I JUST STARTED AN OIL PAINTING OF GEN. GEO.PATT0N,
AND DURING MY RESEARCH
I found out that Patton Our Hero is still buried in Germany. WHY?
Where were the family, how can America leave our Famous Hero buried in Germany??
NOW this would make a better movie than the untrue
one where he was hit by a runaway horse cart.
The death of General George S. Patton or
was it Murder?
Although the accident and subsequent death of General George S. Patton in December 1945 is beyond the scope of my book about the Netherlands American Military Cemetery in Margraten, I’d like to share my research and comments about an alleged plot on this subject. General Patton is buried at the Luxembourg American Military Cemetery, and is the highest ranking and most famous soldier buried overseas.
With his job at Fifteenth Army almost over, he planned to leave on December 12 to go back to America. Gotten over his initial rage to resign from the army and “tell the truth”, he would wait and see what job he would get in the post-war regular army. He hoped for Commandant of the Army War College, otherwise he would retire. “I hate to think of leaving the army, but what is there ?”, he wrote in his last letter to his wife Beatrice.
The so called car accident
The driver, 20 year old T/5 Robert L. Thompson from Camden, New Jersey, made no hand signal, something both generals remarked, and Woodring had no chance to avoid a collision. With about 30 mph Woodring crashed into the truck, crushing the right front fender. Gay had time to ‘sit tight’, but Patton was thrown forward and most likely hit his head on the railing above the rear of the driver’s seat. This took the skin of Patton’s forehead. General Gay and Woodring were only shook up. When Woodring turned to Patton, he saw the general’s scalp and saw he bleeded profusely. He fell on Gay’s lap, who asked Woodring to help him out from under Patton, since Patton couldn’t move. Photographs of Woodring taken not much later, show Patton’s bloodstains on his jacket. About this time, the first vehicle appeared which happened to be an army ambulance. Woodring stopped it and asked the sergeant, Leroy Ogden, if he was a medic. “Yes I am”, he answered. “The general is hurt badly. Can you help him?” Woodring asked. “I will certainly try”. He proceeded to stop the bleeding while Patton was still lying in the Cadillac. In the meantime others arrived and Patton was finally put in the ambulance and driven to the 130th Station Hospital of the Seventh Army in Heidelberg, where he was admitted at 12.45, about one hour after the accident. It was the last time Woodring saw Patton. The Military Police had also arrived and started their investigation. While Woodring deeply regretted what happened, the truck driver Thompson at the time didn’t seem to realize the gravity of his careless driving. As Woodring said, “he thought it a big joke” and “didn’t seem to care at all”. He was under the influence and “goofy” and repeated with a stupid grin to the assembled spectators that he had hit Patton’s car. Woodring was so mad at Thompson for this behavior, he “wanted to shoot him”. A photograph of Thompson at the accident site shows him smiling. Also, Thompson had two other men with him in the cab of the truck to share the bottle with.
Lieutenants Vanlandingham and Smith of the 818th Military Police Company investigated the accident, but little interviewing was done. It was so obvious, the accident apparently just happened. Woodring’s and General Gay’s statements were identical.
They called him BadAss
posted by Yvonne @ La Petite Gallery Comments are welcome