doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Way OT -- General George S. Patton Jr.

The qualities looked for in a Chief of Staff are far different from a front-line commander.

KB- we often see success in one area misconstrued as a predicter of success in a very different area. Also, we see highly ambitious people blind to their own strengths and weaknesses. When these two situations combine, we see the wrong guy on the job.

There was apparently no George S. Patton 111- but his son, who graduated from West Point in 1945 was named George S. Patton IV- he dropped the IV later- tank unit commander in both Korea and later 3 tours in Vietnam with 11th. Regt- 2nd. Armored- Purple Heart and Two Distinguished Services Crosses-very much like his famous Dad- "We'll find the bastards and obliterate them"!! He did, rumor has it, in his final tour as full Col. in 'Nam, hold up a skull from a deceased NVA- whether he actually drank anything from it-not certain- Later commanded the 2nd. Armored Div. at Ft. Hood- -His Father- very hard man to know or figure out-brilliant field commander, highly educated, swore like a Calvary mule skinner- Hard to be a son of a military legend I should guess- USMC General Lewis. B. Puller "Chesty" only Marine to be awarded the Navy Cross 5 times in his career had his son Lewis Jr. graduate USMC OCS- on a night patrol in 1966-67 in 'Nam, he lost use of his arms and nearly both legs in a IED booby trap- rotated back to the World at Bethesda Naval Hospital, and a short time later he O.D.'d on pills- book out about that tragic loss "Fortunate Son"-!!

I hate to think that my hero Mr. G who flew 20+ missions for 8th AF in B-17 didn't put those germans on their knees. I'm sorry about being wrong about the name of US Air Fleet, but your county got approx. 30+ years of economic prosperity and what did we Polaks get? How about 40+ years of f..... communism. Our lands to the east were stolen by those Russian bastards and they gave us lands in the West and East Purssia which never belonged to us in the first place. To make it worse they made us learn that fulgar russian language in grade school. They were learning English of course.

I believe you are right King- George Marshall had to balance Patton, MacArthur, Eisenhower plus co-operate with Montgomery and others and work with an ailing Commander-In-Chief of a two Theatre War effort- From what I read, George Marshall may have developed the patience of a Saint and the wisdom of a King Solomon-his "Marshall Plan" after WW11 paved the way for European economic recovery- Patton was right about the Russians-but I don't think they had the "clout" to bring about a plot to kill Patton- And we can only guess what his WW11 career might have truly been had he not slapped a soldier in Sicily in a Field Hospital tent- for an Officer to hit an Enlisted man, is usually a career ending move- Patton's thought may have been right but his temper and aggressive nature overcame his judgement- and as he wasn't the Stars and Stripes "Favorite General" they leaked the story to the Stateside press, which "torpedoed" his career- "Ike" wanted to sent him back, relieved of his command, George Marshall over-ruled Ike- a command decision which I am sure the 101st. Airborne units at Bastogne later appreciated. So much we will never know!!

I will point out that a former Marine, defected to the USSR at the height of the Cold War, married a KGB officer's niece, returned to the USA a very short time later, and attemped an assination of a former General (Walker)with political ambitions; who was very anti-communist, shortly before he shot JFK, who had plotted to kill Castro and Diem. Yea it could have happened.

Why, RHD45, you sound a little bitter about the war in Nam. Didn't you like General Westmoreland's order of bombing the enemy, starting with the least important targets and working backwards to the most important just so the war could be lengthened? You know I was told back in the 60s that we had to have a war every twenty years or so- keeps the population down, you know.

Postoak, the analogy doesn't work very well. Oswald's story is a strange one indeed--assuming, of course, you reject all the JFK conspiracy theorists who say he was just a patsy and someone else shot the president. And while it's possible that someone did assassinate Patton, the link to the OSS and Donovan is extremely weak: OSS no longer existed when Patton had his accident; Donovan had no apparent motive to order the hit and no longer had anyone left to order.

And JFK didn't plot to kill Diem. CIA did have contacts within the group that plotted the coup, but it was not a CIA plot, and they reported the information to DC. The decision was made at "the highest level" not to warn Diem. Somewhat similar to what happened to Allende a decade or so later in Chile.

Krushchev ordered Nixon assassinated if he beat Kennedy. Yeah, anything is possible. Patton's view on the Russian Commies was well known and got him into more trouble since Russia was an "ally" at the time.

It is interesting to read old WW2 newspapers to see what was being reported at the time. In '43, we were being told that we would be in Germany "for a long time". Guess 63 years is a long time.

I don't know how the assassination of Diem originated but I did use most of the parts off the M-113 armored vehicle which was supposed to the place he was killed. (Probably just another BS myth). In May 1965 my armor unit arrived in South Vietnam but it took a while for normal supply of replacement parts to begin. We scrounged usable items off damaged S. Vietnamese equipment at Bien Hoa. This particular vehicle had very little wrong with it but the Vietnamese wanted nothing to do with it. Probably should have confiscated it (military term = steal for official use), repaired and used it along with my others.