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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

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.