Footnotes to Greatness - A review of "Patton: A Soldier's Life", by Stanley P. Hirshson

Claremont Institute ^ | 3-29-04 | By Victor Davis Hanson

[StoneColdGOP]

Heard this story at West Point when I was a cadet. During Black Jack Pershing's expedition against Pancho Villa a truck rolled up to Pershing's HQ with two dead bandidos tied over the fenders like a couple of trophy deer. Who was the proud lieutenant driving the truck? You guessed it...George.

That's a great story!

[StoneColdGOP]

Is that quote for real? I love it!

[sasportas]

Did Patton really say this?

"There is no lower form of human than the politician, and the lowest of these is the liberal Democrat." George S. Patton

Picture him saying this, were he alive today, while pointing his finger in Jonh Kerry's face. Wouldn't that be grand.

This thread is of special interest to me, my Dad was in the 2nd Armored Division, and served under Patton.

[wideminded]

Sorry, but that was a MOVIE!!!

As I said, I'm not sure the filmmakers got everything right, but it did seem to be quite well researched. You should check it out.. (It's an interesting movie in any case.) As I recall, in the film Patton's personal driver crashed into an Army truck that had been diverted into the opposite lane near a blocked intersection. Now the filmmakers could have just made all this up, but assuming that it corresponds even roughly with the facts, in order for the accident to be a murder, either:

1. Patton's driver would have had to be corrupted, or
2. The person diverting traffic would have had to know that Patton's vehicle was approaching, or
3. The occupants of the truck would have had to want Patton dead and be able to time his arrival at the intersection.

I'll let you do the background research. I imagine the books discussed in this thread all cover this incident.

[CrazyIvan]

It may not be an exact quote, but near. I've got a pretty good library on Patton and am going to try to find the source.

[CrazyIvan]

I originally read the "liberal" quote in one of my books. I have not been able to find it there yet, but did find it on the Patton Society web site. Here's a link: http://www.pattonhq.com/unknown/chap13.html Scroll about 8/10 of the way down, it's under politics.

[DeFault User]

two dead bandidos tied over the fenders like a couple of trophy deer

This week the History Channel had a "Wild West Tech" show that dramatized the evolution in firearms technology in the late 1800s, from the Sioux using repeating rifles against Custer to Patton using a Colt peacemaker in 1916 against a bunch of Villa's men. The dramatic recreation of Patton standing his ground, taking dead aim with the Colt and killing two of the Villa guerrillas was stirring. The narrator described it as being more like the gunfight at the OK Corral than a military engagement. Patton had the dead tied to the fenders of his car as you described.

When Pershing saw him rolling into camp, he was shocked but later expressed grudging admiration of Patton after he heard the story of the gun battle. According to the narrator, Pershing thereafter referred to Patton as "My Bandido".

[wideminded]

Anyway, he was convinced that Patton was murdered. Unfortunately I don't remember any of his specifics as to why. But he was certain the auto accident was no accident.

"Bringing this poignant story to light at this time, after a quarter of a century, is impelled by a recent rumor that there was something sinister about Patton's fatal accident. These accounts vary, in minor ways, but all are similar in two key respects: They are devoid of details or particulars regarding the nature and purpose of the reputed mystery; at the same time, the inference is pronounced that in some manner Patton was the victim of a dastardly plot to kill him."

"The stories are wholly untrue, They are entirely without foundation or a scintilla of evidence in the emphatic opinion of those closest and dearest to Patton. These include his late wife, who was with him throughout the 12 days he fought a losing struggle for life; his long-time chief of staff and close, friend, Lt. General Hobart R. Gay, who was with him at file time of the accident; Patton's two surviving children, Brig. General George S. Patton Jr., Assistant Commandant of the Armor School, and Ruth Ellen Totten, widow of an artillery brigadier. Also, Horace L. Woodring, driver of Patton's car, and Robert Thompson, driver of the truck into which Patton's sedan crashed."

Just where, how, and why the rumor got started is as baffling as the tale itself. Inquiries about the source invariably bring vague and ambiguous high-level answers, ... -" Robert S. Allen, General Patton's chief of combat intelligence

[bullet]

Don't be too quick to dismiss the idea that Patton might have been murdered, as incredible as that admittedly seems. Patton was planning on resigning from the army when he came home and thereby freeing himself from being duty bound to keep quit about a lot of things he was angry about. Worse, from the standpoint of his enemies, there was a movement to possibly draft him for a presidential bid. That scared Russian sympathizers high up in our government. If elected, they could see him starting World War III, which he'd threatened to do many times. And that's just one such theory that has some truth to it.

As to the accident, that too has several mysteries. In fact, it was little more than a "fender bender." Nobody else in Patton's car was even scratched but he got a broken neck. The truck, according to reports, was going very slow, almost waiting for the Patton car and then turned into it - very strange. Was the driver blind? The driver, by the way, disappeared. His name was Robert L. Thompson and after being charged,there's no trace of him. One writer reports that he died in 1994 but there's no obit to support that. The reports that were made by military police at the scene have vanished. Most sensational is the fact that in 1979, an ex OSS agent claimed that he'd been asked to kill Patton. It has never been proven but he took a lie detector test for the Spotlight, a Washington DC paper, that printed his claims.

The claims deserve further investigation.