sophisticated Allied campaign of military deception, Operation Fortitude.

Following the Normandy invasion, Patton was placed in command of the U.S. Third Army, which was on the extreme right (west) of the Allied land forces. Beginning at noon on August 1, 1944, he led this army during the late stages of Operation Cobra, the breakout from earlier slow fighting in the Norman system of planting hedgerows. The Third Army simultaneously attacked west (into Brittany) south, expanding the breakout, east towards the Seine, and north, assisting in trapping several hundred thousand German soldiers in the Chambois pocket, near Falaise. Patton used Germany's own blitzkrieg tactics against them, covering 600 miles in just two weeks. Patton's forces were part of the Allied forces that freed northern France, bypassing Paris. The city of Paris itself was liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division under French Marshal Philippe de Hauteclocque ("Leclerc"), insurgents who were fighting in the city, and a US Infantry Division. These early Third Army offensives showed the characteristic high mobility and aggressiveness of Patton's units. Rather than engage in set-piece slugging matches, Patton preferred to bypass centers of resistance and use the mobility of US units to the fullest, crumbling German defensive positions through maneuver rather than head-on fighting whenever possible.

Lorraine

General Patton's offensive, however, came to a screeching halt on August 31, 1944, as Third Army literally ran out of gas near the Moselle River, just outside of Metz, France. The time needed to resupply was just enough to give the Germans the time they needed to further fortify the fortress of Metz. In October and November, the Third Army was mired in a near-stalemate with the Germans, inflicting heavy casualties on one another. By November 23, however, Metz had finally fallen to the Americans, the first time the city had fallen since the Franco-Prussian War.

Ardennes offensive

Bradley, Eisenhower, and Patton

By late 1944, the German army made a last-ditch offensive across Belgium, Luxembourg, and northeastern France. The Ardennes Offensive (better known as the Battle of the Bulge), planned by German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, was the last major offensive of the German army in World War II. On December 16, 1944, the German army threw 29 divisions (totaling some 250,000 men) at a weak point in the Allied lines and made massive headway towards the Meuse River during one of the worst winters in Europe in years.

Walter Cronkite (who was present as a war correspondent) tells the story of the staff meeting held the next morning to deal with Rundstedt's breakthrough. Patton was a few minutes late. When he entered, conversation stopped. Realizing that he should say something, Patton asked "What do you do when you catch a monkey hanging by its tail?". Answering his own question, he replied "You cut off its balls, and that is what I am going to do with von Rundstedt".

Patton was as good as his word, abruptly turning the Third Army north (a notable tactical and logistical achievement), disengaging from the front line to relieve the surrounded and besieged 101st Airborne Division trapped in Bastogne. By February, the Germans were once again in full retreat and Patton moved into the Saar Basin of Germany.

Third Army crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim on March 22, 1945. He then sent a task force, so-called Task Force Baum, named after its commander, Capt. Abraham Baum, to liberate the Hammelburg Prison Camp in which his son-in-law, John K. Waters, was a prisoner of war.

Patton was planning to take Prague, Czechoslovakia, when the forward movement of American forces was halted. His troops liberated Pilsen (May 6, 1945) and most of western Bohemia.

Patton's problems with humor, his image, and the press

Patton was not known for his sense of humor, and his reckless words often made him his own worst enemy. Unlike Eisenhower, who was popular with troops partly for his self-deprecating humor, Patton disliked humor aimed at himself. The cartoonist Bill Mauldin ridiculed Patton several times in his comics, prompting Patton to summon Sergeant Mauldin to his headquarters for a dressing-down. On the other hand, he was capable of witty remarks, such as, "The two most dangerous weapons the Germans have are our own armored halftrack and jeep. The halftrack because the boys in it go all heroic, thinking they are in a tank. The jeep because we have so many Godawful drivers". During the Battle of the Bulge he famously remarked that the Allies should "let the sons-of-bitches (Germans) go all the way to Paris, then we'll cut 'em off and round 'em up!". He also suggested that the German forces could attack towards the British and create "another Dunkirk". His remarks frequently ridiculed General Montgomery and at times the Soviet Red Army, contributing to inter-Allied discord. In the context of coalition warfare these remarks were far from harmless. Eisenhower wisely used Patton's high profile with the press to contribute to Operation Fortitude; he knew the press would report on his appearances in Britain and that the Germans would pick up these reports.

Patton deliberately cultivated a flashy, distinctive image in the belief that this would motivate his troops. He was usually seen wearing a highly polished helmet, riding pants, two-gun .45-caliber pistol belt, and high cavalry boots. His vehicles carried oversized rank insignia and loud horns. His speech was riddled with profanities. American soldiers respected Patton as a general and as a soldier because he used the current situation to bring about a patriotic feeling, which inspired every soldier he spoke to. His theatrics were loved by many, so much in fact that after his death upwards of 20,000 average soldiers requested to be Pall bearers at his funeral. This came as a shock because of the way the media had portrayed Patton's armies as not liking him one bit.

After the German surrender

After the surrender of May 7 1945 extinguished the common threat of Nazi Germany, Patton was quick to assert the Soviet Union would cease to be an ally of the United States. In fact, believing the USSR would become an enemy, he urged his superiors to evict the Soviets from central and eastern Europe. Patton thought that the Red Army was weak, under-supplied, and vulnerable, and the United States should act on these weaknesses before the Soviets consolidated their position. In this regard, he told then-Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson [1] that the "point system" being used to de-mobilize Third Army troops was destroying it and creating a vacuum that the Soviets would exploit. "Mr. Secretary, for God’s sake, when you go home, stop this point system; stop breaking up these armies," pleaded the general. "Let’s keep our boots polished, bayonets sharpened, and present a picture of force and strength to these people the Soviets. This is the only language they understand." Asked by Patterson — who would become Secretary of War a few months later — what he would do, Patton replied: "I would have you tell the Red Army where their border is, and give them a limited time to get back across. Warn them that if they fail to do so, we will push them back across it."

On a personal level, Patton was disappointed by the Army's refusal to give him combat command in the Pacific. Unhappy in his role as the military governor of Bavaria and depressed by his belief that he would never fight in another war, Patton's behavior and statements became increasingly erratic. He also made many anti-Russian and anti-Semitic statements in letters home. Various explanations beyond his disappointments have been proposed for Patton's erratic behaviour. Carlo D'Este, in Patton: A Genius for War, writes that "it seems virtually inevitable ... that Patton experienced some type of brain damage from too many head injuries" from a lifetime of numerous auto- and horse-related accidents, especially one suffered while playing polo in 1936. It should be noted, however, that many of the controversial opinions he expressed were common (if not exactly popular) at the time and his outspoken opposition to post-surrender denazification is still a widely debated viewpoint today. Whatever the cause, Patton found himself once again in trouble with his superiors and the American people. While speaking to a group of reporters, he compared the Nazis to losers in American political elections. Patton was soon relieved of his Third Army command and transferred to the Fifteenth Army, a paper command preparing a history of the war.

Attitude towards Black Soldiers

The use of African American troops during the push to the Siegfried Line offers some insight into Patton's attitude towards them. The first African American tank unit, the 761^st "Black Panther" Tank Battalion was assigned to Patton who was desperate for manpower in the fall of 1944. As the 761st was about to enter combat, Patton reviewed the battalion and made a speech to the men which offered a guarded vote of confidence in their abilities:

"Men, you're the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never have asked for you if you weren't good. I have nothing but the best in my Army. I don't care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sons of bitches. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most of all your race is looking forward to you. Don't let them down and damn you, don't let me down!"

However, like many military officers, Patton expressed his doubts about using black men in combat. On returning to headquarters following the review, he remarked, "They gave a good first impression, but I have no faith in the inherent fighting ability of the race." Patton was not compelled to change his perceptions about black soldiers. In War As I Knew It, he relates the interaction described above, and comments, "Individually they were good soldiers, but I expressed my belief at the time, and have never found the necessity of changing it, that a colored soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor."

Patton and Eisenhower

The relationship between George S. Patton and Dwight Eisenhower has long been of interest to historians in that the onset of World War II completely reversed the roles of the two men in the space of just under two years. When Patton and Eisenhower met in the mid 1920s, Patton was six years Eisenhower’s senior in the Army and Eisenhower saw Patton as a leading mind in tank warfare.

Between 1935 and 1940, Patton and Eisenhower developed a very close friendship to the level where the Patton and Eisenhower families were spending summer vacations together. In 1938, Patton was promoted to full colonel and Eisenhower, then still a lieutenant colonel, openly admitted that he saw Patton as a friend, superior officer, and mentor.

Upon the outbreak of World War II, Patton’s genius of tank warfare was recognized by the Army, and he was quickly made a brigadier general and, less than a year later, a major general. In 1940, Lt. Col. Eisenhower petitioned Major General Patton that he might be offered to serve under the tank corps commander. Patton accepted readily, stating that he would like nothing better than for Eisenhower to be placed under his command.

George Marshall, recognizing talent required for the coming conflict, had other plans for Eisenhower. In 1941, after five years as a relatively unknown lieutenant colonel, Eisenhower was promoted to colonel and six months later appointed as a brigadier general. Patton was still senior to Eisenhower in the Regular Army, but this was soon not the case in the growing conscript army (known as the Army of the United States). In 1942, Eisenhower received promotion to major general and, then a few months later, was promoted past Patton to lieutenant general. When the Allies announced the invasion of North Africa, Major General Patton suddenly found himself under the command of his former subordinate, now one star his senior.

In 1943, Patton became a lieutenant general one month after Eisenhower was promoted to full (four-star) general. In one of the rare moments of his life, Patton swallowed his pride and was never quoted as making a negative remark that Eisenhower had been promoted so quickly. Patton also reassured Eisenhower that the two men’s professional relationship was unaffected. Privately, however, Patton was often quick to remind Eisenhower that his permanent rank in the Regular Army, then still a one-star brigadier general, was lower than Patton’s Regular Army commission as a two-star major general.

When Patton came under criticism for the "Sicily slapping incident" (see above), Eisenhower met privately with Patton and reprimanded his former superior officer but then reassured Patton that he would not be sent home to the United States for his conduct. Many historians have stated that, had it been any other man than Eisenhower, Patton would have been reduced to his Regular Army rank and court-martialed.

Eisenhower is also credited with giving Patton a command in France, after other powers in the Army had relegated Patton to various unimportant duties in England. It was in France that Patton found another former subordinate, Omar Bradley, now his superior. As with Eisenhower, Patton behaved with professionalism and served under Bradley with distinction.

After the close of World War II, Patton became occupation commander of Bavaria, and made arrangements for saving the world-famous Lippizanner stallions of Vienna. However, he was relieved of duty after making comments that the Nazis were nothing more than a normal political party, and ordering former SS units to begin drilling in attempt to gain some respectability. Eisenhower at last had had enough, relieving Patton of all duties and ordering his return to the United States. When Patton openly accused Eisenhower of caring more about a political career than his military duties, the friendship between the two effectively came to an end.

When the biography of George Patton was aired on the A&E network, a single quote perhaps best described the relationship and destinies of George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower, that being:

"[The] course of World War II would lead these two men to very different ends: one to the office of President of the United States and the other to a soldier's grave on a foreign shore."

Near the end of the war (February 1945), Eisenhower ranked the major generals in Europe. Omar Bradley and Carl Spaatz were rated as the best. Bedell Smith was ranked number 2, Patton was ranked 3, followed by Mark Clark, and Lucian Truscott (others were also ranked). Bradley himself had been asked by Eisenhower to rank all the generals in December of 1945 and he ranked them as follows: Bedell Smith #1, Spaatz #2, Courtney Hodges #3, Elwood Quesada #4, Truscott #5, and Patton #6 (others were also ranked)

These rankings probably included factors other than Patton's success as a battle leader. As to that, Alan Axelrod in his book "Patton" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006) quotes German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt as stating "Patton was your best" and, surprisingly, Joseph Stalin as stating that the Red Army could neither have planned nor executed Patton's advance across France.

Rank comparisons

Rank	Patton	Eisenhower	Component
Second Lieutenant	June 11, 1909	June 12, 1915	United States Army
First Lieutenant	May 23, 1916	July 1, 1916	United States Army
Captain	May 15, 1917	May 15, 1917	United States Army
Major	January 26, 1918	June 17, 1918	National Army
Lieutenant Colonel	March 30, 1918	October 14, 1918	National Army
Colonel	October 17, 1918	N/A	National Army
Captain (Peacetime reversion)	June 30, 1920	June 30, 1920	Regular Army
Major	July 1, 1920	July 2, 1920	Regular Army
Lieutenant Colonel	March 1, 1934	July 1, 1936	Regular Army
Colonel	July 1, 1938	March 11, 1941	Regular Army
Brigadier General	October 1, 1940	September 29, 1941	Regular Army
Major General	April 4, 1941	March 27, 1942	Army of the United States
Lieutenant General	March 12, 1943	July 7, 1942	Army of the United States
General	April 14, 1945	February 11, 1943	Army of the United States
General of the Army	N/A	December 20, 1944	Army of the United States

Accident and death

On December 9th, a day before he was due to return to the United States, Patton was severely injured in a road accident. He and his chief of staff, General Hobart R. 'Hap' Gay, were on a daytrip to hunt pheasants in the country, outside Mannheim. It was a cold, wet, hazy December morning. Their 1939 Cadillac Model 75 was driven by PFC Horace Woodring. Patton sat in the back seat, on the right with General Gay on his left, as per custom. At 11:45 near Neckarstadt, (Käfertal) a 2 1/2 ton truck driven by T/5 Robert L. Thompson appeared out of the haze and made a left-hand turn towards a side road. The Cadillac smashed into the truck. General Patton was thrown forward and his head struck a metal part of the partition between the front and back seats. Gay and Woodring were uninjured. Paralyzed from the neck down, George Patton died of an embolism on 21st December 1945 at the military hospital in Heidelberg, Germany with his wife present.

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Patton's grave in Hamm

Patton was buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg along with other members of the Third Army [2]. A cenotaph was placed at the Wilson-Patton family plot at the San Gabriel Cemetery in San Gabriel, California. Patton's car was repaired and used by other officers. The car is now on display, with other Patton artifacts, at the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

The movie

Patton was the focus of the 1970 Academy Award-winning movie Patton, with the title role played by George C. Scott. As a result of the movie and its now-famous opening monologue (based on a real speech he often made to Third Army troops before the Normandy invasion), in popular culture Patton has come to symbolize a warrior's ferocity and aggressiveness. Although the movie is based upon Ladislas Farago's "Patton: Ordeal and Triumph" and Omar Bradley's "A Soldier's Story," historians have stated the movie's accuracy could be tinged with some bias, noting the heavy influence of Omar Bradley as senior military advisor and writer. Bradley, played in the movie by Karl Malden, had a tumultuous relationship with Patton and the movie's treatment of him could be seen as hagiographic. Still, many Patton contemporaries, including many who knew him personally or served with him, applauded Scott's portrayal as being extremely accurate in capturing the essence of the man. Other historians have praised the film for its generally accurate and balanced portrayal of Patton as a complex, capable, and flawed leader. Another source used by these and other authors is the "Button Box" manuscript written by Patton's wife, Beatrice Ayer Patton.[3]

The image of Patton in the movie is somewhat misleading since the opening monologue is delivered from a stage in front of what sounds like a very large audience. The real George Patton was not known as a good public speaker. He was very self-conscious and knew that his high-pitched voice risked making him sound like an old grandmother, unlike the gravelly voice of George C. Scott, who confidently delivered a finely tuned and concise speech. The movie writers of Patton's famous speech, however, actually had to tone down Patton's actual words and statements.

The movie was a favorite of President Richard M. Nixon, who watched it shortly before ordering the invasion of Cambodia.

Summary of service

Awards and decorations

At the time of General Patton's death, he was authorized the following awards and decorations.

United States awards

General Patton's Ribbons as they would appear today

• Distinguished Service Cross with one oak leaf cluster
• Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters
• Silver Star with one oak leaf cluster
• Legion of Merit
• Bronze Star Medal
• Purple Heart
• Silver Lifesaving Medal
• World War I Victory Medal with five battle clasps
• European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one silver and two bronze service stars
• Mexican Service Medal
• American Defense Service Medal
• World War II Victory Medal

In 1955, the U.S. Army posthumously presented General Patton with the Army of Occupation Medal for service as the first occupation commander of Bavaria.

Foreign and international awards

• British Order of the Bath
• Order of the British Empire
• Belgian Order of Leopold
• Belgian Croix de Guerre
• French Legion of Honor
• French Croix de Guerre
• French Liberation Medal
• Grand Luxemburg Cross of the Order of Adolphe of Nassau
• Grand Cross of Ouissam Alaouite of French Morocco
• Order of the White Lion of Czechoslovakia
• Czechoslovakian War Cross
• Luxemburg War Cross

General Patton was also awarded numerous commemorative medals, badges, and pins that were not meant for display on a military uniform or were not considered official military decorations.

External links

• George Patton Biography and Pictures
• The Patton Society Homepage
  • Patton Society Page on the slapping incidents
  • Patton's Speech on June 5, 1944
• On Spartacus Schoolnet
• Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor
• Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago