Message for Hammer

[fordnmerc]

Adam,
I just joined here, after reading the Stangman96 mess. I no longer have a Mustang (had a 73 for several years) but I might again in the future.

I feel you have nothing to apologize for. We ALL skim through things at times, when we really should be more thorough. You corrected yourself, so your conscience should be clear. Don't let it bother you.

I also feel that there is no reason to delete the thread. It should stand.

My question for you is this: What is with the photo of Patton? The unenlightened think that he was some kind of a hero. The reality is that he was a glory-hunting idiot who got a lot of his troops killed unnecessarily. A lot of them hated his guts, because they watched as their buddies were needlessly sacrificed. Supposedly, his jeep was in an accident which gave him the head wound that finally killed him. The truth is that one of his own men whacked him in the head. The accident was staged. My father was in WWII, in the Pacific, but he had a close friend who served under Patton and when the war was over he told my father what really took place.

Patton was just plain crazy. He claimed to have been an old Roman centurion in a former life. He also said that he only lived for war and that, "The final shot fired in battle should kill me." Not the statement of a guy who is running on all cylinders....

I am not bringing this up for the sake of 'political correctness.' I don't give a hang about that. I just feel that Patton should not be remembered in any kind of a positive way, because of the many men under him who died for no sound tactical reason. To Patton, his men were just cannon fodder to be used to elevate himself to glory. Anyone who is convinced otherwise, and who thinks Patton was some 'great leader,' does not know the whole story.

On behalf of those whose lives were lost in vain under Patton's command, I hope you will choose someone else for your photo here.

I am not saying that every man who died in Patton's command was needlessly sacrificed. But many WERE. Patton's only real tactic was frontal assault, no matter how high the casualty count would be. That strategy makes for a high body count among your own ranks and it went out with the British in the Revolutionary War. You have to hit and run, hit and run. The run part is not cowardice. You don't go far. You just regroup to hit again, from a different angle of attack, to keep the enemy off balance and give your men the best chance for survival.

Sorry for the long post, but I thought you might want to know a little more about Patton and why he does not deserve admiration.