European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 20, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Death throes lot a general Willie Patton pet Bull terrier lift betide the general personal belonging. Photo of Patton at right waa taken in March 1945 when he wat the 3rd army commander. Wet d Agostino Cal writer i his is a hell of a Way Lor a Soldier to die said Gen. George s ration or. Who Lay paralysed at a . Military Hospital in Heidelberg Weot Germany. Or did he 3 general who was injured in a car Accident in y Mannheim on dec. 9,1945, died 12 Days later Sions of the quote vary there is in fact spread disagreement about Many details funding ration s Accident and his death 44 years m dec. 21. E have not been Able to pin Down who he said it the exact words he used but it is probably the 3f thing he would have said said Bruce Siemon nand historian Lor the . Army in Europe other Rumor surrounding ration s death was that Highway Accident was actually an assassination it. But Siemon dismisses that idea which me the plot of a Hollywood movie As nonsense in the exact location of the room Patlon died in me a mystery that took Elfort to unravel i the Hospital was renovated in the eary 1930s. An interesting aside on How historical truth can times get Siemon said. Ton died in a room that is now part of he a Ray tent on the Hospital s first floor. A plaque on the by Wall commemorates the event. When the Tal was undergoing renovations someone Jed the plaque and took it to the Hospital Lander s office in the administration building s from the Hospital for safekeeping Siemon said. Ien the renovations were completed in 1984, the e who had been around when the plaque was de had left and no one realized it was in the 3 location. It was assumed ration had died in the Lander s office. Mer Usa eur historian Billy a. Arthur happened in the commander s office one Day when he saw Aque and said what s that doing Here Vever the historian s word was doubted and the be was still in the same location when Dave Art became a Public affairs officer for 7th medical in Heidelberg in 1986. Arthur had to fight to get Aque moved pointing out that the building it was cd in had been constructed alter ration s death Stewart recalled. Ii look some sorting out to get it Back to the room where he actually for a historian Siemon said the broader facts of an historical event Are easier to pin Dov a than verifying the smaller details because the human memory is ration 60, was going pheasant Hunting North of Mannheim on the morning of dec. 9 when the Cadillac he was a passenger in collided with a 2vj-Lon . Army truck on Highway b 38 while leaving Kae Fertal and heading into Mannheim. His chief of staff maj. Gen. Hobart r. Gay and the Driver of the car. Pfc. Horace l. Woodring were shaken up but not seriously injured. Tech. 5 Robert l. Thompson the Driver of the truck also escaped serious injury. Both Drivers were called careless but no charges were Ever brought against them. Patton had been thrown Forward hitting his head on a clock on the Back of the front seat he was taken to the Heidelberg Hospital and examined by i. Col. Paul s Hill then Chiel of the surgical service. Hill was contacted by the army 19 years later and asked to provide information about the general s death and in part Cular where he had died. His letter is kept in the Usa eur historical archives. wrote that Patton was conscious and oriented with a Long deep a shaped laceration from the Bridge of his nose up Over his Scalp he had lost a lot of blood and was going into Shock. Ration could not move or feel his body below his neck. A rays showed that his spine had been broken at the third cervical Vertebra and that the fourth cervical Vertebra was dislocated. Ration s spine had to be stabilized by putting him in traction. Two clamps were put in his jaw Bones to extend his head Hill wrote. Several Days later the traction was eliminated in favor of a plaster cast applied to his neck and shoulders. Ration s wife Beatrice and her brother. Frederick Ayer flew in from the United states during a blinding snowstorm on dec 11 to be with the general. Palton greeted his wife with a smile but fold her i m afraid Bea this May be the last time we see each other according to the British historical Magazine alter the Battle. Several prominent doctors were flown in to care Lor ration while he was at the Small Hospital a former Cavern for a German signal battalion. Mrs. Patton had requested before her arrival that a professor of Neur Surgy from Oxford University be flown to Germany to care for her husband. Two bulletins updating ration s condition were issued daily to the press from the Hospital. On dec. 15, reports said Patton had shown some improvement in sensation and his general condition was described As excellent. The general it was reported was Given fruit scrambled eggs Ham and Tea and also medicinal whiskey once a Day. Some reports were unofficial. The dec. 13 front Page headline of the stars and stripes declared Flat on his Back Skull clamped. Palton Calls for shot of Gruff and swearing at the almost total paralysis which keeps him Flat 01 his Hospital bed old blood and guts refuses to complain and when not cursing the paralysis makes jokes about it his nurses said the Story read. One of the night nurses later denied giving such information to the correspondents. Reports of ration s Lon term chances for recovery were sometimes vague or conflicting. The dec. 14 update had one of Patton s doctors saying the general might recover fully but might also be partly paralysed for life. The stars and stripes reported thai Patton had orders to return to the United Stales for leave and probable retirement at the time of his Accident and would have left within 12 hours of the time of the crash. Patton was the commanding general of the 15th army a paper Force writing the history of the War in Europe at the time of the Accident. Perhaps More interesting than the recollections of Patton s medical condition were the conversations Hill remembered having with the general. When the first stitch was taken the general said seventy two when asked what he meant he replied that this was the 72nd stitch that he had taken in his Hill wrote. On several occasions when i sat alone beside his bed he talked about his experiences in navigating a boat of a boat which he was to have built or had built about writing an autobiography and about the year before when the same Short december Days were hampering the movements of his tanks. But never a word about his predicament of which i am sure he was fully Patton spent an uncomfortable night on dec. 20, coughing and having excessive secretions in his lungs a one paragraph bulletin reported. The next Day he was dead from blood clots in his 20, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 15
