Posted on 12/21/2025 10:13:11 AM PST by DFG
MANNHEIM, Germany – Eighty years after his death, the legacy of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. endures, yet his life was cut short not by a final, glorious battle, but by a mundane traffic accident on a wintry German road. Patton, the celebrated and feared commander of the U.S. Third Army, succumbed to a blood clot while paralyzed, passing away in his sleep at the age of 60 in Heidelberg, Germany, on Dec. 21, 1945. The paralysis and subsequent complications were the result of a car accident 12 days prior.
On Dec. 9th, for the first time, at the intersection of Kaefertalerstrasse and Dudenstrasse where the collision occurred, his granddaughter, Helen Ayer Patton, the Mannheim Oberburgermeister, Christian Specht, along with military members and onlookers, gathered to honor George Patton’s life and to lay a plaque commemorating the significance of the spot.
“It was right here on December 9th, 1945, when my grandfather, Gen. George Smith Patton, Jr., suffered an accident that set the final chapter of his life into motion,” she said. “Now, these 80 years later, your presence here proves that his legacy continues to resonate, to provoke reflection, and even remarkably to bring people together.”
George Patton is best known for his commanding presence during WWII, from leading the U.S. Army’s I Armored Corps across North Africa and the U.S. 7th Army into Sicily, to acting as the commander of a decoy army to cover the Normandy invasion and commanding the legendary Third Army across France and Germany.
WWII was the pinnacle of Patton’s career but only a small part of it. Born in California on Nov. 11, 1885, he attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he was commissioned in June 1909 as a cavalry officer. He went on to compete in the 1912 Olympic Games in the modern pentathlon, taking fifth place.
His early combat experience came when he joined Gen. John J. Pershing in a chase over the Mexican border to hunt down revolutionary Pancho Villa, a campaign notable for being the first time the U.S. Army used an automobile in combat.
When the U.S. entered WWI in April 1917, Pershing brought Patton to France. By the end of that year, Patton became the first U.S. officer assigned to the new U.S. Army Tank Corps. He organized and trained the new units, and in the Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives, demonstrated the combat effectiveness of mechanized warfare.
After WWII concluded, Patton was appointed military governor of Bavaria, a role for which his aggressive temperament proved ill-suited. He was relieved of command of his beloved Third Army in October 1945 after controversial public statements.
On Dec. 9, 1945, just months after the war's end, Patton was on his way to a pheasant hunt. At approximately 11:45 a.m., his 1938 Cadillac staff car collided at low speed with a U.S. Army truck. While others in the vehicle sustained only minor injuries, Patton was thrown forward, suffering a catastrophic spinal cord injury. Paralyzed from the neck down.
“Gen. Patton lived his life commanding his spine to stay solid and straight. No matter what surprises came along the way he never failed to order himself to be upright, dependable, facing … every single challenge that came,” said Rabbi Michael Shevack, the social responsibility rabbi for the Patton Alliance. “That the command of his spine would be loosened from him at that very moment, that only death could do that! Wars couldn’t do that, nations couldn’t do it, Death had to do it.”
The general, known to his troops as "Old Blood and Guts," fought his final battle in a hospital bed for 12 days.
“His injuries proved too severe, and he passed away on the 21st of December 1945, the shortest, darkest day of the year,” said Helen Patton. “A life of immense brightness closed on the year's dimmest day, as though the world itself was pausing in this shadow to mark his departure.”
Patton was laid to rest on Christmas Eve 1945 at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. His final resting place was among the Soldiers of the Third Army, who had lost their lives fighting under his command.
“Patton’s legacy is one of strength, one of victory after victory,” said Michael Clauss, the command historian for U.S. Army Europe and Africa. “I think the German general, Field Marshal Von Mannstein, surmised it in one of the best ways, ‘He was your best.’”
"The Last Days of Patton" movie (1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guIXz0ToGwA
My great aunt said once that her brother, who worked closely with Patton, was devastated when Patton died
She said he cried all night, and she never saw him cry before or since
Many years ago I went to a talk given by G. Gordon Liddy. One thing he said stuck with me. He said that people would be surprised how often our government kills somebody “for reasons of state”.
Ol’ G. Gordon liked to be dramatic. But still…
George spoke poorly of our communist allies. So our government had him silenced.
My father served under Patton, had all the books about him, and his photo on his office wall. We got to meet Patton’s granddaughter at a dinner for American vets in Luxembourg after watching her lay a wreath on his grave on the 60th anniversary of D Day. (He asked to be buried with his men there, I think there are about 5,700 American soldiers there. She passed out copies of his famous “prayer card” given to his troops when he asked his Chaplain for a prayer to stop the rains.
When she got to Dad, he stood up from his chair, pulled out his wallet and showed her his original card which he carried until he passed away. She was in shock, it was really something to see. Out of about 50 guys he was the only one with that card. A memory I’ll always carry with me.
For those who don’t know, Patton didn’t die at the accident scene. He lived for 12 days and was lucid and talking. He was in the back seat. The truck pulled out in front as his car and turned into it. His neck was broken when he flew forward and hit the windshield from the back seat. The two men in the front seat were not injured at all!
There were stories about assassination, but it seems like a very odd and sloppy way to try to kill someone, a truck at 10 miles an hour.
A&E Biography: General George Patton
https://archive.org/details/ae-biography-general-patton
“Have taken Trier with two divisions. Do you want me to give it back?”
“I can attack with 3 divisions in 48 hours.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1mOHt4-Xdo
For example, they had one of the copies of the Treaty of Versaille. Really thick, looked like at least six inches worth.
They had Hitler's phone book, open to the page with the entry for "Berlin Gestapo"
They had Herman Goering's luggage and shaving kit. An effeminate shade of Powder Blue, with his hairbrush, toothbrush, comb...
You couldn't just walk in. You had to make an appointment, writing them a letter describing your reasons for wanting to visit. they did not allow anyone into the museum under the age of 18...ie, no school visits or anything like that.
On the day you arrived, you checked in and were buzzed through a door. It was one of the most amazing war museums I have ever been to. You wouldn't have any idea the museum was there or what it was. It was a large, windowless building with a small parking lot and a decaying Higgins boat took up a corner of the lot. There were two 16" battleship shells, one on each side of the solid door, but that was it.
I never saw any other people there, went there maybe three times.
My friend who had found out about it advised me that it was always deserted, and they monitored you on cameras as you went through the museum.
It was jammed with artifacts of all kinds, from various WWII era weapons, uniforms, helmets, and vehicles, to a grappling hook that had been used at Point du Hoc, rations, manuals, equipment, you name it.
My buddy advised me to bring a pair of white cotton gloves along with me. He said that you could pick up all manner of artifacts that were in the open as long as you wore the gloves and indicated you were handling them responsibly, which I did. Apparently, someone was watching you the entire time, and if you conducted yourself in that way, they didn't bother you.
Amazing. I recalled picking up a BAR (much heavier than I thought) a M1 Carbine, and an MG-42.
Interestingly to me was one artifact that caught my eye, a bronze bust of hitler that was sitting on the floor next to a doorway. It looked life-size, and it had streaks and stains of corrosion on it that gave it an odd look. I was later told that it was the bust that Patton had used as a doorstop at his headquarters, and every day when he took his bull terrier "Willie" for a walk, the bust was the first place he stopped with the dog where it lifted its leg, and pissed on the bust!
All those corrosion marks and stains were from Patton's dog, Willie!!!
(Note: I don't know for sure if this is a photo of that bust-it was many years ago, and this was the only image like that on my computer!) Poor Willie. He was heartbroken when Patton died.
I see many similarities between Patton and Trump...not just in the face, but in manner.
My dad served under Patton in the 3rd Army during WWII...
History's first incident involving a drive-by shooting.
Bill O’Reilly’s book “Killing Patton” is an excellent read.
As I understand it, Patton believed in reincarnation. DJT was born in 1946. Just sayin . . .
Accident.
Thanks, great stuff! That museum sounds incredible, would love to see that. A WWII museum that knocked me out is in Bastogne, Belgium. All German equipment and artifacts in incredible shape, right down to unopened cigarette packs. Uniforms, ammo, weapons, thousands of articles. Nearby in the town square there sits a German and American tank and a bust of Colonel General Anthony McAuliffe with the famous “nuts” inscription. Fresh flowers are put on the tanks and in front of the bust every day. That’s where my dad was given a room at a hotel which was full. The manager noticed Dad’s WWII vet hat after saying sorry, no vacancy and said, are you an American WWII veteran? Dad said yes, and the guy paused and then said, “You and your wife will stay in the manager’s suite tonight.”
If Patton is reincarnated it will be DJT.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
