Lot 160

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Lot 160
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George S. Patton Writes About Recovery From a Horse Blow and Getting Back to Army
George S. Patton Writes About Recovery From a Horse Blow and Getting Back to Army
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Description:

Patton Jr. George

George S. Patton Writes About Recovery From a Horse Blow and Getting Back to Army

 

GEORGE S. PATTON JR., Typed Letter Signed, to “Jerry,” November 5, 1937, Beverly, Massachusetts. 1 p., 8.5" x 5.5". On hospital letterhead. Expected folds; very good.


Complete Transcript


Beverly Hospital


Beverly, Massachusetts


                        November 5, 1937


My dear Jerry:



The agent wired Mr. Robinson of Alden’s about the $5000.00 offer and I had already wired him turning it down when I got your letter. I had also written you about the painting before your letter arrived. This explains my failure to wire.



I expect to leave the hospital tomorrow and have strong hopes or perhaps fears of getting to Fort Riley on or shortly before the first of December. so that you can address me there after that date.



With best regard to you and the family, I am


                        Very affectionately,


                        G S Patton Jr.



Historical Background:

 

Promoted to lieutenant colonel in the regular Army in March 1934, Patton transferred to the Hawaiian Division in 1935, where he wrote in 1937 a paper entitled “Surprise” that predicted a Japanese surprise attack on Hawaii. He also continued playing polo and sailing. After sailing back to Los Angeles on his fifty-six-foot yacht Arcturus for extended leave and returning to their Massachusetts home in 1937, a kick from his wife’s horse fractured his leg. The thrombophlebitis he developed from the injury nearly killed him and almost forced him out of active service. After six months of recuperation, an additional six months on an administrative assignment at the Cavalry School at Fort Riley helped him to recover fully, and he was promoted to colonel in July 1938.

 

This letter speaks to Patton’s plan to leave the hospital and travel to Fort Riley in Kansas. He also refers to a $5,000 offer from “Mr. Robinson of Alden’s,” which may refer to the Alden Design Office, founded in 1909 by famed naval architect John Gale Alden (1884-1962). In 1930, a Maine shipyard built the Arcturus from a design by Alden for Patton. He and his wife sailed it to Hawaii when he was stationed there and returned to California aboard it in 1937. Patton then publicly announced his plans to sell the Arcturus, which may be the offer he discusses in this letter. In 1939, Alden designed "When and If", a private yacht commissioned by Patton.

 

George S. Patton Jr. (1885-1945) was born in California and educated at the Virginia Military Institute and United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1909. An avid horseback rider, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the cavalry. In 1910, he married Beatrice Banning Ayer (1886-1953), the daughter of a wealthy Boston businessman. He competed in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, in the modern pentathlon, where he finished fifth behind four Swedes. He then traveled to France, where he learned fencing techniques. Returning to the United States, he rewrote cavalry saber combat doctrine and designed a new sword. In 1915 and 1916, Patton participated in the Pancho Villa Expedition in Mexico as Commander John J. Pershing’s aide. In the spring of 1917, he accompanied Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, to Europe. Patton took an interest in tanks and was soon training crews to operate them. By 1918, he was in command of a tank brigade. After World War I, he served in various army posts and began to develop the methods of mechanized warfare. At the beginning of World War II, Patton worked to develop and train armored divisions in the army. In the summer of 1942, he commanded the Western Task Force in the Allied invasion of French North Africa. He commanded the Seventh U.S. Army in the successful invasion of Sicily in July 1943. After the Normandy invasion of June 1944, Patton’s Third Army sailed to France and formed on the extreme right of Allied land forces. Through speed and aggressive offensive action, the Third Army continuously pressed retreating German forces until it ran out of fuel near Metz in northeastern France at the end of August. When the German army counterattacked in the battle of the Bulge in mid-December 1944, Patton’s ability to reposition six full divisions to relieve besieged Allied forces in Bastogne was one of the most remarkable achievements of the war. As the Germans retreated, Patton’s Third Army advanced, killing, wounding, or capturing 240,000 German soldiers in seven weeks before crossing the Rhine on March 22. After the end of the war in Europe, Patton hoped for a command in the Pacific but after a visit to the United States returned to Europe for occupation duty in Bavaria. In December 1945, the car in which he was riding collided with an American army truck at low speed, but Patton hit his head on a glass partition, breaking his neck and paralyzing him. He died twelve days later at a hospital in Germany. He was buried among some of his men of the Third Army in an American cemetery in Luxembourg.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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