GENERAL PATTON DIES FOLLOWING CAR CRASH
Heidelberg, Germany (JFK+50) U.S. Army General George S. Patton*, "Old Blood and Guts," died on December 21, 1945, in a military hospital here in Heidelberg.
The cause of death was pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure that followed a severe injury to the head sustained in an automobile accident on December 9th.
General Patton was a passenger in the back seat of a 1938 Cadillac staff car when the driver stopped at a railroad crossing to allow a train to pass. When the driver started up again, he was hit by a 2.5 ton GMC truck.
Although the crash itself was minor, General Patton's head struck a metal part of a partition that separated the front and rear seats causing a compression fracture and dislocation of the 3rd and 4th vertebrae. This resulted in a broken neck and severe cervical spinal cord injury.
When he arrived at the hospital, Patton reportedly said: "Jesus Christ, what a way to start a leave."
*George S. Patton, Jr. was born into a military family in San Gabriel, California in 1885. His grandfather served in the Confederate army in the Civil War.
George Patton attended V.M.I. and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1909. Serving in the 8th Cavalry, he began wearing his Colt 45 pistol in his belt and later changed to an ivory handled Colt revolver. He participated in the search for Pancho Villa under John J. Pershing.
Patton served in WWI where he organized the American tank school in France & won the Distinguished Service Cross and Distinguished Service Medal.
SOURCES
"Patton and His Third Army" by Brenton G. Wallace (1946)
www.generalpatton.org/
Heidelberg, Germany (JFK+50) U.S. Army General George S. Patton*, "Old Blood and Guts," died on December 21, 1945, in a military hospital here in Heidelberg.
The cause of death was pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure that followed a severe injury to the head sustained in an automobile accident on December 9th.
General Patton was a passenger in the back seat of a 1938 Cadillac staff car when the driver stopped at a railroad crossing to allow a train to pass. When the driver started up again, he was hit by a 2.5 ton GMC truck.
Although the crash itself was minor, General Patton's head struck a metal part of a partition that separated the front and rear seats causing a compression fracture and dislocation of the 3rd and 4th vertebrae. This resulted in a broken neck and severe cervical spinal cord injury.
When he arrived at the hospital, Patton reportedly said: "Jesus Christ, what a way to start a leave."
*George S. Patton, Jr. was born into a military family in San Gabriel, California in 1885. His grandfather served in the Confederate army in the Civil War.
George Patton attended V.M.I. and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1909. Serving in the 8th Cavalry, he began wearing his Colt 45 pistol in his belt and later changed to an ivory handled Colt revolver. He participated in the search for Pancho Villa under John J. Pershing.
Patton served in WWI where he organized the American tank school in France & won the Distinguished Service Cross and Distinguished Service Medal.
SOURCES
"Patton and His Third Army" by Brenton G. Wallace (1946)
www.generalpatton.org/
Patton and Lt.Col. Lyle Bernard
Near Brolo, Sicily, 1943
