Patton death anniversary
Today, beside being the Winter Solstice and the traditional shortest day of the year, marks the anniversary of the death of one of our greats, George S. Patton, Jr. in 1945. Arguably the greatest armor commander in any army, he was 60.
Patton was paralyzed in an auto accident on Dec. 9. “Old Blood and Guts” died in the hospital of a blood clot in his heart.
The general “led a life of adventure, fighting in almost every major American twentieth century conflict,” the National World War II Museum notes.
“He often led from the front, and he almost always delivered victory,” the same source also says. “His swift conquest of Sicily, his race across France, his relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge and his drive into Germany destroyed German armies, saved American lives and captured the collective imagination of the American public.”
Contrary to what you could infer from movie lines like “Old Blood and Guts? Yeah, his guts, our blood”:
Patton “produced more results, in less time, with fewer casualties than any other general, in any army, in World War II” — despite his boisterous rhetoric and reputation for recklessness — biographer Alan Axelrod said on the American Heroes Channel.
The pic above is of one of his sidearms. Some say he wore a matched pair of Colts; in actuality he carried a S&W .357 Magnum on one hip and a Colt Single Action Army (aka a “Peacemaker” or “Model P”) on the other. Might be noted, at that time, those were the two most powerful handguns available. He had style. When asked whether those white grips were pearl, he was said to have responded “No, these are ivory. Pearl handles are for pimps.”
I know at least one officer who was on the trip with him to Bastogne…I suspect from what he said later, he would have cheerfully followed Patton to Hell and back.
Category: Army, Real Soldiers
3RD ARMY,, SALUTE!
Was wondering if anybody would get around to this. Leave it to a (GO) Army (WBN) Editor to come thru with a post. JMHO, but Georgie was probably the Greatest Warrior General of the 20th Century. A cross between Bobby Lee (religious tactician), Tom Jackson (gonna do it my way and “The Institute will be heard from today.”), and “Beauty” Stuart (AKA Ride around them JEB). A boyhood Hero of mine and according to my Papa that served under him, “The best fighting General in the whole war.” During Basic at The School of Hard Knox for Wayward Boys while most the trainees were hanging out at the EM Club on the few off duty days we had, I was camped out at the Patton Museum. Only Good Times I ever had there.
Patton’s Grandpappy was KIA while serving as LTC in a (gasp/clutches pearls/the HORROR) CSA Virginia Cavalry Unit.
Rest Easy, Good Sir. Salute!
Thanks, David.
Had the command structure listened to Patton regarding the Soviets, we might be living in a different world today. Possibly a far better one, IMHO. Rest in peace General Patton. I wish we had more like you today.
Agreed.
I often wonder what would’ve been in his future if not for that accident. Don’t know if he would’ve gone down the road of politics or not, but he was certainly a great leader amongst the Greatest Generation.
I’ll just leave this here for those that haven’t read the entire The As(s)teroid of Insults®™ lately….excerpt from the end…
On George S. Patton: (Multiple sources but… http://www.pattonhq.com/speech.html )
“He could, when necessary, open up with both barrels and let forth such blue-flamed phrases that they seemed almost eloquent in their delivery. When asked by his nephew about his profanity, Patton remarked,
“When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty. It may not sound nice to some bunch of little old ladies at an afternoon tea party, but it helps my soldiers to remember. You can’t run an army without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity. An Army without profanity couldn’t fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag.”
Truman felt the same.
Yep. I shocked my troops when I first met them after assuming command. After seeing the looks on their faces, I said, “Yes, this officer uses profanity.” They also know that I have their backs, so it works.
Ah, quoted below… should’ve read here first, but the more the merrier.
In tribute, Patton updated for today… “Twenty years from now, when you’re sitting around your family with your grandson on your knee and he asks you ‘What did you do in the great War on Terror?’ you won’t have to say… well, ‘I listened to far-left bullsh*t, sat on my ass and was more concerned about American Idol than I was about American security and freedom.’“:
Right on, I keep telling a couple of liberal neighbors that if we had the same people in office and the same peeps running the Military back in WW2, I would now be speaking German on the east coast and people on the west coast would be speaking Japanese or most likely I wouldn’t be alive because my parents most likely would have ended up in a gas chamber. I mentioned this when the neighbors always bring up Pres. Trumps way of not being Presidental when he talks and acts to get things done because he isn’t a politician.
And old Trump scared the crap out of the opposition. They took him seriously, hence no navy boats getting taken over by Iranians, no new wars, no black lesbians all gang tatted up getting tossed in Russian jails, or any of that stuff.
Let’s forget the cleaned up version from Hollywood. Here’s the original speech. This is what a leader looks like. Now we’ve got a CJCS who wants to “understand white rage.”
I can’t get it to work in a comment. Too long I guess. Read it here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton%27s_speech_to_the_Third_Army#The_speech
Here’s an actual clip of him giving a different speech in mixed company…I heard a recording on vinyl of his 3rd Army speech (can find it on YouTube, but the West Point library has it). Note the tone of his voice…high pitched and aristocratic–broke this Plebe’s heart when I first heard it. :). https://youtu.be/uYjnWXFTQkM?t=64
In describing the utter destruction wreaked on the German cities, he wasn’t kidding. I saw it firsthand as a toddler when my mother and I joined my dad (Sandy Patch’s 7th Army) in the occupation right after the German surrender. I’m an old man now, but what I saw was something that cannot be erased from memory. Hell indeed.
People always sound higher pitched when recorded in that era. The microphones have improved a lot since then, as has the ability to record the lower frequencies.
Hell yeah!
“An Army without profanity cannot fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag.” –Patton
Here is a photo I took 4 July 2008 at the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg of Gen. George Patton’s grave. Someone had laid some flowers at the foot of the grave.
https://tinyurl.com/26vucxee
RIP, General.
The set of pistols is on display at the museum at Fort Knox. Practically a shrine. Used to be the museum of armor and cavalry but now it’s a leadership museum centered around Patton’s life. Pretty good even if all the armor moved to Fort Benning.
Same with when they moved the Ordnance School out of Aberdeen Proving Ground. The greatest collection of Armor and Artillery in the world…gone to Ft. Lee.
Very nice museum, still some armor on display especially outside .
The lot of young lieutenants everywhere is the additional duty of “inventory officer”. By the arbitrary turn of the duty roster, I ended up as the annual inventory officer at the Patton Museum in the early ’80s (it was either ’81 or ’82). The weapons collection,90+ % of which wasn’t on display to the public, was truly awesome. I particularly liked the WWI anti-tank rifles, (yes, rifles, up to and including 14.5 mm). I spent nearly two weeks on the job. Best course on early 20th century armaments you could ever do.
Patton’s son, MG George Patton IV (1923-2004), would have turned 99 on 24 Dec. A chip off the old block.
Hack Stone had a book on Willie and Joe/Bill Mauldin. General Patton seemed to have an issue with Willie’s and Joe’s lacksy-daisy (hat tip to Hack’s Comm Chief) attitude towards Army regulations. Cue to twenty years later, and Bill Mauldin’s son is a chopper pilot in Viet of The Nam. He had a mission to pick up some passengers. He lands the bird, the passengers get on board, and he looks at them. One of the passengers was General Patron’s son. They looked at each other’s name tape, acknowledged who the other was, and they both started laughing.
Hack’s favorite Willie and Joe.
Another favorite.
Thank god he never lived to see the mess we are becoming.
Pardon the posting error… have more:
http://images3.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED367/60099a7188980.jpeg
Reposted…
Who seriously gives a flying fuck? And the CIA is absolutely nothing like the capable organization it once was.
Agreed. Soyboyz now. The dudes who inspired Mission Impossible (and I mean the TV show) are long gone.
Thinking his reaction would be negative:
BTW, there is no such word as cisgender. It means absolutely nothing except to mentally challenged liberals and sexual deviants.
Disqualifying qualities are requirements there now.
Long before the DOD moved Armor away from Ft Knox, I visited the Patton Museum there a couple times. I loved the Patton exhibits including the 357 pistol and belt. The first visit was during Armor Advance course, another while teaching same to Reservists in the Summer and finally as a retiree in 04 on our first couple months RVing. Haven’t been back since.