George S. Patton IV: Quotes about war

“I was still in Europe at the time. Truman said he had the authority to relieve him and he did it. I have never made up my mind whether he was right or not, but I happened to be with a British unit the night we learned of MacArthur's dismissal. The British had a brigade in Korea at the time and the British officers in the Mess were very anti-MacArthur and celebrating his demise. I think MacArthur was a magnificent general, but he became more and more insulated from the world by his staff, many of whom had been with him since the Bataan days. I think that was part of the problem. He was not a young man at the time of Korea. I think, perhaps, he got too dependent on his staff officers and certain things happened which were not in MacArthur's best interest… Even after MacArthur was relieved by the President of the United States he had a tickertape parade in New York City and he made two great speeches, one to Congress and one about Duty, Honor, Country. The Duty, Honor, Country speech is one of the greatest ever made by a military man, and he made it without a note at the age of seventy-five. I believe Douglas MacArthur in 1945 could have come home and run for president and won going away. He was worshiped at the end of the war.”

George S. Patton IV

Source: The Fighting Pattons (1997) by Brian M. Sobel, p. 67

War , Age , World , Home

“The lessons of West Point are many, but the Academy has been the source of discipline, courage, and strength for many of its graduates in both peace and war since its founding in 1802.”

George S. Patton IV

Source: The Fighting Pattons (1997) by Brian M. Sobel, p. 28

War , Peace , Courage

“It was one of those hot days and it got to be about a hundred degrees, and old Mike just got fed up and threw his books in the corner, and said, 'See ya later, Doc, I'm going to war.' Next thing we heard, he was in Italy with the 3rd Division, where he later was awarded the Medal of Honor and received a battlefield promotion.”

George S. Patton IV

On Michael J. Daly, who attended the United States Military Academy alongside Patton for one year. p. 27
The Fighting Pattons (1997) by Brian M. Sobel

War , Books

“I don't know how long this thing will last… We can still lose this war. That's a real clear statement. I wouldn't be a goddamned bit surprised but that we can still lose it. And then you can just write those casualties off and those ever-increasing names on those ever-increasing monuments… You can keep putting them on the monuments and giving out all this crap, all this posthumous DSCs and Purple Hearts… but there's no end to this thing.”

George S. Patton IV

Letter from Patton to his wife, written on November 10, 1968. As quoted in Growing Up Patton (2012) by Benjamin Patton, p. 295

War , Heart

“Prior to Ap Bac, the Kennedy administration had succeeded in preventing the American public from being more than vaguely conscious that the country was involved in a war in a place called Vietnam.”

George S. Patton IV

Source: The Fighting Pattons (1997) by Brian M. Sobel, p. 101

War , Country

“Christ, I'm busy and there's a lot of people who wanna give me parties and I've got to go and say good-bye to the troops. And Jesus, we've got some great troops here, just great. I'm so kinda sad leaving them, just kinda sad. I was sittin' in the chopper today and I just bawled my goddamn head off, I just did. Funny… It isn't that I don't want to come home; I want to come home and I'm sick of this war a little bit. But leaving this unit is tough, and that's all there is to it.”

George S. Patton IV

Letter from Patton to his wife, written on April 23, 1969. As quoted in Growing Up Patton (2012) by Benjamin Patton, p. 298

War , People , Sadness , Home