Happy Birthday George S. Patton!

On this day, George S. Patton was born. I first read about "Old Blood and Guts" in the World Book Encyclopedia 1985-1987 set that my family had at the time. Then of course, there is the movie, "Patton" which probably has had more to do with his current fame than anything he actually done during the war. He was the only American commander that the Germans truly feared. I also genuinely believe that he had more to do with the eventual victory over the Nazis than any other commander as he had the ability to inspire his troops and lead from the front. I do know this for sure: The war at least would have went on longer had he not been around thus resulting in millions of more deaths in an already very destructive war.

"There are three ways that men get what they want; by planning, by working, and by praying. Any great military operation takes careful planning, or thinking. Then you must have well-trained troops to carry it out: that's working. But between the plan and the operation there is always an unknown. That unknown spells defeat or victory, success or failure. It is the reaction of the actors to the ordeal when it actually comes. Some people call that getting the breaks; I call it God. God has His part, or margin in everything, That's where prayer comes in."
As quoted in "The True Story of The Patton Prayer" by James H. O'Neill in Review of the News (6 October 1971)