Editing George S. Patton (section)

== Postwar ==
[[File:Patton during a welcome home parade in Los Angeles, June 9, 1945.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Patton during a welcome home parade in Los Angeles, 9 June 1945]]
Patton asked for a command in the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific Theater of Operations]], begging Marshall to bring him to that war in any way possible. Marshall said he would be able to do so only if the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Chinese]] secured a major port for his entry, an unlikely scenario.{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=160–162}} In mid-May, Patton flew to [[Paris]], then [[London]] for rest. On 7 June, he arrived in [[Bedford, Massachusetts]], for extended leave with his family, and was greeted by thousands of spectators. Patton then drove to [[Hatch Memorial Shell]] and spoke to some 20,000, including a crowd of 400 wounded Third Army veterans. In this speech he aroused some controversy among the [[American Gold Star Mothers|Gold Star Mothers]] when he stated that a man who dies in battle is "frequently a fool",{{sfn|Blumenson|1974|p=721}} adding that the wounded are heroes. Patton spent time in Boston before visiting and speaking in [[Denver]] and visiting [[Los Angeles]], where he spoke to a crowd of 100,000 at the [[Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum|Memorial Coliseum]]. On 14 June 1945, Secretary of War [[Henry L. Stimson]] decided that Patton would not be sent to the Pacific but would return to Europe in an occupation army assignment.<ref>Associated Press, "Patton Fails To Get Task in Orient", ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Friday June 15, 1945, Volume 51, page 2.</ref> Patton made a final stop in [[Washington, D.C.]], before returning to Europe in July to serve in the [[Allied-occupied Germany|occupation forces]].{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=163–164}}

Patton was appointed as military [[governor]] of Bavaria, where he led the Third Army in [[denazification]] efforts.{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=163–164}} Patton was particularly upset when learning of the end of the war against Japan, writing in his diary, "Yet another war has come to an end, and with it my usefulness to the world."{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=163–164}} Unhappy with his position and depressed by his belief that he would never fight in another war, Patton's behavior and statements became increasingly erratic. Various explanations beyond his disappointments have been proposed for Patton's behavior at this point. Carlo D'Este wrote that "it seems virtually inevitable&nbsp;... that Patton experienced [[Complications of traumatic brain injury#Emotional and behavioral problems|some type]] of brain damage from too many [[Traumatic brain injury|head injuries]]" from a lifetime of numerous auto- and horse-related accidents, especially one suffered while playing [[polo]] in 1936.{{sfn|D'Este|1995|pp=535–536}}

Patton's niece [[Jean Gordon (Red Cross)|Jean Gordon]] spent some time together with him in London in 1944, and in Bavaria in 1945. Patton repeatedly boasted of his sexual success with Gordon, and his wife and family plainly believed that the two were lovers. Some of his biographers are skeptical. Hirshson said that the relationship was casual.{{sfn|Hirshson|2003|p=535}} Showalter believes that Patton, under severe physical and psychological stress, made up claims of sexual conquest to prove his virility.{{sfn|Showalter|2006|pp=412–13}} D'Este agrees that Patton's "behavior suggests that in both 1936 [in Hawaii] and 1944–45, the presence of the young and attractive Jean was a means of assuaging the anxieties of a middle-aged man troubled over his virility and a fear of aging."{{sfn|D'Este|1995|p=743}} Whether or not Gordon was sexually involved with Patton, she also loved a young married captain, who returned to his wife in September 1945, leaving Gordon despondent.{{sfn|D'Este|1995|p=744}}

=== Denazification controversy and antisemitism ===
Patton attracted controversy as military governor when it was noted that several former [[Nazi Party]] members continued to hold political posts in the region.{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=163–164}} Privately, Patton expressed a soldier's respect for the Germans as adversaries and a resistance to removing Nazi Party members from power. "I had never heard," he wrote to his wife Bea, "that we fought to de-Nazify Germany—live and learn. What we are doing is to utterly destroy the only semi-modern state in Europe so that Russia can swallow the whole&nbsp;... Actually the Germans are the only decent people in Europe."<ref>Martin Blumenson, ''Patton: The Man Behind The Legend, 1885-1945'', 1985, William Morrison, New York, p. 281</ref>

Patton, in his new role, oversaw the [[Displaced persons camps in post-World War II Europe|displaced persons camps]] in Bavaria, which contained a majority of Jews who had survived Germany's [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] in [[the Holocaust]]. He refused to have Jewish [[chaplain]]s at his headquarters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dinnerstein |first=Leonard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mJLHrb-o5E0C |title=Antisemitism in America |date=1995-11-02 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-531354-3 |pages=139 |language=en}}</ref> Patton decided to keep the Jews detained, according to his diary, because he thought releasing them could lead to violence and re-arrests.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cohen |first=Richard |date=September 29, 2014 |title=What Bill O'Reilly ignored about George Patton |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-bill-oreilly-ignored-george-pattons-anti-semitism/2014/09/29/afe3e3ea-4806-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html}}</ref> He also resisted Eisenhower's orders to evict Germans from their homes in order to house Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hayes |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GHEWEAAAQBAJ |title=The Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies |last2=Roth |first2=John K. |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-165078-9 |pages=515 |language=en}}</ref> After Patton accompanied Eisenhower to a [[Yom Kippur]] service in one of the camps, he referred to the Jews at the service as a "stinking mass of humanity", and complaining about their hygiene, said: "This happened to be the feast of Yom Kippur, so they were all collected in a large, wooden building, which they called a synagogue. It behooved General Eisenhower to make a speech to them. We entered the synagogue, which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. When we got about halfway up, the head rabbi, who was dressed in a fur hat similar to that worn by Henry VIII of England and in a surplice heavily embroidered and very filthy, came down and met the General&nbsp;... The smell was so terrible that I almost fainted and actually about three hours later lost my lunch as the result of remembering it&nbsp;... Of course, I have seen them since the beginning and marveled that beings alleged to be made in the form of God can look the way they do or act the way they act."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lichtblau|first=Eric|date=2015-02-07|title=Surviving the Nazis, Only to Be Jailed by America |url-access=subscription |language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/sunday-review/surviving-the-nazis-only-to-be-jailed-by-america.html|access-date=2020-10-13|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108121230/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/sunday-review/surviving-the-nazis-only-to-be-jailed-by-america.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Patton also claimed that "There is a very Semitic influence in the press." "The noise against me is only the means by which the Jews and the Communists are attempting and with good success the further dismemberment of Germany." Biographer [[Martin Blumenson]], who was Third Army Historian and also edited Patton's papers, sums up this period tersely: "Clearly, he had become delusional."<ref>Blumenthal, ''Patton'',  pp. 281-287</ref>

Patton continued to make numerous antisemitic comments. He remarked that displaced Jews were "locusts", "lower than animals", and "lost to all decency". In one diary entry, he wrote that Jews were "a subhuman species without any of the cultural or social refinements of our times."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Arthur |date=December 26, 2016 |title=The Problem With Trump's Admiration of General Patton |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/trump-general-patton-admiration-214545/ |website=POLITICO}}</ref>

=== Relieved of command ===
Patton faced questions from the press about his reluctance to [[denazification|denazify]] post-war Germany, but he noted that most of the people with experience in infrastructure management had been compelled to join the party in the war. He compared Nazis to [[Democratic Party of the United States|Democrats]] and [[Republican Party of the United States|Republicans]], bringing negative press stateside and angering Eisenhower.{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=165–166}} Eisenhower ordered him to hold a press conference correcting his statements, but Patton instead repeated them.{{sfn|Brighton|2009|p=16}}

On 28 September 1945, Patton had a heated exchange with Eisenhower over the denazification controversy, so Eisenhower relieved him of his military governorship. He was relieved of command of the Third Army on 7 October, and he concluded his farewell remarks by saying, "All good things must come to an end. The best thing that has ever happened to me thus far is the honor and privilege of having commanded the Third Army."{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=165–166}} According to [[Anthony Cave Brown]] in ''[[Bodyguard of Lies]]'', "Patton was relieved of command of the 3rd Army by Eisenhower just after the end of the war for stating publicly that America had been fighting the wrong enemy—Germany instead of Russia."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Anthony Cave |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RFmAPmDgW0C |title=Bodyguard of Lies |date=1975 |publisher=[[Harper (publisher)|Harper and Row]] |volume=2 |pages=898 |language=en}}</ref>

Patton's final assignment was to command the [[U.S. 15th Army]] based in [[Bad Nauheim]]. The 15th Army at this point consisted only of a small headquarters staff working to compile a history of the war in Europe. Patton had accepted the post because of his love of history, but he quickly lost interest. He began traveling, visiting Paris, [[Rennes]], [[Chartres]], [[Brussels]], [[Metz]], [[Reims]], [[Luxembourg]], and [[Verdun]]. Then he went to [[Stockholm]], where he reunited with other athletes from the 1912 Olympics.{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=165–166}} Patton decided that he would leave his post at the 15th Army and not return to Europe once he left for [[Christmas]] leave on 10 December. He intended to discuss with his wife whether he would continue in a stateside post or retire from the Army.{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|p=167}}

Eisenhower returned to the United States to become the Chief of Staff of the US Army, and Patton was appointed interim commander of [[United States Army Europe and Africa|US Army Europe]] on 11 November 1945. He served in the position until relieved by General [[Joseph T. McNarney]] on 26 November.

=== Accident and death ===
[[File:Willie HD-SN-99-02413.JPEG|thumb|Patton's dog, [[Willie (dog)|Willie]]]]
Patton's chief of staff Major General [[Hobart R. Gay|Hobart Gay]] invited him on a pheasant hunting trip on 9 December 1945 near [[Speyer|Speyer, Germany]] to lift his spirits. He noted derelict cars along the side of the road and said, "How awful war is. Think of the waste." Moments later, the 1938 Cadillac limousine driven by PFC Horace Woodring collided with an American army truck driven by T/5 Robert L. Thompson.{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|p=167}}{{sfn|Farago|1964|pp=826–827}}<ref name="NYT1">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/us/h-l-woodring-dies-at-77-was-driver-in-patton-crash.html|title=H. L. Woodring Dies at 77; Was Driver in Patton Crash|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=9 November 2003|access-date=26 March 2022|archive-date=March 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326205635/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/us/h-l-woodring-dies-at-77-was-driver-in-patton-crash.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-18 |title=Patton's Death |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/general-george-s-patton-jr-death-death/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=Warfare History Network |language=en-US}}</ref> Patton's regular driver was Sgt. Francis "Jeep" Sanza, but he had left the Army in November 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Whiting |first=Sam |date=February 3, 2018 |title=Francis 'Jeep' Sanza, Patton's driver in World War II, dies in Napa at 99 |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Francis-Jeep-Sanza-Patton-s-driver-in-12544667.php |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref>

Gay and others were only slightly injured, but Patton hit his head on the glass partition that separated the front and back seats.<ref name="NYT1" /> He began bleeding from a gash to the head and complained that he was paralyzed and having trouble breathing. He was taken to a hospital in [[Heidelberg]] where he was found to have a [[compression fracture]] and dislocation of the cervical third and fourth vertebrae, resulting in a broken neck and [[cervical spinal cord]] injury that rendered him paralyzed from the neck down.{{sfn|Farago|1964|pp=826–827}}

Patton spent most of the next 12 days in [[traction (orthopedics)#Spinal decompression|spinal traction]] to decrease the pressure on his spine. All non-medical visitors were forbidden except his wife Beatrice, who had flown from the U.S. Patton had been told that he had no chance to ever again ride a horse or resume normal life, and he commented, "This is a hell of a way to die." He died in his sleep of [[pulmonary edema]] and [[congestive heart failure]] at about 6:00{{nbsp}}pm on 21 December 1945 at age 60.{{sfn|Axelrod|2006|pp=168–169}}
[[File:General Patton's grave 300806.jpg|thumb|Patton's grave in [[Hamm, Luxembourg|Hamm district]]]]
On 24 December, Patton was buried at the [[Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial]] in the [[Hamm, Luxembourg|Hamm district]] of Luxembourg City, alongside some wartime casualties of the Third Army, in accordance with his request to be buried with his men. He was initially buried in the middle of a plot like every other service member, but the large number of visitors to his grave damaged the cemetery grounds, so his remains were moved to their current location at the front of the grave plots.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials|publisher=[[American Battle Monuments Commission]]|title=Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial|access-date=January 6, 2013|archive-date=April 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426113027/http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials|url-status=live}}</ref>