Acta Est Fabula

I just died. This has been one of my better lives, and I will miss it. I have made my mark on history, and look forward to what will happen to America in the future. I know soon I will remember this life only darkly as through a glass, but I have only greater heights to reach in the future. As Augustus Caesar said, "Acta Est Fabula" the drama is finished.

Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.

In the form of many people
In all panoplies of time
Have I seen the luring vision
Of the Victory Maid, sublime.

I have battled for fresh mammoth,
I have warred for pastures new,
I have listed to the whispers
When the race trek instinct grew.

I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.

I have sinned and I have suffered,
Played the hero and the knave;
Fought for belly, shame, or country,
And for each have found a grave.

I cannot name my battles
For the visions are not clear,
Yet, I see the twisted faces
And I feel the rending spear.

Perhaps I stabbed our Savior
In His sacred helpless side.
Yet, I've called His name in blessing
When after times I died.

In the dimness of the shadows
Where we hairy heathens warred,
I can taste in thought the lifeblood;
We used teeth before the sword.

While in later clearer vision
I can sense the coppery sweat,
Feel the pikes grow wet and slippery
When our Phalanx, Cyrus met.

Hear the rattle of the harness
Where the Persian darts bounced clear,
See their chariots wheel in panic
From the Hoplite's leveled spear.

See the goal grow monthly longer,
Reaching for the walls of Tyre.
Hear the crash of tons of granite,
Smell the quenchless eastern fire.

Still more clearly as a Roman,
Can I see the Legion close,
As our third rank moved in forward
And the short sword found our foes.

Once again I feel the anguish
Of that blistering treeless plain
When the Parthian showered death bolts,
And our discipline was in vain.

I remember all the suffering
Of those arrows in my neck.
Yet, I stabbed a grinning savage
As I died upon my back.

Once again I smell the heat sparks
When my Flemish plate gave way
And the lance ripped through my entrails
As on Crecy's field I lay.

In the windless, blinding stillness
Of the glittering tropic sea
I can see the bubbles rising
Where we set the captives free.

Midst the spume of half a tempest
I have heard the bulwarks go
When the crashing, point blank round shot
Sent destruction to our foe.

I have fought with gun and cutlass
On the red and slippery deck
With all Hell aflame within me
And a rope around my neck.

And still later as a General
Have I galloped with Murat
When we laughed at death and numbers
Trusting in the Emperor's Star.

Till at last our star faded,
And we shouted to our doom
Where the sunken road of Ohein
Closed us in it's quivering gloom.

So but now with Tanks a'clatter
Have I waddled on the foe
Belching death at twenty paces,
By the star shell's ghastly glow.

So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.

And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,
But as God rules o'er our bickerings
It was through His will I fought.

So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more.

Gen. George S. Patton Jr.

Bavaria

I have been made the military governor of Bavaria. D*** idiots should know I am not a good peace time/civilian leader. I am a plain man, and I shoot straight. I act ways that offend other men, and they know this. So why do they insist on putting me here? I will have to survive it, I suppose.... They say I am too soft on these former Nazis while they are bedfellows with the god**** Soviets! We're going to have to fight the Soviets soon, and unless we want Germany immediately going to them we need to make friends with them. We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me or get out of my way, but by God don't tell me how to lead!

Peace

Well, the paper-hanging son of a b****, Hitler is dead. I have made my way through many wars, but I fear this peace will be my last... I do not think I can survive another period of inactivity...I am an old man now, and it is almost my time to pass on.

Willie's Birthday

It's William the Conqueror's (aka Willie, Patton's bull terrier) birthday, and we are celebrating in style. He got a set of dog tags, but I don't think he appreciated them as much I do. He's a fine dog though, a d*** fine dog!

Into Germany!

Well, the god**** Russians are driving into Germany while we wait for them. Ike and Roosevelt trust the Ruskies too much, and it will be their downfall. The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinese or a Japanese, and from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and they are all out sons-of-b*****, barbarians, and chronic drunks. We should keep on going until we reach Moscow.

New Tankers

I hope all the god**** idiots who called me racist will change their minds when they hear about my new tankers. I told them, "Men, you're the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never have asked for you if you weren't good. I have nothing but the best in my Army. I don't care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sons of b****es. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most of all your race is looking forward to you. Don't let them down and d*** you, don't let me down!"

Bastogne or Bust!

D*** I was beginning to think my time would never come, but it finally has! The god**** Nazis have made a last ditch effort to drive us off the continent. This is that paper-hanging son of a b****'s last try...he's thrown everything he has left into this, and if we beat him here he's finished. And god**** it I am going to be part of it! The 101st and 82nd were sent in to plug a hole around Bastogne. They are now surrounded by heavy German armor. My third army is going to get them unsurrounded.

We have over 100 miles to go over icy roads... and the weather is h***. I couldn't have ordered a more perfect situation! I have been hard on my men; I have had the same standards for them I have for myself, and I always believe in being prepared, even when I'm dressed in white tie and tails. Well, it is all going to pay off now. We are going to turn the tide and destroy that armor, and I will be in history!

An Army is a team; lives, sleeps, eats, fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crap. I am going to show them all god**** them. I have done everything I require of those I command, and I always will. Any man who doesn't is not fit to command a horse. The only you can win is by making your men sure they can not be beaten. When your men know that they are unstoppable, they will be!

I swear to God, I am going to personally drive to Berlin and shoot that paper-hanging son of a b****!!!


If only we had a better bigger tank I could do more...the d*** Sherman is like a grasshopper next to German tanks....oh well we will still beat them. It is the unconquerable soul of man, not the nature of the weapon he uses, that insures victory.

We needed the weather to change. I know God is on our side because he is on my side. So I ordered the chaplains to write up a prayer to God asking for the weather to lift. I combined it with my Christmas card and sent it to all my officers.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.

And on the back: To each officer and soldier in the Third United States Army, I Wish a Merry Christmas. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We march in our might to complete victory. May God's blessings rest upon each of you on this Christmas Day. G.S. Patton, Jr, Lieutenant General, Commanding, Third United States Army.

"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.”

Operation Cobra and Lorraine

Well, Ike is a fool. He is a great man and a friend, but he acts like a fool sometimes. He still thinks like all the old ladies. He favors the old fashioned broad front advance. He doesn't seem to grasp that we are changing the way war is fought and it is working. We send in armor and cover it from the air using forward air observers. They can call in close range bombing, and we are able to drive deep into enemy territory, except the d*** idiots in the high command don't understand how to properly use armor. My army has literally been stalled for lack of gasoline. If something doesn't happen soon this war will be over and people will see me only as a foot note in history.

The First US Army Group

I am in command of a fictional army, a decoy. But, I suppose it is better than having no command, and being sent back to the states. All I do now is go around giving talks to the Brits, and sending out misinformation for the d*** krauts to pick up. My only hope is that Ike promised me a command once we attack Normandy. Speaking of which, everyone got mad at me because they think I'm a loose cannon, and I have to let them think that for now. Ike has told me time and again to try and make everyone think we are attacking Calais instead of Normandy. So, the other night at a reception I yelled across the room to Jim Gavin, "I'll see you in the Pas De Calais, Gavin!" You should have heard the uproar. D*** I want a command again so bad I can taste it.

May God Have Mercy

H*** I don't think anything this bad has ever happened to me. I was in a field hospital and there were two men there with 'nerve problems.' God**** it I've always had problems with my nerves and being scared. "No sane man is unafraid in battle, but discipline produces in him a form of vicarious courage." The leader must be an actor. If I didn't appear unafraid my men would not be able to perform the way they do. "It's my nerves, I guess. I can't stand shelling." he said. Well, I slapped him...

It was stupid, but reminds me of a time back before Pancho Villa... I saw a groom in one of the stables under my command wasn't doing his job. I made him run back and forth and do his job. When he didn't run, I yelled "Run, d*** you, run!" I then realized that I had said 'd*** you' and not 'd*** it.' I called all the grooms together and apologized to the man and all those present for insulting him.

When Ike found out about this incident I had to do it all over again. I called the entire army under my command together. I apologized, and said "I just wanted to give you all the chance of seeing if I am as big a son of a b**** as some of you think I am." That brought laughs, but it wasn't enough to save my command. If this is the end of my duty in this war I think I may as well die.

Sicily

D*** Brits wanted to invade Italy through Greece or just attack Italy. By God everyone knows the way to attack Italy is through Sicily! It's what the Greeks and the Romans and Carthaginians did. Thankfully I was able to persuade the high command that this was what we had to do in order to succeed.

In preparation for the landings I sent the following message to my troops:

"When we land against the enemy, don't forget to hit him and hit him hard. When we meet the enemy we will kill him. We will show him no mercy. He has killed thousands of your comrades and he must die. If you company officers in leading your men against the enemy find him shooting at you and when you get within two hundred yards of him he wishes to surrender—oh no! That bastard will die! You will kill him. Stick him between the third and fourth ribs. You will tell your men that. They must have the killer instinct. Tell them to stick him. Stick him in the liver. We will get the name of killers and killers are immortal. When word reaches him that he is being faced by a killer battalion he will fight less. We must build up that name as killers."

Now they are trying to make me play second fiddle to Brits and Monty; well, god**** it the best defense is still a good offense! By capturing Messina I am protecting the Brits' flank. So, by God, I am going to do it!

And of course my boys did it. we captured Messina and Sicily is ours. Now, ON TO ITALY!

Monty

I met a very interesting British 'gentleman' today. D*** stuck up a** hole. The cocksure idiot knows more than any American, and Ike goes along with him, but he doesn't appreciate the one thing he is good at. It makes no sense... Ike refuses to take any risks; and he appreciates Monty's ideas over mine, but he doesn't appreciate Monty's organizational abilities. It was funny when we met to see him gawk at my pistols. That was d*** funny!

The Casablanca Conference

I have just finished playing host to the big three: Churchill, who is great man; FDR, whom I dislike; and Stalin, who is the biggest son of a b*** I've ever met. here are some pictures from the conference.

Landing in North Africa

We are on our way to North Africa, and I have high hopes. This will be my great war, my turn to conquer. I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight. I read Rommel's book, and I know how he fights. With II Corp I will meet him whenever wherever and destroy the son of a b****! I have a feeling I have met Rommel before....When I fought with Napoleon there was a Prussian soldier who killed me...now it is my turn for revenge. I will once again see where I fought at Zama and Carthage. D***, but it makes me feel alive!

The landings were chaotic as always. I had to direct troops myself; thank God no German planes strafed the beach where I was.

The Sultan of Morocco gave me a medal some order of something or other. It had a nice inscription though: "The lions in their dens tremble at his approach"

I just finishes reading the Koran. As I wrote Bea, "Just finished reading the Koran—a good book and interesting, but to me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Mohammad and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for the arrested development of the Arab. . . . Here, I think, is a text for some eloquent sermon on the virtues of Christianity."

Desert Training

We are out in California getting ready for the invasion of North Africa. We are preparing bt training out here in the desert. it's nice to be back home. I was even able to go back to my old church and help teach Sunday school. I love the d*** climate out here! I had a chaplain ask me when i find time to read my Bible. I said "Every god**** day!" That shut him up. I have a hard enough time reading as it is why do people constantly have to question me about the way i do everything? God**** it I'm an adult and I can take care of myself!

Tenessee and Louisiana

The Tennessee maneuver just ended, and it was a bunch of horses***. These god**** infantry and cavalry officers can't see past the end of their noses. The territory where the exercise took place was entirely unsuited for the use of tanks. And now we can't even find any decent maps for the upcoming maneuver in Louisiana. God**** sons of b****es are trying to make the armor fall apart. Well, they try all they want, but I will make it succeed.

Hell on Wheels!

Unlike what this bastard is going to say, when I was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division in 1940, and I was a Colonel in charge of training...hence my status as 'freak.' It was only because of how I stayed on everyone that anything got done.

As soon as the last great war ended I tried to convince the government of the importance of armor. I wrote everyone and told everyone that they were the future, but no one would listen. Well, I wonder if they'll listen when the Germans capture Moscow?

When I finally took over in January of 1941 we were finally able make progress. The most important thing I had to do was try and prove to the old infantry and cavalry officers who were my superiors that armor was the future of warfare. In spite of the Germans showing them with Blitzkrieg in Poland and half of the god**** European continent. But, as I have often said, It’s the unconquerable soul of man, not the nature of the weapon he uses, that insures victory.

I am spending all of my time down here trying to make things work. And for once this young pup is almost right. He's d*** right about them being ivory handled, but they are .45s not .44s. D*** fool can't remember a word I say.

And...It's over...

Well, the Great War has ended and I was only able to get in on a couple good fights. I suppose I should be content though, I was able to prove my metal in combat, and show that tanks are going to be important. Now if I can survive another peace.... I wonder though, when the next war comes will I be too old? Alexander and Napoleon achieved their fame by my present age. I must not be too old whatever happens when fate taps me on the shoulder I must be ready. A man must know his destiny. if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder. if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it. Whenever it comes, I will be ready; god**** it I have to be ready!

Finally... the Great War

Well, after two years of indecision Wilson finally got us in the god****ed war! Damn shame it took the sinking of a civilian vessel to make him get a spine though.

I was one of the first American soldiers in Europe. I arrived with General Pershing and his personal staff in June 1917. Once there I worked as a d*** staffer. I haven't gotten anywhere near the action, and it's driving me up a wall.

I have just now been appointed to command a school for tankers. People have finally begun to understand how important tanks are to modern warfare. This business of using them to bridge trenches though is a god**** waste of time and resources. Armor should be used as spear thrust bypassing heavily defended strong points, and smash through the heartland. Unfortunately the high command is made up of old infantry and cavalry officers who are not interested in something new. They are only interested in keeping everything the same. Hopefully, I'll be able to help change that.

Off to Catch Pancho Villa with J.J. Pershing

We just left to pursue that son of a b****, Pancho Villa. I swear to God I'm going to personally shoot that paper-hanging son of a b****. General Pershing has named me his "Bandito" I hope he isn't being patronizing. And we had to quit before we found him- damn bureaucrats made us stop. Here is a picture of General Pershing(far left, I am directly behind him) and Pancho Villa (in the middle).

My Saber

After returning from Stockholm I searched out the greatest masters of the sword I could find. I designed a new saber for the US Army, and in the process was named the youngest sword master the whole godd*** army ever had! Now this young pup is going to show off my weapon.

As all good swordsmen know it is the point, and not the blade which make a difference when fighting. I remember Napoleon telling his cavalry to always use the point and never the blade. It has always been the point, and not the blade which wins wars.

The Olympics

I just returned from Stockholm, Sweden. I competed in the modern Pentathlon, and finished 5ht of 32 athletes. It was great sport! The only thing that could have turned ugly was the damn pistol shooting "The high spirit of sportsmanship and generosity manifested throughout speaks volumes for the character of the officers of the present day. There was not a single incident of a protest or any unsportsmanlike quibbling or fighting for points which I may say, marred some of the other civilian competitions at the Olympic Games. Each man did his best and took what fortune sent them like a true soldier, and at the end we all felt more like good friends and comrades than rivals in a severe competition, yet this spirit of friendship in no manner detracted from the zeal with which all strove for success."

"America will not tolerate a loser," My Childhood pt. 2

I was never in formal school until i attended VMI. Prior to this I was tutored at home by my father's friend John Mosby. A confederate partisan during the war, he never surrendered preferring to disband his unit. We went on many long rides together on horseback. He would play J.E.B. Stuart, and I would be Robert E. Lee; together we would discuss battle plans, and how to destroy the godd*** Yankees. From an early age military strategy was important to me. I was then sent to VMI. I was there for 2 years and then transferred to West Point.

My father worked hard those two years I was in VMI to get me appointed to West Point. Due to my diffuculty reading (author's note Patton suffered from Dyslexia and Asthma) I studied almost constantly to try and pass the entrance exam. When we finally received the good news of my appointment my father wrote me a letter. He said "We are satisfied, because that which a man most desires to do in this world is what he is generally most fit to do."

At West Point I was taught that "America loves a winner, and will not tolerate a loser, this is why America has never, and will never, lose a war.” I was instructed that my men would not respect me unless I swore like a sailor and got down on their level in my rhetoric, but stayed distant as a commander. Due my difficulties with reading I was forced to re-do my Plebe year. I did not gain many friends at West Point I had to work on my studies all the time, and my difficulties did not earn me many friends; however, as my father taught me the man who must stand alone fights hardest.
The one bright spot in my time at West Point was Beatrice. I had known her since childhood, and having her with me for dances and social activities made me feel much more at ease. I have always been extremely hard on myself. I believe that a man should not hold anyone else to a standard he himself can not keep. It was the greatest joy of my life to marry Beatrice. Below you can see a picture from our wedding day.

Through a Glass Darkly- My Childhood pt. 1

When I was growing up in California my parents taught me several important things. First, was a devotion to the past. The past is not only where we come from, it defines who we are. We stand on the shoulders of great men who have gone before us. There were two paintings over the fireplace when I was growing up, and I was ten years old before I knew Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson weren't God the Father and Jesus H Christ. I wrote this poem about what I remember of my former lives... By God the things I remember... I remember, storming Masada with the legions and being killed in Parthia; fighting and dying at Crecy, Fighting the God*** roundheads in the English Civil War, invading Russia with Napoleon...

Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.

In the form of many people
In all panoplies of time
Have I seen the luring vision
Of the Victory Maid, sublime.

I have battled for fresh mammoth,
I have warred for pastures new,
I have listed to the whispers
When the race trek instinct grew.

I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.

I have sinned and I have suffered,
Played the hero and the knave;
Fought for belly, shame, or country,
And for each have found a grave.

I cannot name my battles
For the visions are not clear,
Yet, I see the twisted faces
And I feel the rending spear.

Perhaps I stabbed our Savior
In His sacred helpless side.
Yet, I've called His name in blessing
When after times I died.

In the dimness of the shadows
Where we hairy heathens warred,
I can taste in thought the lifeblood;
We used teeth before the sword.

While in later clearer vision
I can sense the coppery sweat,
Feel the pikes grow wet and slippery
When our Phalanx, Cyrus met.

Hear the rattle of the harness
Where the Persian darts bounced clear,
See their chariots wheel in panic
From the Hoplite's leveled spear.

See the goal grow monthly longer,
Reaching for the walls of Tyre.
Hear the crash of tons of granite,
Smell the quenchless eastern fire.

Still more clearly as a Roman,
Can I see the Legion close,
As our third rank moved in forward
And the short sword found our foes.

Once again I feel the anguish
Of that blistering treeless plain
When the Parthian showered death bolts,
And our discipline was in vain.

I remember all the suffering
Of those arrows in my neck.
Yet, I stabbed a grinning savage
As I died upon my back.

Once again I smell the heat sparks
When my Flemish plate gave way
And the lance ripped through my entrails
As on Crecy's field I lay.

In the windless, blinding stillness
Of the glittering tropic sea
I can see the bubbles rising
Where we set the captives free.

Midst the spume of half a tempest
I have heard the bulwarks go
When the crashing, point blank round shot
Sent destruction to our foe.

I have fought with gun and cutlass
On the red and slippery deck
With all Hell aflame within me
And a rope around my neck.

And still later as a General
Have I galloped with Murat
When we laughed at death and numbers
Trusting in the Emperor's Star.

Till at last our star faded,
And we shouted to our doom
Where the sunken road of Ohein
Closed us in it's quivering gloom.

So but now with Tanks a'clatter
Have I waddled on the foe
Belching death at twenty paces,
By the star shell's ghastly glow.

So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.

And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,
But as God rules o'er our bickerings
It was through His will I fought.

So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more

My Purpose

Just as the high command hasn't understood the importance of tanks they don't understand the importance of computers, Godd*** them. In order to try and show the long term importance of computers and that like computers they are here to stay. I am going to chronicle my life on this one. Once day someone will find it. They'll have to rewrite a s*** load of biographies on that day. Also, I sure as h*** am not gonna write this the way people want to hear it or for the press, or for Washington. I'm gonna tell the G**d*** truth by G0d.