Francis ‘Jeep’ Sanza, Patton’s driver in World War II, dies in Napa at 99

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | February 1 2018 | Sam Whiting

[beaversmom]

Francis “Jeep” Sanza, a beer truck driver and milkman who got his work experience driving for Gen. George S. Patton during World War II, died Tuesday at his Victorian home in downtown Napa. He was 99.

Sanza died in his sleep, said his son Nick Sanza. A framed picture of his former boss Patton was hanging in the dining room until his last day.

From the preparations for D-Day, in May 1944, right up through the landing at Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and the final push into Germany, Sanza was at the wheel of an open air Willys-Overland with the four-star general in the passenger seat, tapping at the windshield with his riding crop.

“Everything he did I saw,” Sanza said during a video interview for Profiles in Valor produced by the American Veterans Center. “He was very good to me. He never scolded me when I was driving him.”

According to Nick Sanza, his father did not talk about his wartime experience until he was in his 70s. But Nick had also been drafted and served in Germany, and this common bond opened him up.

“When I lay down at night, it all comes back to me,” he later told a reporter from the Napa Valley Register.

Sanza was born Oct. 25, 1918, the son of a coal miner in Forestville, Pa. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in April 1941, was assigned to the 357th Ordnance medium Auto Maintenance Company, and was sent to North Carolina to field a small but rugged new vehicle made by Willys-Overland Motors.

The four-wheel drive transport, with removable rag top, went into production and came out as the “Jeep.” At a demonstration held at a secret location for the Supreme Allied Commander, Sanza drove the Jeep into a lake and underwater. When he came out soaking wet, he had earned his nickname — “Jeep.”

When Patton chose the Jeep as his recon vehicle for the planned landing in France, Sanza was recommended to be his driver, field mechanic and message conduit. Sanza customized the Jeep, adding bulletproof windows and a machine gun mount in the back. He also rebuilt the engine to make it faster.

He and Patton landed in July. From Normandy until Germany’s surrender, if Patton was in a Jeep, Sanza was behind the wheel.

“There were about 15 or 20 major battles they were in,” Nick Sanza said. “They were all over the place.”

Patton never called Sanza by his nickname. Sanza was simply “soldier.”

After the Battle of the Bulge, Patton was set to drive on and finish the job in Germany. In anticipation, Sanza overhauled the Willys, but Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered Patton to stand down and let the Red Army finish the job.

“He wanted Berlin so bad,” Sanza later told a TV interviewer. “When he got the word, you could see tears in his eyes. This is what he fought for.”

Sanza and Patton were together in Munich on V-E Day, May 8, 1945, and when the concentration camps were liberated. They never had their picture taken together because it was against regulations. But it would have been a good one, because he stood 5 feet, 7 inches and his boss was 6 feet, 2 inches.

After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, military vehicles, including the Jeep Sanza drove for Patton, were hauled out into the Atlantic and dumped overboard. Sanza finished his tour in November and left the Army as a sergeant.

One month later, there was another driver at the wheel of Patton’s vehicle when it collided with an Army truck. The force of the crash caused Patton to fly up out of the passenger seat and hit his head on the ceiling. He had broken his neck and was paralyzed. Patton died of heart failure on Dec. 21, 1945, at age 60.

When Sanza heard the news, “he cried,” his son said. “He was very close to Gen. Patton.”

After his return home, Sanza went straight to Napa, where he had once gone to inspect a Jeep shipping facility. His assignment was long enough for him to meet and marry Evelyn Kramer, a “Rosie the Riveter” who was working on battleships and submarines at Mare Island.

They settled in Napa and Sanza got a job at the ammunition depot on Mare Island, where he worked until a beer distributor hired him as a driver in 1959. He eventually became a supervisor for the distribution arm of Olympia Beer. He worked there until 1975, when he and his wife formed a milk distribution company.

Working out of their home, the couple would leave before dawn each morning in separate trucks. They drove as a convoy to Clover Stornetta Farms to load up, then they split into separate home delivery routes. A few years later, they sold the routes and Sanza went to work for Clover Stornetta as a sales representative.

He lasted there full time until he was 96.

Sanza and his wife had lived in the same Napa house since 1963. At the entryway was a scale model of the type of Jeep he drove for Patton.

Once he started talking about the war, he was in demand. At age 95, he flew to Washington to tape an interview for the American Veterans Center. Two years ago, he spoke at the General George S. Patton Memorial Museum in Southern California.

He often drove World War II Jeeps in parades, but never owned one. He drove Cadillacs.

Survivors include his wife of 76 years, Evelyn Sanza; sons Nick of Napa and Frank Sanza Jr. of Sherman, Texas; and daughters Lavon Fagan of Napa and Chris McCall of Grass Valley.

A rosary will be said Sunday at 7 p.m. at Claffey & Rota Funeral Home in Napa. A full Mass will be celebrated Monday at 10 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Napa.

[BradyLS]

I guess only the Army could say for sure. A quick internet search turns up perhaps a dozen names for “who drove for Patton” during WWII. Sanza only claims from May ‘44–May ‘45.

[Bull Snipe]

a more powerful motor would not help all that much. The front and rear axle gear rations were very low. Drove an M38-A1. Original axle ratios, 150 hp engine. At 65 mph the differentials were maxed out. The jeep guys used bigger engines and changed the axle gear ratios for more speed.

[91B40]

My dad was with the Third Army. He took pictures too. I still have them. Their attitude toward the Germans changed significantly when they saw the camps.

[ohioman]

As a Bama fan who loves General Patton it saddens me that our second greatest General had War Eagle in big bold letters on his tank. :)

[mosesdapoet]

Nice tribute by Sam Whiting surprisingly published in the San Francisco Chronicle which is not exactly a publication that waves the flag .

[yarddog]

Shug Jordan was a combat engineer during WWII.

Auburn claims, probably correctly that Patton got the motto from him.

[Pontiac]

A Studebaker 6 cylinder matches the clutch housing. tight front and back but has been done and there were lots of studys available.

I can see that being done but it would also require replacing or augmenting the front springs to compensate for the added weight.

And it does not seem to be what the article suggest he did.

He also rebuilt the engine to make it faster.

I would also doubt that the engine swap would be common knowledge because the Jeep was a completely new vehicle only available to the military. He or other mechanics in theater may have figured it out but it seems a stretch.

[gaijin]

Thanks, that was a fantastic link..!

[oldtech]

On that engine,almost anything you did would probably help,but with no hop-up parts,it would mean shaving the head surface a little(raising compression) & maybe smoothing the intake & exhaust ports a bit.

[Pontiac]

Check out Francis J. Sanza

http://wwii-army.mooseroots.com/l/3715791/Francis-J-Sanza

a private in the Branch Immaterial or General Officers branch of the Selectees during World War II.

Drivers and chauffeurs, bus, taxi, truck, and tractor

[Pontiac]

maybe smoothing the intake & exhaust ports a bit.

I thought of that as well. I also thought of larger intake and exhaust manifolds and a larger carb.

Just the easy stuff that motor heads have done forever.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[PeterPrinciple]

I would also doubt that the engine swap would be common knowledge because the Jeep was a completely new vehicle only available to the military. He or other mechanics in theater may have figured it out but it seems a stretch.

---

Swaps were quite common.

The Lhead engine was a prewar engine, much improved in 1939 http://www.fourwheeler.com/features/1408-the-willys-go-devil-engine-jeep-encyclopedia/

But in rereading it, “the rebuilt to make it faster” most likely means rebuilding a worn out engine...............

[ohioman]

Patton did revere his own confederate ancestors so I can definitely see that happening.

[beaversmom]

Your welcome. And thanks for sharing about your tour of Mare Island.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks beaversmom.

After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, military vehicles, including the Jeep Sanza drove for Patton, were hauled out into the Atlantic and dumped overboard. Sanza finished his tour in November and left the Army as a sergeant. One month later, there was another driver at the wheel of Patton’s vehicle when it collided with an Army truck. The force of the crash caused Patton to fly up out of the passenger seat and hit his head on the ceiling. He had broken his neck and was paralyzed. Patton died of heart failure on Dec. 21, 1945, at age 60.

[Pelham]

“There are a lot of reports that he was injured at the hospital but nowhere near death at all.”

Patton’s neck was broken in the accident and he was paralyzed from the neck down. He died two weeks later.

[SunkenCiv]

Mims was awarded the Silver Star for his actions driving Patton in Sicily.

Patton was commanding the 7th Army in Sicily; there was the slapping incident, he was relieved, then brought back to command 3rd Army across France and into Germany.

[Mike Darancette]

A
RIP “Soldier”

[Pontiac]

Patton was commanding the 7th Army in Sicily; there was the slapping incident, he was relieved, then brought back to command 3rd Army across France and into Germany.

In between commanding 7th Army and 3rd Army Patton commanded the

Ghost Army .