George S. Patton - Road Accident and Death

Road Accident and Death

On December 9, 1945, Patton was severely injured in a road accident. The day before Patton was scheduled to leave Europe for a permanent trip back to the U.S., he and his chief of staff, Major General Hobart R. "Hap" Gay, were on a day trip to hunt pheasants in the country outside Mannheim, Germany. The trip was designed to cheer Patton. Their 1938 Cadillac Model 75 (a full size Cadillac Series 70 V-8 car) was driven by Private First Class Horace L. Woodring (1926–2003), who had not been the driver who drove Patton through the war. Patton sat in the back seat on the right side, with Gay on his left, as per custom. At 11:45 near Neckarstadt (Mannheim-Käfertal), shortly after Patton's car had stopped for a train and accelerated after its passing, a 2½ ton GMC truck driven by Technical Sergeant Robert L. Thompson (1925–1994) made a left turn in front of Patton's Cadillac at an uncontrolled intersection, and without anyone seeing the truck make a turn signal. Patton's car hit the front of the truck at a relatively low speed, estimated at 30 mph.

At first the crash seemed minor: the vehicles were hardly damaged, no one in the truck was hurt, and Gay and Woodring were uninjured. However, Patton in the back had not been braced for the crash and hadn't realized it was coming. After the impact he was found leaning back with breathing trouble; he had been thrown forward in the back, causing his forehead to strike a metal part of the partition between the front and back seats. This impact inflicted a forehead wound and a severe cervical spinal cord injury. Immediately paralyzed from the neck down, and aware of it, he was rushed to the military hospital in Heidelberg. He spent most of the rest of his remaining 12 days conscious at appropriate times, in spinal traction to decrease spinal pressure, and in some pain from this procedure, but never complaining. Essentially all non-medical visitors save for Patton's wife, who had flown from the U.S., were forbidden. Patton, who had been told he had no chance to ever again ride a horse or resume normal life, at one point commented: "This is a hell of a way to die." He died of a pulmonary embolism without any sign of struggle (the nurse checking him hourly did not immediately notice it), in the afternoon of December 21, 1945. The funeral service was held at the Christ Church (Christuskirche) in Heidelberg-Südstadt. It was a short service with no eulogies.

This incident was dramatized in the made for TV movie The Last Days of Patton in 1986 with George C. Scott reprising his role as Patton.

Patton was buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg along with other members of the Third Army, as per Patton's request to "be buried with my men." Despite Patton's earlier statements and his wife's wishes, some consideration had been made toward sending Patton's body to the U.S. for burial at a place like West Point, but repatriation of bodies was strictly forbidden for soldiers of all ranks throughout the war as a matter of policy, so for Patton, this would have required a very special exception.

On March 19, 1947, his body was moved from the original grave site in the cemetery (which was in an ordinary line of soldiers and was being trampled by visitors) to its current prominent location at the head of his former troops. A cenotaph was placed at the Wilson-Patton family plot at the San Gabriel Cemetery in San Gabriel, California, adjacent to the Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal), where Patton was baptized and confirmed. In the narthex of the sanctuary of the church is a stained glass window honor which features, among other highlights of Patton's career, a picture of him riding in a tank. A statue of Patton was placed on the grounds of the church. Patton's car was repaired and used by other officers. The car is now on display with other Patton artifacts at the General George Patton Museum at Fort Knox, Kentucky.