Gen. George S. Patton, 80, Son Of World War II Commander, Dies

WASHINGTON, June 29 - Maj. Gen. George S. Patton, the son and namesake of the World War II armored commander and a veteran of combat in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, died on Sunday at his home in Hamilton, Mass. He was 80.

General Patton, who retired from the Army in 1980, had been in poor health for years because of complications from hip surgery and other ailments, his wife, Joanne, said.

The younger General Patton was occasionally asked whether he felt overshadowed by his father, who gained fame for his exploits in North Africa, Sicily and France and who was introduced to new generations of Americans through George C. Scott's movie portrayal. "I've never worried about it," the son said in an interview in 1977. "I've been too busy."

The younger officer was wounded in one of his three Vietnam tours and was awarded a Purple Heart. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest decoration for bravery in combat.

George Smith Patton was in his last year at West Point when his father, George S. Patton Jr., was killed in a traffic accident in Germany in December 1945. For a time, the younger man was known as George S. Patton III, but he eventually dropped the Roman numeral, his wife said.

General Patton acknowledged that, just as his father had, he demanded a spit-and-polish look from his soldiers. And like his father, he loved history and spoke French, Joanne Patton said. He received a master's in international affairs from George Washington University.

As a colonel, he commanded the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam. As a major general in 1975, he took command of the Second Armored Division at Fort Hood, Tex. His father had led the division in North Africa.

In 1964, the younger George Patton and other relatives objected to a new biography of the World War II commander, "Ordeal and Triumph," saying it used unauthorized material from the general's wartime diaries. Some material was deleted, and the book was published.

Also surviving are three sons, George, of Hamilton; Robert, of Darien, Conn.; and Benjamin, of New York; two daughters, Mother Margaret Patton, a nun in Bethlehem, Conn., and Helen Plusczyk of Saarbrücken, Germany; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

I wasn't in the Armor School until I went to the Advanced Course (74-75). By then, I believe he had been reassigned.

I do remember him at a couple of big dress blue functions at the O-Club. Story was that his wife was always at his side, partly, to ensure he would mind his manners. After all, he was a Cav Officer. During that period it was not uncommon to see red and white bumper stickers around the post that read, "If you ain't Cav - you ain't S---!"

A LESSON IN LEADERSHIP

In 1980, I was the Army Material Command (AMC) Logistics Assistance Representative to the 3rd Infantry Division in Germany. Around the spring of that year, about thirty AMC staffers in theater, including Field Maintenance Technicians from our commodity commands, were called down to a meeting at Nellingen barracks to meet and hear from a EUCOM Brigadier who was getting ready to take over a slot at Headquarters AMC in Alexandria, Va.
His name was George S. Patton III, namesake son of one of America’s most famous WWII generals. BG Patton greeted us all, talked about the important work we were doing to support the readiness of our forces, and proceeded to tell a “logistics” story about his days as a young lieutenant.
He was commanding a tank during an exercise, when his sergeant tapped his boot and said “Sir, the engine oil light has come on. We need to shut down.” Patton replied with an expletive and directed that they proceed. It wasn’t too long before the vehicle came to a grinding halt with a burned out engine. Patton’s company commander was a young captain named Creighten Abrams, also a name with some familiarity today. Capt. Abrams directed that the cost of the engine be taken out of Patton’s salary, and it was many, many years of garnished pay before he reimbursed the Treasury for his mistake in judgment.
Now the morale of this story, according to the General, was that he learned that “he should always pay attention to what his NCOs tell him”.

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