Two star promotion with Patton’s stars
BG Paul Stanton had no idea what was awaiting him at promotion to Major General. The night before his promotion, his father, retired LGEN Edgar Stanton III, gave him a letter with silver two-star insignia pinned to it, and a letter (what in my world we would describe as a letter of provenance) describing how these stars had been passed on: to Stanton the Elder from his mentor via two other major generals to General George Patton.
Patton’s widow, Beatrice Ayer, passed the stars to the general’s WWII-era operations officer — Gen. Paul Harkins — when he received his second star and took command of the 45th Infantry Division during the Korean War. Harkins went on to become the first commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam in 1962.
Harkins in turn gave Patton’s insignia to Maj. Gen. William Mundie, a former aide, when he took command of Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, in 1975.
Stanton’s father, who was Mundie’s aide during his tour at the helm of Army Recruiting Command, received the stars from his mentor in 2006, with instructions to pass them on to his son — should he reach the two-star rank.
“I was an ounce emotional when my dad handed me the stars at the kitchen table,” he explained. “It was pretty powerful — I literally did not know those stars existed.”
Stanton said he’s bound to the wishes of Mundie, who died in 2019, when it comes to where the stars will go next.
“I haven’t decided how I’m going to memorialize it and hang onto it [in the short-term],” he shared. “[Long-term], I have basically two options: I can hand them to a future two-star general or I will dedicate them to the museum at [West Point].”
Here’s hoping MG Stanton (the Younger) finds a worthwhile successor to keep the tradition going.
Category: Army, Gathering of Eagles
How cool is THAT?
As for finding a worthy successor, I wish him luck. He’d be better off dedicating them to the museum at West Point.
Patten getting his third star.
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What an honor! Let us hope that this sentiment for tradition endures.
Speaking of Pattons, Virginia Patton the “last surviving adult cast member of It’s a Wonderful Life” passed away on 18AUG22 at the age of 97. She was the niece of General George Smith Patton Jr.
A story so good it deserved a re-posting? When I FIRST (*grin*) saw this headline I was wondering if it was like Patton and had been re-incarnated or it was deja-vu all over again. We could use a re-incarnated Georgie Patton now-a-days. Good luck finding a suitable Two Star to pass them on to. No way the stars would be displayed at the Woke Hudson School for Wayward Boys. After all, Patton’s Grand Pappy was a “shudder” Confederate.
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=129362
As Heinlein said in “Double Star”, you may see it again and again because it’s true.
Actually we may have written those the same day, I try not to clog things up with more than at most two posts so I write 3 or 4 articles at a time and schedule them over the next few days. Think I wrote this Sunday, and must have missed Mason’s post in the list.
It’s all good Bro. Like I said, wasn’t sure if it was me, my shorted out memory banks, one I had seen and possibly sent in for posting, a linky on a comment, or what. I look at 6 maybe 9 different news feeds everyday and peruse dozens of articles. Plus there’s people sending me stuff on a regular basis. If it was easy getting old, everybody would be doing it. I’ve gotten into the habit of checking an article that seems familiar to make sure I haven’t already sent it in thru my sent emails. The struggle is real.
You keep posting ’em and we’ll keep reading ’em.
I think a certain squid warned David we’d give him grief from time to time.
I think David’s just checking to see if AW1Ed was BS-ing him.
Speaking of Patton, his neice, Virginia Patton passed away. She was in “It’s A Wonderful Life”
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/cm/virginia-patton-actress-wonderful-life-192458873.html
In my humble opinion, the military is the only place where nepotism isn’t a bad thing. Raising children in the tradition, culture and environment of great leadership isn’t something to be discarded lightly. We need to foster the benefits of those relationships while attempting to avoid the bad habits that may be gained by any assumed privilege. We need to hold those who have been raised in this environment to a very high standard that they should have no trouble attaining with the head start they have been given. Then we need to use them to the utmost of their capabilities.