HEAVY RAIN FELL ON THE STONE RAILWAY STATION AT THE EASTERN EDGE OF LUXEMBOURG CITY AT 5:30 ON THE MORNING OF CHRISTMAS EVE, 1945, AS A FUNERAL TRAIN SLID TO A STOP CARRYING THE FLAG-DRAPED CASKET OF GEORGE SMITH PATTON JR., THE COMMANDER WHO SEVEN MONTHS EARLIER HAD LED 300,000 AMERICAN SOLDIERS ACROSS THE RHINE AND INTO THE HEART OF NAZI GERMANY.
PATTON HAD DIED THREE DAYS EARLIER IN A HEIDELBERG HOSPITAL BED, PARALYZED FROM THE NECK DOWN TWELVE DAYS AFTER A TRUCK TURNED IN FRONT OF HIS CADILLAC ON A ROAD NEAR MANNHEIM WITHOUT SIGNALING. HE WAS SIXTY YEARS OLD. FROM THE WET DARK, A PROCESSION FORMED: TWENTY-ONE FRENCH ARMORED CARS, SEVENTEEN AMERICAN JEEPS, FIVE MORE ARMORED VEHICLES, AND A HALF-TRACK CARRYING THE CASKET.
BEHIND THEM ON FOOT, IN THE DRIZZLE, THE CITIZENS OF LUXEMBOURG WALKED THE FOUR MILES TO THE CEMETERY AT HAM. IN THE FIRST LIMOUSINE AT THE HEAD OF THE PROCESSION SAT A FIFTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD WIDOW FROM MASSACHUSETTS, BEATRICE AYER PATTON, WHO HAD FLOWN ACROSS THE ATLANTIC TO REACH HER DYING HUSBAND AND HAD SAT AT HIS BEDSIDE FOR TEN DAYS, NOW GOING TO BURY HIM AMONG HIS SOLDIERS.
BESIDE THE CASKET, AMONG THE PALLBEARERS, WALKED A BLACK AMERICAN MASTER SERGEANT NAMED WILLIAM MEEKS. IN THE SEGREGATED UNITED STATES ARMY OF 1945, HE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE. BUT THREE DAYS EARLIER, WHEN BEATRICE PATTON SAW THE PALLBEARER LIST AND THE NAME OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL WALTER BEDELL SMITH ON IT, SHE STRUCK THAT NAME OUT WITH SUCH FORCE THAT HER AIDE NOTED THE INK SMEAR ON THE PAPER.
IN ITS PLACE, SHE WROTE THE NAME OF WILLIAM MEEKS.
EVERYONE AT THAT FUNERAL UNDERSTOOD WHAT SHE WAS SAYING. AND OF THE MEN WHO WERE NOT AT THE FUNERAL, ONE NAME MATTERED ABOVE ALL OTHERS: THE NAME OF DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER.
EISENHOWER, THE FIVE-STAR GENERAL AND SUPREME COMMANDER OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, WAS THIRTY-FOUR DAYS INTO HIS NEW JOB AS CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY. SITTING AT HIS DESK AT THE PENTAGON IN ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, 3,900 MILES WEST OF HAM, LUXEMBOURG, HE HAD KNOWN GEORGE PATTON FOR SIXTEEN YEARS AND THREE MONTHS. THEY HAD BEEN YOUNG OFFICERS TOGETHER AT CAMP MEADE, MARYLAND IN SEPTEMBER OF 1919, LEARNING ABOUT TANKS AFTER THE LAST WAR.
THEIR WIVES HAD BEEN FRIENDS. THEIR SONS HAD PLAYED TOGETHER.
26 YEARS LATER ON CHRISTMAS EVE OF 1945, PATTON WAS GOING INTO THE GROUND AT HAM IN THE RAIN, AND IKE WAS AT HIS DESK AT THE PENTAGON, AND THEY HAD NOT SEEN EACH OTHER OR SPOKEN TO EACH OTHER OR WRITTEN A PERSONAL WORD TO EACH OTHER FOR 87 DAYS.
THE HISTORICAL RECORD DEMANDS HONESTY UP FRONT. THE TITLE OF THE CLAIM SUPPORTS THAT EISENHOWER WAS THE ONLY MAJOR AMERICAN GENERAL WHO DID NOT ATTEND THE FUNERAL IS NOT ACCURATE. THE SENIOR AMERICAN COMMAND WAS SCATTERED ACROSS THE GLOBE IN DECEMBER OF 1945.
GENERAL GEORGE MARSHALL, ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF, WAS IN CHINA. GENERAL OMAR BRADEY WAS IN WASHINGTON RUNNING THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION. LIEUT general WALTON WALKER, ONE OF PATTON’S OWN CORE COMMANDERS, TRIED TO FLY IN HIS AIRCRAFT BUT COULD NOT LAND BECAUSE OF THICK FOG.
EISENHOWER WAS ONE OF MANY SENIOR GENERALS WHO DID NOT STAND AT THE GRAVE THAT CHRISTMAS EVE. BUT THE REASON THE HISTORY LINGERS ON HIM IS THAT HE WAS THE ONE WHO MATTERED MOST TO GEORGE PATTON. EISENHOWER WAS THE ONE WHO THREE MONTHS EARLIER HAD TAKEN THE THIRD ARMY AWAY TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD PATTON.
AND EISENHOWER WAS THE ONE WHOSE ABSENCE COULD NOT BE REPAIRED AFTERWARDS, BECAUSE PATTON DID NOT LIVE TO SEE HIM AGAIN.
THE ARCHIVES DO NOT RECORD THE DRAMATIC INVENTED SCENES OF EISENHOWER CRYING IN FRANKFURT OR CONFESSING POLITICAL CALCULATION OVER WHISKEY. THEY DO NOT RECORD INVENTED CONVERSATIONS PLOTTING A 1948 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WAS MORE RESTRAINED, MORE HUMAN, AND IN A WAY, MORE SAD.
GEORGE SMITH PATTON JR. WAS BORN ON NOVEMBER 11TH, 1885, ON A FAMILY RANCH IN SAN GABRIEL, CALIFORNIA. HE WAS DYSLEXIC BEFORE THERE WAS A WORD FOR IT IN AN OLD WHEN SUCH CHILDREN WERE CONSIDERED SLOW, HE MEMORIZED HIS LESSONS AND RODE IN THE MODERN PENTATHLON AT THE STOCKHOLM OLYMPICS OF 1912, FINISHING FIFTH.
HE COMMANDED THE FIRST AMERICAN TANKS IN THE MEUSE-ARGONNE OFFENSIVE IN SEPTEMBER OF 1918 AND WAS SHOT THROUGH THE LEG.
IN THE SECOND WAR, HE COMMANDED THE WESTERN TASK FORCE AT THE TORCH LANDINGS IN MOROCCO, THE 7TH ARMY IN SICILY, AND THE THIRD ARMY FROM AUGUST OF 1944 THROUGH THE END OF THE WAR. NO OTHER AMERICAN ARMY ADVANCED FASTER OR Killed MORE GERMAN SOLDIERS THAN THE THIRD ARMY DID. DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER WAS BORN ON OCTOBER 14TH, 1890 IN DENISON, TEXAS, RAISED IN ABILENE.
KANSAS. HE FINISHED 61ST IN THE WEST POINT CLASS OF 1915. HE MISSED AIR CREDIT IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR, RUNNING A TANK TRAINING SCHOOL AT GETTYSBURG.
IN DECEMBER OF 1943, HE BECAME SUPREME COMMANDER OF THE GRAND. ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE. ON NOVEMBER 20TH, 1945, 34 DAYS BEFORE IT WOULD PATTON’S DEATH IN HEIDELBERG HE WAS SWORN IN AT THE PENTAGON AS ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF.
HE WAS 55 YEARS OLD.
THE WHAR OF THE LAST THREE MONTHS OF GEORGE PATTON’S LIFE TAKES PLACE ACROSS NINE LOCATIONS IN THREE COUNTRIES. THE FIRST IS A RESORT TOWN IN THE BAVARIAN ALPS CALLED BAD TOLZ, HEADQUARTERS OF THE THIRD ARMY IN SEPTEMBER OF 1945. PATTON WAS MILITARY GOVOR FOR BAVARIA, ADMINISTERING A TERRITORY OF CIVILIZATIONS AND THE PRESSURE FROM WASHINGTON WAS TO REMOVE EVERY FORMER NAZI PARTY MEMBER FROM EVERY ADMINISTRATIVE POST IN THE AMERICAN ZONE.
THE GERMAN CIVIL ADMINISTRATION WOULD COLLAPSE IF HE COMPLIED, AND THAT THERE IS DO NOT GIVE BAVERIA STARVES BY WINTER. HE WAS NOT THE ALONE IN THAT JUDGMENT. BUT ON SEPTEMBER 22ND AT A PRESS CONFERENCE, HE SAID IT OUT LOUD.
HE MADE THE COMPARISON TO CIVILIZATION IN A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN ELECTION. THAT ONE COMPARISON WOULD THE POSITION COST HIM HIS COMMAND.
ON SEPTEMBER 28TH, 1945, AT APPREMATELY 2 PM, PATTON DROVE SEVEN HOURS THROUGH RAIN TO THE IG FABBEN BUILDING IN FRANKFURT. IN THE PRESENCE OF BEDELL SMITH AND TWO CIVIL AFFAIRS OFFICERS, EISEN HOUR TOOK THE THIRD ARMY AWAY FROM A PATTON IN A CONVERTED BOARDROOM WITH A LONG TABLE. PATTON’S OWN DIARY RECORDS THAT EISENHOWER WAS, “MORE EXCITED THAN I HAVE EVER SEEN HIM.”
PATTON RECORDED THAT HIS FIRST IMPULSE WAS TO RESIGN HIS COMMUNICATION ON THE SPOT. HE WROTE THAT NIGHT, “IKE HAS FORGOTTEN HOW TO BE A FRIEND.”
THAT WAS NOT THE WHOLE STORY. WHAT PATTON COULD NOT SEE AT THE TIME WAS THAT EISENHOWER WAS DOING THE ONLY BEST THING TO PREVENT TRUMAN AND THE WAR DEPARTMENT FROM REMOVING GEORGE PATTON FROM THE ARMY ENTIRELY. CACHING HIM OFF WITHOUT CHURGITY.
BY REASSIGNING PATTON TO THE PAPER15TH ARMY, EISENHOWER KEPT HIM ON ACTIVE DUTY IN A FOUR-STAR UNIFORM. BUT PATTON DID NOT SEE IT THAT WAY. HE THEIR MIND WAS ALREADY MADE UP.
PATTON TOOK THE TRAIN TO BAD NAUHEIM TO TAKE COMMAND OF THE 15TH ARMY, AND ITS MISSION WAS TO WRITE THE OPERATIONAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE. IT EXISTED ON PAPER ONLY. FROM THE VILLA HE SPENT HIS LAST NINE WEEKS READING HISTORY AND WRITING BITTERED LETTERS HOME.
HE TOLD HIS WIFE THE 15TH ARMY WAS A PAPER ARMY.
ON NOVEMBER 3RD, EISENHOWER AND HIS WIFE FLEW HOME ONE WASHINGTON WITHOUT STOPPING AT BAD NAUHEIM, THAT SILENCE WAS CALCULATED. HIS STAFF TOLD HIM ANY SIGN OF FORMAL FAREWELL RIGHT AFTER THE BACATTER WOULD UNDERCUT HIS CREDIBILITY IN WASHINGTON. THE FRIENDSHIP WAS ALREADY BROKEN, AND EISENHOWER MADE A CHOICE THAT PATTON COULD NOT FORGIVE HIM FOR.
ON DECEMBER 9TH, 1945, A COLD GRAY MORNING WITH INTERMITTENT AIRN, PATTON TRAVELED WITH MAJOR GENERAL HOBART GAY FOR A PHISANT HUNT. THEIR DRIVER WAS PRIVATE FIRST CLASS WOODRING. AT APPROXIMATELY 11:45 AM MORNING AT T-JUNCTION OUTSIDE THE QUARTERMASTER DEPOT IN KAFFERSTAHL, A SLOW-MOVING GMC TRUCK DROVER TSTURNED LEFT ACROSS THE CADBICAL’S PATH WITHOUT SIGNALING.
THE IMPACT WAS SLIGHT. PATSON WAS SEATED BEHIND THE DRIVER SECTOR OR THE ENCLOSED REAR COMPARTMENT. HIS HEAD STRUCK THE METAL.
HE PARALYZED INSTANTLY AND WAS FULLY CONSCIOUS WHOLE.
HE TURNED HIS EYES TO GAY, UNABLE TO MOVE HIS HEAD, AND SAID, “THI IS THE YELL OF A WAY TO DIE.”
PATTON WAS TAKEN TO THE 130TH STATION HOSPITAL HEIDDLEBERG HILL OVERLOOKING THE NECKER RIVER. HE ASKED WHETHER THE PARRISIS WAS PERMANENT. TOLD HONESTLY THAT IT PROBABLY WAS.
HE SAID, “WELL, THIS IS THE END OF THE ROAD FOR ME.” EISENHOWER, ON THE VERY PAY OF THE ACCIDENT, ORDERED HIS NEURO SURGON, COLONEL R. GLENN SPERLING, FLOWN IN FROM OXFORD, ENGLAND.
A BEATRIC PATTON WAS FLOWN FROM MASSACHUSETTS SPRING ON A C-54 TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT THE NEXT DAY. SHE SAT WITH HER HUSBAND FOR 10 DAYS, READING FROM BIBLI. ON DECEMBER 21ST, PATTON DEVELOPED CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE IN DIED AT 5:55 PM, 12 DAYS AFTER THE ACCIDENT.
THE ENTBLOW REACHED THE PENTAGON AT 3:30 PM WASHINGTON TIME ON THE SAME DAY. THE HISTORICAL RECORD DOES NOT PRESERVE EISENHOWER’S EXACT WORDS IN THE ROOM. IT PRESERVES HIS AGE ACTIONS.
ON DECEMBER 10TH, BEFORE THE DEATH, EISENHOWER HAD SAT DOWN AND WRITTEN A GERMAN WROTE A PERSONAL LETTER TO GEORGE PATTON. IT WAS DELIVERED TO THE HIDDLEBERG HOSPITAL ON THE 14TH OF DECEMBER AND READ ALOUD TO THE PARRALYZED by BEATRICE.
THE LETTER, PRESERVED IN THE EISON PAPERS, THEN HE WAS PRAYING FOR HIS RECOVERY. HE MENTIONED CAMP MEADE. HE TOLDED THE SAME WHATEVER HAS PASSED BETWEEN HE INSEPTEMBER WAS OVER AND FORGIVEN AND THAT THE FRIENDSHIP OF 1919 WAS THE ONE THAT MATTERED.
HE IS SIGNED IT, AS EVER, YOUR FRIEND, IKE. WE DO NOT KNOW CONCRETELY IF HE HEARD IT OR WHETHER HE SPOKE. WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT HE DIED BEFORE HE DID NOT LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO REPLY THAT LETTER IS THE LAST DOCUMENTED EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE MEN.
THE FUN FUNERAL WAS SET FOR THE 24TH, THREE DAYS AFTER THE DEATH. NO AIRCRAFT COULD GET THE CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE ARMY ON HAM, LUXEMBOURG AND BACK TO HIS PENTAGON DESK IN THE MIDDLE OF DEMOBILIZATION CRISES. TRUMAN WAS EXPECTING HIM AT THE OVAL OFFICE.
THE DAILY BRIEF REQUIRED HIS PERSONAL SIGNATURE. EISENHOWER DID WHAT HE COULD DO. HE WROTE CONDOLENCE CABASSES.
SIGNED ORDERS FOR THE MILITARY HONOR GUARD. HE ALLOCATED THE FUNERAL SENAL TRAIN. AUTHORIZED GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR TO DIG THE GRAVE.
HE INSTRUCTED HIS STAFF TO PLAN A MEMORIAL SERVICE AT FORT MYER ALON.
HE STAYED AT HIS DESK, AND HE DID NOT GO.
AT 8 AM CHRISTMAS EVE, AT THE AMERICAN MILITARY CEMETERY AT HAMAT THE HEADS OF THE GRAVES OF 5,076 OF PATTON’S OWN SOLDIERS, A MASTER OF GENERAL CARRYING THE CASKET WAS WILLIAM MEEKS. THE SOLDIERS WHO DIED OF THE GERMAN AND ANNEXATION WHO DIED THAT VERY AMERICAN GARRISON PLACED THEM THERE, WAS THAT THE FINAL LEG OF THE JOURNEY WAS CARRIED WITH A BLACK ORDER BY THE WIDOW’S INSTIGATION. BEATRIC PATTON DID NOT THROW DIVERGUE ON THE COF FINGER BECAUSE SHE COULD NOT LEAVE.
MAJOR GENERAL JEFFREY KEYS READ THE CABLE MESSAGES AT THE GRAVESIDE. THE ONE FROM EISENHOWER MOURTHOUSE OF HIS FRIEND FROM THE LONGEST STANDING OF ANY MAN IN THE ARMY AND WAS THE LAST. REACHES IN WASHINGTON TWO DAYS REMOVED FROM THE COLD RAIN ON THE HILL IN LUXEMBOURG, DWIGHT EISENHOWER WALKED HOME TO FORT MEYER TO DINNER.
HE CAME HOME AND SAT DOWN TO DINNER WITH HIS FAMILY OF THE NIGHT OF HIS BEST FRIED THE FUNERAL.
HE GOT UP THE NEXT DAY AND WENT BACK TO THE PENTAGON. HE NEVER PUBLICLY SPOKE OF COME OF THE 511 OF PATTON’S OWN SOLDIERS AT H A SINGLE TIME IN HIS PERSONAL, WHICH WILL NOT ALL DO.
THE REAL STORY IS NOT ABOUT POLITICAL CALCULATION. IT IS ABOUT THE ROOM FRIENDS WHO RAN OUT OF TIME. THE 87 DAYS SILENCE, THE LETTER THAT WAS READ A LOUD TO A MAN WHO COULD NOT HOLD HIS HANDTHE HOLD.
THE JOB THAT COULD NOT BE PUT BASE FOR FOUR DAYS. AND IN THE END, THE FACT THAT GE ORGE PATTON DID NOT LIVE TO SEE HIS OLDEST FRIEND AGAIN. HE LIVED HIS LIFE WITH REGRETS TO THE DAY HE DIED.
THEATRICE PATTON LIVED A YEAR AND NINE MONTHS MORE. SHE ATENDED EISENHOWER’S INAUGURATION AS THE LEAVE’ 34TH PRESIDENT ON JANUARY 20TH, 1953 AS A PERSONAL GUEST. SHE SAT IN THE FRONT ROW AND DID NOT SMILE.
ON SEPTEMBER 30TH, 1953 SHE WAS TWO FROM A HORSE ON HER FAMILY ESTATE AND DIED OF AN AORTIC SOME COUGH. THE FOLLOWING SPRING THEIR SON SCATTERED ASHER ON THE GRAVE AT HAM LUXEMBOURG STONE THAT IS AT THE HEAD OF THE CROWS TODAY.
IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE ANY YEAR YOU VISIT. THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF LUXEMBOURG AND THE VETERANS OF THE THIRD ARMY AND THEIR DATA PLACE FRESH FLOWERS ON THE GRAVE OF GEORGE PATTON AND THEY HAVE NEVER TRIED TO TELL HIM IN. THE PROCESSION STARTED IN THE DRIZZLE IN THE PARK AND EVERY YEAR IT RISES THE SAME ROUTE, THE SAME ROADS, THE WOMAN WHO WALKED BEHIND THE CORT A FEE.
THE LIGHT THAT WESTERN SAYS ARE WRITTEN ON THE CROSSE.
THEY ARE ALL STILL SLEEPING, PATTON AND MEEKS, IKEAND RUT AND THE RIDER AND THE THROWER SAIL. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY EISENHOWER THEGOTTEN, THE ANSWER IS NOT IN A DRAMATIC ONE. HE SENT A LETTER WHEN HIS FRIEND LAY DYING.
HE READ WITH YEARS AFTER THAT AS THE CHIEF OF STAFF THE UNDER THE GRAVES HERE, AND HIS FRIEND WENT IN THE GROUND WITHOUT HIM IN THE STORY OF THE ARMY. THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED. THAT IT IS ALL HE HAD.
THAT WAS ALL IT WAS. THAT WAS THE BEST HE COULD DO. TIME WAS THE ENEMY.
AND TIME HAD WON.
