Gen. George Patton in the Korean War and Vietnam War

George Smith Patton - IV, the son of old blood and guts Gen. George S. Patton was a major general in the United States Army; he served in both World Wars. Patton IV served in the Korean War and Vietnam War. George was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 24, 1923. He dropped the IV legally in 1947 after his father’s passing. He was educated at Hill School and a 1946 graduate of the United States Military. Patton was initially trained as an infantry officer. His first assignment was to Regensburg West Germany, where he participated in the 1948 Berlin Airlift. The troops under his command were used to load supplies onto Air Force transport aircraft bound for Berlin. In 1952, he joined C Company, 63rd Tank Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, as a platoon leader. A year later he returned from Germany and married Joanne Holbrook.

Patton served in the Korean War from February 1953, commanding “A” Company of the 140th Infantry Division. He received his first Silver Star and the Purple Heart in Korea.

Patton served a total of three tours of duty in South Vietnam, the first from April 1962 to April 1963 at Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, during which he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He then took command of the 2nd Battalion, 81st Armor of the Armored Division at Fort Hood Texas, before his second tour in 1967, this one lasting only three months. During Patton's final and most intense tour, lasting from January 1968 to January 1969, he was awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses for his actions on the battlefield. During this final tour, he was initially assigned as Chief of Operations and Plans at Headquarters, United States Army Vietnam. However, after his promotion to colonel in April 1968, he was given command of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. During his three tours in Vietnam, Patton, who frequently used helicopters as a mobile command post, was shot down three times and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After Vietnam, Patton was promoted to brigadier general in June 1970 before becoming the commanding general of the Armored Division, and in 1975, as a major general. This was a unit his father had commanded just before rhe United States entered World War II, making this the first time in United States Army history that a father and a son had both commanded the same division.

File Photo

Patton was assigned to the VII Corps in Germany, as the Deputy Commander. He was stationed near Stuttgart, where Manfred Rommel, son of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, was a government official who later became the city’s mayor. The sons of the two former adversaries entered a much publicized friendship, which continued until Patton’s death in 2004. The two men shared the same birthday, December 24. From August 5, 1975 to November 3, 1977, he commanded the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

James Dozier, a friend of George’s who served with him in the 11th Armored Cavalry regiment (known as the Blackhorse regiment) would later reflect on Patton’s career by saying, “he just had an instinct for doing the right thing at the right time in combat and many American soldiers are alive today because George Patton was their boss. George had the instinct that many leaders of his time did not have and many veterans of the conflict are thankful for George for being their boss.”