GEORGE PATTON
Politics
Born: November 11, 1885
San Gabriel, California
Died: December 21, 1945

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
George S. Patton, Jr. went to the Virginia Military Institute and to West Point, an undistinguished student but a remarkable athlete. A cavalry man and swordsman in the U.S. Army, in 1916 he went with General John J. Pershing and fought in Mexico, and during World War I Patton worked in the early days of tanks as offensive weapons. After the war he continued to study tanks, learned to be a pilot and sailor and held administrative posts in the Army.

During World War II he served in North Africa and Sicily before becoming the commander of the Third Army. American general and tank commander George Patton was World War II's most colorful U.S. general and will always be remembered for making a significant contribution to Allied victory. His showmanship and audacity and his leading genius in tank warfare resulted in bold armored advances across Germany and France in 1944 and 1945. Though George Patton was profane, impetuous and flamboyant, his shrewd judgment made him a great combat commander. Toward the close of the war, Patton's Third Army defied the odds and drove the Nazis across France and back into Germany. Near the end of the war, Patton was seriously injured in an automobile accident near Mannheim, Germany. He died in a hospital in Heidelberg, which is now in Germany.