General George Patton

[j.sabourn]

Not General-ly Known....To his men he was known as Old Blood and Guts. To his family and friends he was Georgie.
Was one of the wealthiest men in the US army. Born in 1885 on the wealthy family estate in California.
Pampered by his parents and a maiden aunt didn’t start school until 11. Couldn’t read or write when started school . Today would be classified as dyslexic .
George took 5 years to graduate from West Point. He had to repeat his first year. He was placed 46th. In a class of 109.
In 1902 represented his country at the Olympic Games in Stockholm in the pentathllon.
Despite being in the cavalry , Patton didn’t use horses during the flare up with Pancho Villa in 1916.In one raid Patton and his 15 man contingent made into battle in 3 rickety Dodge cars. The skirmish was the first instance of motorised warfare in the history of the US army.
In WW 1 commanded a tank brigade .He was shot at Verdun. The bullet entered his left thigh taking a hunk out of his backside. Was proud of his wound and would drop his pants at party’s to show it off.
Because of his wound saw only 2 days of actual combat. Which was more than Eisenhower who was never in combat before becoming Supreme Allied Commander during World War 2.
As the third army celebrated crossed the Rhine in March 1945, he celebrated by urinating into it from a pontoon bridge. Encouraging the photographing of such. Winston Churchill approved as he also did the same a few days later.
Patton wanted to be killed by the last bullet of the last battle of the last war. Instead he died from a broken neck suffered in what was otherwise a minor auto accident in December 1945. He’s buried in a military cemetery in Luxembourg at the head of his troops.
JS