General George Patton Biography
by Krysta CardinaleGeorge Patton played a leading role as general of the U.S. Army in World War Two.
He spent thirty-six years in the Army and was commander of several major units including ones in Sicily, North Africa, and the European Theater of Operations. General George S. Patton was given the nickname “Old Blood and Guts” for his reputation of being a ferocious warrior. His name was not completely pure, but tainted from a period of insubordination and instability.
Earlier Years
George S. Patton Jr. was born on November 11, 1885 in San Gabriel, California. His parents were George Smith Senior and Ruth Wilson. As a young child he often heard glorious war stories of his father’s friend John Singleton Mosby, a cavalry hero of the Confederate Army. He also enjoyed reading such things as William Shakespeare, the Bible, and the Odyssey. He was a firm believer in reincarnation, and often believed that he was a reincarnated historical military figure, like a Roman legionnaire.
For his education, General George S. Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute for only one year. He was then transferred to West Point and flunked out after his first year, plebe year. He reentered the academy and graduated as a cavalry officer in 1909. While attending West Point, Patton came across a child hood friend, Beatrice Ayer. The two became friendly again and married shortly after Patton had graduated. Beatrice was the daughter of a wealthy textile family.
Patton was an excellent swordsman and competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He represented the United States in the world’s first ever modern Pentathlon. He finished in fifth place. After his Olympic experience he was made the Army’s youngest “Master of the Sword.” He thus made improvements in the Calvary’s Saber fencing techniques and even designed the M1913 Calvary Saber.
General George S. Patton’s War Years
When the United States entered World War I, Patton was promoted to the rank of captain. During his post in France, he requested a combat command position from General Pershing. Pershing granted this request and Patton was assigned to the U.S. Tank Corps. Due to his success and his establishment of a training school for American tankers in France, Patton was promoted twice and now held the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was shot in his upper-thigh during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in 1918, and the war ended while he was in recovery. For his services during the war he was given the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Service Cross, and was promoted once again to full colonel. After World War 1 was over, General George Patton became close friends with Dwight D. Eisenhower.
As the tension began to mount for the United States to enter World War II, Patton was busy establishing the Desert Training Center in Indio, California. By 1942, he was Major General George S. Patton. Egotistical and headstrong, General George Patton came to prominence as a Corps Commander during the Allied invasion of North Africa. He was demoted in 1943 for striking a wounded soldier in Sicily. Patton was then sent to England to assist in the Allied preparations for the invasion of France. When he arrived in Normandy in late July 1944, Patton was given command of the United States Third Army serving under his erstwhile subordinate General Omar Bradley. While the British engaged the principal German forces around the city of Conne, Patton mounted a spectacular breakout against weak resistance at the western end of the beachhead. Patton’s breakout and subsequent drive through Central France and later Germany contributed greatly to the Allies ultimate victory in the West. It also helped to reestablish Patton’s reputation as a Field Commander.
On December 9, 1945 Patton was injured in a severe car accident in Germany. The accident occurred only a day before he was supposed to return home to the United States after the war. He was paralyzed from the neck down and died on December 21st from an embolism at the military hospital in Heidelberg Germany with his wife at his bedside.
