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At the outset, let me say that there was no close relationship
between me and the illustrious general. My view of him was from
a relatively low level and he would not have known me, as they
say, from Adam, but besides being under his command for a short
period there was a reciprocal relationship which, to date, has
had a lasting effect.
It all began shortly before Christmas in 1940 when I received
from the Army a red bordered letter marked, "Important -
Immediate Action." This was in the nature of a warning order
that I, as a First Lt. of Cavalry, U.S. Army Reserve, was on
the point of being called to active duty and to get my affairs
in order.
This was followed up by Special Orders No. 12, Headquarters
IV Corps Area, dated Jan. 15, 1941, ordering me to report to
the commanding general, 2nd Armored Div. Fort Benning, Georgia,
by not later than Feb. 13, 1941.
THE Commanding General of the 2nd Armored was Brigadier General
George S. Patton, then a name unknown to me, although he had
commanded the 5th Cavalry about a year prior to the time I, as
a cadet, underwent summer training there in 1934, following which
I was commissioned.
From time to time at Ft. Benning there would be a gathering
of the entire Officers Training Corps at a theatre and it was
here that I first saw George Patton. He was wearing riding breeches
and boots and I noted that his tailor had not given his breeches
the low "cavalry peg" much in favor in the Southwest.
He stood at a lectern with the light shining up on his face and
with his balding head and eyeglasses which he put on to consult
his notes he appeared a fatherly creature, an impression which
did not last.
It might be well here to mention that few of us in our prior
military training had constant association with any officer over
the rank of major for, if memory serves, the pre-war military
establishment consisted of something like 12,000 officers and
around 100,000 enlisted men, and this included the Corps of Engineers.
The point of this is that a general officer was something to
be beheld in a mixed state of awe and curiosity. George Patton
gave us ample opportunity to expand this viewpoint, for it soon
became apparent that this was a salty character, to be treated
with respect but tinged with a touch of humor.
Some of the enlisted men said that every time they took a
patented hangover remedy they helped make George Patton rich,
but elsewhere I was told that if there was any investment involvement
it was through his wife.
To George Patton it was not enough that we be trained as armored
officers, but that we look like one, to which end he instructed
us on the wearing of the high Armored Forces "overseas"
cap on the left side of the head. When he said that he did not
want his officers "looking like a bunch of sailors"
we hired to the post tailor to have our "pink" trousers
slimmed, and when he congratulated us on shining not only the
outside but the inside of our brass belt buckles we looked at
each other in amazement. Could he mean it?
One day on the firing range, while getting accustomed to the
new Garrand rifle, I was visited by a major from Patton's staff
named John Smith, better known as "Long John," who
inquired if I would be interested in going to division headquarters
for public relations duty pending activation of the 3rd Armored
Division. As a working newspaperman, this was like offering a
cat catnip or waving a red flag at a bull.
So, by Special Orders No. 64, Headquarters 2nd Armored Division,
dated March 19, 1941, I was ordered to report to the G-2 Section,
2nd Armored, which I did.
Fortunately I was quartered in an old wooden bachelor officers
quarters and messed at the open post mess, all within walking
distance of division headquarters, then quartered in an old one-story
brick mess hall, as I had no transportation. At hqs. I reported
to a Lieut. Col. Pickering and found that Lieut. Hutchinson had
likewise been posted for Public Relations Office (PRO) duties,
he coming from The Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper.
Office quarters were crowded and naturally a G-2 did not want
any PRO people underfoot, so we were given an unused storeroom
with one boarded over window and a single light-bulb, unshaded,
hanging from the ceiling. We were also issued a used portable
typewriter, which rested on an orange crate, and a few chairs,
some paper, and that was it. We were also given access to files
giving the history of the various organizations of the division
and their predecessor units going back to the American Revolution.
It was here that, when turning out publicity for a parade
in Columbus, Georgia, in which the 2nd Armored took part that
I first used the words "hell on wheels" in connection
with the divisions activities and purpose. General Patton must
have liked it, for it was later adopted for use on the division
patch and it was here that the reciprocal and lasting relationship
previously mentioned was established.
General Patton would usually arrive at hqs. after everyone
else was at work, and this was a busy place at that time, sometimes
followed by a most unfriendly looking German police dog whose
head seemed constantly turning, seeking someone who might harm
its master. There was a current story that the child of an officer
quartered near the general had been pulled from its bicycle by
the dog and that the officer was loathe to report it to the general
for fear of incurring disfavor.
Each day there was published a little one sheet "Daily
Bulletin" containing information on pending training assignments,
uniform of the day, movies being shown and the like. One day
this contained a short command which was pure George Patton.
It read, "Each man of this command old enough to do so will
shave every day."
It is known that General Patton was something of a showman
and not without ego and this was displayed in military exercise
on a drill field in front of a grandstand. He liked the grandstands
filled, even with wives and children. First a few blanks would
be fired by guns on the far side of the field. In the distance
light tanks, some "Mae Wests" - double turrets - could
be seen advancing, interlined by infantry wearing the British
helmet and leggings (we were not to receive the modern helmet
until much later) and also gas masks. Then a smoke screen would
be laid down, the guns would boom, and in the final stretch the
tanks would outstrip the infantry, sirens screaming.
I never afterwards saw a tank with a siren attached, but these
were so equipped, or some of them. As a climax, General Patton
would land his private plane in front of the grandstand, descend
wearing a tankers helmet and self-designed coverall, tailor made,
of green cloth and with gold buttons down each side of the front
in a semi-V effect. Taking off his gloves, he would go to the
microphone in front of the grandstand, and, in his high voice,
describe what was happening. There was at this time running in
a Columbus movie house a serial - remember serials? - called
"The Green Hornet" and it did not take the soldiers
long to call Patton the Green Hornet for his fancy green coveralls.
General officers are given some latitude as to uniform.
Fort Benning at this time was not only home for the 2nd Armored
but the 4th Motorized Infantry Division, the Infantry School,
and a parachute school, the latter known by the parachute release
towers and number of officers connected therewith limping around
with walking sticks. It was a busy place.
The summer of 1941 General Patton increased his fame in the
Louisiana maneuvers, making a wide sweeping run from the south
and crossing the Sabine river to "capture" Shreveport.
We of the 3rd Armored, then at Camp Polk, Louisiana near Leesville
had our hands full receiving selectees, equipment, training,
learning amidst constant changes in procedure.
From Louisiana, General Patton may have participated in the
Carolina maneuvers, I do not recall, but the summer of 1942 found
the 3rd Armored on the Mojave Desert and again under Gen. Patton,
who headed the Desert Training Center. By then it was clear that
we were preparing for service in North Africa. Before then we
had sent a small party as observers with the British. While at
Benning I had been detailed to escort a British officer from
North Africa on a "sightseeing" tour of the 2nd Armored.
I recall he had an inordinate amount of gear which he carried
with him constantly, a short warm, trenchcoat and the like, and
that he was not much impressed with the medium tank then in use,
a decrepit object whose main armament was a right sponson mounted
37mm gun.
Since then we had been issued the Gen. Grant medium tank,
having a right sponson mounted short barrel 75mm gun and a turret
mounted 37 mm gun and gone on to the General Sherman tank with
short barrel 75 nip gun, turret mounted. Our returning observers
from North Africa reported the British found the General Grant
objectionable in many ways - it was - but in later reading the
memoirs of one of Rommel's staff officers - I found that the
Germans had considerable respect for it, as most of their limited
number of tanks were Mark IV's.
Sometime during the summer, General Patton "slipped away,"
if "slipping away" can describe information being bandied
around the supermarkets in Palm Springs by officers wives.
A short time later I was detailed to hand carry a voluminous
shortage report to the post office at Phoenix, Arizona, destination,
Washington D.C. and my transport, the airplane of Gen. Alvan
C. Gillem, Jr., former 3rd Armored and by now Desert Center commander.
This done we returned, landing on a stretch of graded desert
at night by the light of scout car headlights.
As fate would have it there were not enough bottoms to carry
us to North Africa, but we rushed to the east coast, first to
Camp Pickett, Virginia and then to Indiantown Gap, PA and on
to England in the early fall of 1943 and all I knew of General
Patton in the meantime was what I read in the newspapers and
magazines, including his leadership in North Africa over General
Omar Bradley and under him in Sicily.
Of the aftermath of the hospital slapping incident in Italy
when Patton was relieved of command, I later heard much from
Team R. Henry of The Washington Star. Reduced to command
over a headquarters company and in disgrace, Patton - an Episcopalian
- would each morning resort to a nearby chapel, spending hours
praying for another opportunity at command.
The next time I heard that General Patton was in the vicinity
must have been about Aug. 1, 1944 in the midst of the Normandy
breakout. Our division commander had been relieved and I was
temporarily assigned to Brig. General Doyle 0. Hickey's Combat
Command "A" of the 3rd Armored and had reported to
him near Brecey when it became apparent that there was a map
shortage, and I returned to division headquarters that night
by a circuitous route to obtain a supply and ran into incoming
troops with the 5th Armored Division and learned that they were
under Patton's command. While they were taking a guided tour
of Brittany we of the 3rd Armored, the 30th Infantry Division,
and others held off the German counter-attack around Mortain.
Between Aug. 12th and 18th, the 3rd Armored took part in the
closing of the Falaise Gap, with Patton's army being our right
flank. At the time I understood he shared our pique over reports
that Gen. Montgomery had refused to move the army line after
the Americans had reached it, but the British had not. The British
in fact were heavily opposed, but Montgomery's action, or inaction,
had allowed a portion of the German army to escape.
A week after Mortain, Aug. 25th, found the 3rd Armored crossing
the Seine on a pontoon bridge between Melun and Corbeil. About
mid-morning of the 26th, there was a lull in the traffic and
I was sitting on the bank, whittling, within talking distance
of my radio equipped half-track, when a jeep began crossing from
the other side.
From a distance the helmet of the passenger seemed unusually
shiny, and as it came closer it turned out to be Gen. Patton,
with lacquered helmet bearing three stars, Eisenhower jacket,
riding breeches, boots, gloves ivory handled revolver and large
as life.
When he was near, I arose and gave him a proper salute. "Everything
under control, major," he inquired. I said that it was and
he responded, "Give Maurice Rose (our division commander)
my regards," and went on. North of the Seine in a sole unarmored
vehicle at that time was not a particularly safe place to be.
This was the last time I saw George Patton.
Later, when we were around Stolberg in Germany, we would from
time to time, have someone enter the area of Patton's army, and
it was always with trepidation, for Patton required his combat
soldiers to wear neckties, while Gen. Courtney Hodges of th First
Army did not. Patton's MP's were quick to pick up any offenders.
During the Bulge or the Ardennes campaign, as it was also
known, the 3rd Armored was hastily moved back from the Stolberg
area of Germany to points south of the main road leading northwards
to Liege (and eventually to Antwerp) and we were happy to hear
of Patton's arrival in the Bastogne area, although I have made
some of my friends who served there unhappy by reminding them
that for the Germans, Bastogne was a holding action, and that
their main drive was northwest to the port of Antwerp.
While my contact with Patton has been told, much of what I
learned about him came from John J. Bohn, an old cavalryman who,
following graduation in forestry at the University of Wisconsin
enlisted in the 7th Cavalry for service in the Philippines, rose
to regimental sergeant major, was commissioned during WWI and
later returned, briefly and as a major, to command the 7th Cavalry.
John Bohn could tell stories about Patton by the hour -- how
for example during the Mexican expedition under Gen. Pershing
prior to our participation in WWI Patton pursued a Mexican bandit
named Candelario in a Dodge car, cornering his quarry in a house
and shooting it out western style with six guns. Patton then
tied the body to the bumper of his car and returned to headquarters,
where he cut the ropes, allowing the body to fall to the ground
and commenting, "Here's the SOB."
When posted to the Hawaiian Islands, Bohn said, Patton purchased
a boat and learned to sail, naming the boat the "When and
If" for when I retire or "If I am sacked." Then,
doing his own sailing and navigating, Patton reached Honolulu,
his navigation off eight miles!
Polo, poetry, the classics, all formed a portion of Patton's
interests, according to Bohn.
Several years ago when in Chihuahua, Mexico, I went through
a museum maintained by the "legal" widow of Pancho
Villa, where she showed me an old photograph of Gen. Pershing
meeting Villa and, lo and behold, back of Pershing was an aide,
George Patton.
I am not sure that the press fully understood him, for he
was a proud Virginia gentleman, a cavalryman who believed in
unrelenting pursuit, just as Montgomery was an infantry general,
and when not obeyed I have heard of Patton's mutterings of "we
need some killing around here" when he was not speaking
of the enemy.
His death in a car accident following the war was tragic but
timely, as the American army was melting like snow in a summer
sun. We will not see his likes again.
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