[208] Patton decided that he would leave his post at the 15th Army and not return to Europe once he left on December 10 for Christmas leave. He was very bold and preferred large movements. "[208] According to Anthony Cave Brown in Bodyguard of Lies, Patton "Patton was relieved of command of the 3rd Army by Eisenhower just after the end of the war for stating publicly that America had been fighting the wrong enemy - Germany instead of Russia". Instead he tried out for the sword team and track and field and specialized in the modern pentathlon. Patton's colorful image, hard-driving personality, and success as a commander were at times overshadowed by his controversial public statements. There was some controversy concerning his performance in the pistol shooting competition, in which he used a .38 caliber U.S. Army-issue pistol while most of the other competitors chose .22 caliber firearms. Rows 57 are foreign medals and noted where required. CONTENT. Beatrice Banning Ayer looked like a child standing next to George S. Patton Jr. when they met in the summer of 1902. He died on March 14, 1918, in Thomasville, Georgia, and is interred at Lowell Cemetery. He competed in the modern pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. Name : On August 3, 1943, Patton slapped and verbally abused Private Charles H. Kuhl at an evacuation hospital in Nicosia after he had been found to suffer from "battle fatigue". [142][143] The views of the general public remained mixed on the matter,[144] and eventually Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson stated that Patton must be retained as a commander because of the need for his "aggressive, winning leadership in the bitter battles which are to come before final victory. Chagrined to discover that his unit would not participate, Patton appealed to expedition commander John J. Pershing, and was named his personal aide for the expedition. After a brief Episcopal service, she was cremated. She married Major General James Willoughby Totten on 6 July 1940, in Hamilton, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. [15][16], At age 24, Patton married Beatrice Banning Ayer, the daughter of Boston industrialist Frederick Ayer, on May 26, 1910, in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. This code phrase initiated a prearranged operational order with Patton's staff, mobilizing three divisionsthe 4th Armored Division, the 80th Infantry Division, and the 26th Infantry Divisionfrom the Third Army and moving them north toward Bastogne. He also joined the football team, but he injured his arm and stopped playing on several occasions. [122] During this time, he reported to British General Sir Harold Alexander, commander of the 18th Army Group, and came into conflict with Air Vice Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham about the lack of close air support being provided for his troops. He claimed that the holes in the paper from his early shots were so large that a later bullet passed through them, but the judges decided that one of his bullets missed the target completely. "[3] Nita became engaged to John J. Pershing, Patton's mentor, in 1917, but the engagement ended because of their separation during Pershing's time in France during World War I. [166], Patton's offensive came to a halt on August 31, 1944, as the Third Army ran out of fuel near the Moselle River, just outside Metz. Through his charisma, exemplified by a flamboyant and well-publicized image, he stimulated, better than any other high-ranking U.S. army commander, American troops to an aggressive desire to close with and destroy the enemy. He was relieved of command of the Third Army on October 7, and in a somber change of command ceremony, Patton concluded his farewell remarks, "All good things must come to an end. Patton then returned to Saumur to learn advanced techniques before bringing his skills to the Mounted Service School at Fort Riley, Kansas, where he would be both a student and a fencing instructor. The friendship resulted in marriage in 1910 which lasted over thirty years and . Still unconvinced, Eisenhower ordered Patton to attack the morning of December 22, using at least three divisions. Patton chose a 10,000-acre (40km2) expanse of desert area about 50 miles (80km) southeast of Palm Springs. Huguenots migration: descendants' contributions to America. Under his decisive leadership, the Third Army took the lead in relieving beleaguered American troops at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, after which his forces drove deep into Nazi Germany by the end of the war. After the tragic death of her husband in 1945, Mrs. Patton became a forceful and persuasive speaker advocating universal military training. [192], In its advance from the Rhine to the Elbe, Patton's Third Army, which numbered between 250,000 and 300,000 men at any given time, captured 32,763 square miles (84,860km2) of German territory. She met George Patton for the first time as children. Shortly after Beatrice Patton buried her husband, Gen. George S. Patton Jr., on Christmas Eve 1945, she summoned a woman named Jean Gordon to her hotel room in Boston. [250], One possible exception was Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery who appears to have admired Patton's ability to command troops in the field, if not his strategic judgment. When Alexander sent a transmission on July 19 limiting Patton's attack on Messina, his chief of staff, Brigadier General Hobart R. Gay, claimed the message was "lost in transmission" until Messina had fallen. The division was one of few organized as a heavy formation with many tanks, and Patton was in charge of its training. Beatrice Banning Ayer Birth Sep 1885 - Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Death 30 Sep 1953 - Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Mother Ellen Barrows Banning Father Frederick Fanning Ayer (Ayers/ Eyre) Quick access Family tree 2160 New search Beatrice Banning Ayer family tree Family tree Explore more family trees Parents [167] Combined with other demands on the limited resource pool, this resulted in the Third Army exhausting its fuel supplies. [108], General Patton led the division during the Tennessee Maneuvers in June 1941, and was lauded for his leadership, executing 48 hours' worth of planned objectives in only nine. [148] Eisenhower felt the invasion of Europe was too important to risk any uncertainty, and that the slapping incidents had been an example of Patton's inability to exercise discipline and self-control. [42] Bringing these lessons back to Fort Myer, Patton redesigned saber combat doctrine for the U.S. cavalry, favoring thrusting attacks over the standard slashing maneuver and designing a new sword for such attacks. He died in his sleep of pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure at about 6:00pm on December 21, 1945, at the age of 60. Once located, the armored infantry would attack using tanks as infantry support. [236] Privately he wrote of black soldiers: 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.[237]. [180] Within a few days, more than 133,000 Third Army vehicles were rerouted into an offensive that covered an average distance of over 11 miles (18km) per vehicle, followed by support echelons carrying 62,000 tonnes (61,000 long tons; 68,000 short tons) of supplies.[181]. Alameda County. [115][116] Patton commanded the Western Task Force, consisting of 33,000 men in 100 ships, in landings centered on Casablanca, Morocco. Patton remained outspoken but unabashed in his racism throughout his life. She met George Patton for the first time as children. Patton was given temporary duty in Washington D.C. that year to serve on a committee writing a manual on tank operations. George Smith Patton Jr. was born on November 11, 1885,[1][2] in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel, California, to George Smith Patton Sr. and his wife, Ruth Wilson, the daughter of Benjamin Davis Wilson, the second Mayor of Los Angeles. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunnybrook100/1116573449/, Patton met Beatrice Banning Ayer, the daughter of Boston industrialist Frederick Ayer. An award-winning biographical film released in 1970, Patton, helped popularize his image. He proposed a new uniform for the emerging Tank Corps, featuring polished buttons, a gold helmet, and thick, dark padded suits; the proposal was derided in the media as "the Green Hornet", and it was rejected by the Army. When Ruth Ellen Patton was born on 28 February 1915, in Pasadena, Los Angeles, California, United States, her father, Gen. George Smith Patton Jr., was 29 and her mother, Beatrice Banning Ayer, was 29. This caused Eisenhower to relieve Patton from command of the Third Army. [100] Patton was promoted to colonel on July 24, 1938, and given command of the 5th Cavalry at Fort Clark, Texas, for six months, a post he relished, but he was reassigned to Fort Myer again in December as commander of the 3rd Cavalry. [176] In all, Patton would reposition six full divisions, U.S. III Corps and U.S. XII Corps, from their positions on the Saar River front along a line stretching from Bastogne to Diekirch and to Echternach, the town in Luxembourg that had been at the southern end of the initial "Bulge" front line on December 16. [137] Patton apologized to both soldiers individually, as well as to doctors who witnessed the incidents,[138] and later to all of the soldiers under his command in several speeches. Mother of Beatrice "Bee" Patton; Ruth Ellen "Nell" Patton; Maj. Gen. George Smith Patton, IV and Private He can be a Nigger or a Jew, but if he has the stuff and does his duty, he can have anything I've got. This is my biggest battle. Patton was dissatisfied with the post and began to take an interest in tanks, as Pershing sought to give him command of an infantry battalion. Carlo D'Este wrote 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. They had three children, Beatrice Smith (born March 1911), Ruth Ellen (born February 1915), and George Patton IV (born December 1923). Chaffee was named commander of this force,[104] and created the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions as well as the first combined arms doctrine. For his leadership of the tank brigade and tank school, he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the citation for which reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Tank Corps) George Smith Patton, Jr. (ASN: 0-2605), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. 1910 May 26 Patton and Beatrice Banning Ayer were married; they would later have three children. [76], Patton was a staunch fatalist,[224] and he believed in reincarnation. Nonetheless, he was known to be admired widely by the men under his charge. Amen. "[206] Patton also stirred a hostile antisemitism into his often-fractious relationship with newspaper reporters. [83] For his actions in Cheppy, Patton received the Silver Star, which was later upgraded to the DSC, with the citation for the medal reading: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Colonel (Armor) George Smith Patton, Jr. (ASN: 0-2605), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Tank Corps, A.E.F., near Cheppy, France, 26 September 1918. July 7 Patton participated in Modern Pentathlon, Olympic Games. Registers, records and certificates of county birth and death records acquired from county courthouses. Mrs. Beatrice Ayer Patton Waters, 41, daughter of the late Gen. George S. Patton Jr., died yesterday of a heart attack in her home in nearby Highland Falls. [209], On September 28, 1945, after a heated exchange with Eisenhower over the denazification controversy, Patton was relieved of his military governorship. [45] Arriving in September 1913, he taught fencing to other cavalry officers, many of whom were senior to him in rank. When the message arrived, Trier had already fallen. For other uses, see, Denazification controversy and antisemitism. He also stated that performance was more important than race or religious affiliation: I don't give a damn who the man is. They then repulsed counterattacks at Gela,[126] where Patton personally led his troops against German reinforcements from the Hermann Gring Division. [107] Patton earned a pilot's license and, during these maneuvers, observed the movements of his vehicles from the air to find ways to deploy them effectively in combat. Patton and his wife, Beatrice Banning Ayer, in Old West costumes, for a party, where he displays a pistol in his belt, and in costumes for another party, where they dress as a knight and his lady on horseback. [175], At the time, Patton's Third Army was engaged in heavy fighting near Saarbrcken. Around 09:00, Patton was wounded while leading six men and a tank in an attack on German machine guns near the town of Cheppy. [248] President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared to greatly esteem Patton and his abilities, stating "he is our greatest fighting general, and sheer joy". [66] While in a hospital for jaundice, Patton met Colonel Fox Conner, who encouraged him to work with tanks instead of infantry. Patton made a final stop in Washington, D.C. before returning to Europe in July to serve in the occupation forces. [208] When Eisenhower ordered him to hold a press conference correcting his statements, Patton instead repeated them. Self-propelled artillery moved with the spearhead units and was sited well forward, ready to engage protected German positions with indirect fire. Patton flew to France a month later, and then returned to combat command. [184] To obtain these, Third Army ordnance units passed themselves off as First Army personnel and in one incident they secured thousands of gallons of gasoline from a First Army dump. George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. After the course had ended, Beatrice had spent many hours packing their belongings and finally had everything crated, sealed, and ready to board the ship. These began in North Africa when some reporters worried that he was becoming too close to former Vichy officials with Axis sympathies. 19. Those who believed that Displaced Persons were human beings were wrong, Patton said: "this applies particularly to the Jews who are lower than animals." German losses in the fighting against the Third Army totaled 20,100 killed, 47,700 wounded, and 653,140 captured. Patton cultivated a flashy, distinctive image in the belief that this would inspire his troops. [81], Patton stopped at a rear command post to submit his report before heading to a hospital. Patton then set his sights on Messina. Its losses were 2,102 killed, 7,954 wounded, and 1,591 missing. He intended to discuss with his wife whether he would continue in a stateside post or retire from the Army.[211]. On December 16, 1944, it massed 29 divisions totaling 250,000 men at a weak point in the Allied lines, and during the early stages of the ensuing Battle of the Bulge, made significant headway towards the Meuse River during a severe winter.
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