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Today, beside being the Winter Solstice and the traditional shortest day of the year, marks the anniversary of the death of one of our greats, George S. Patton, Jr. in 1945. Arguably the greatest armor commander in any army, he was 60.<\/p>\n
Patton was paralyzed in an auto accident on Dec. 9. “Old Blood and Guts” died in the hospital of a blood clot in his heart.<\/p>\n
The general “led a life of adventure, fighting in almost every major American twentieth century conflict,” the National World War II Museum notes.<\/p>\n
“He often led from the front, and he almost always delivered victory,” the same source also says. “His swift conquest of Sicily, his race across France, his relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge and his drive into Germany destroyed German armies, saved American lives and captured the collective imagination of the American public.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Contrary to what you could infer from movie lines like “Old Blood and Guts? Yeah, his guts, our blood”:<\/p>\n
Patton “produced more results, in less time, with fewer casualties than any other general, in any army, in World War II” \u2014 despite his boisterous rhetoric and reputation for recklessness \u2014 biographer Alan Axelrod said on the American Heroes Channel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n