ABOVE: Rev. Walter Stitt, Secretary/Treasurer of the 3rd Armored Division
Association (WWII), closes the final national reunion on Sept.
18, 2010, in Columbus, Georgia, the home of Ft. Benning. The
closing included his favorite poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay"
by Robert Frost and a heart-felt rendition of "May the Good
Lord Bless and Keep You."
Two books compiled by Bill
and Lale Ruth of the fascinating details
of 3rd Armored Div. WWII veterans returning to their old European
battlegrounds in 1992 & 1994. Full of great text and photos!
SPECIAL NOTE: Patience please. These are 68-page & 219-page
PDF's respectively, and each about 60MB in size. Downloading
can take between 1 min. and 8 min., depending on your computer
and Internet connection.
3AD video (below) achieves 100,000 views on YouTube
Above inactive screen-shot was taken in June, 2009, indicating over 100,000
viewers world-wide had watched 3AD.com's specially compiled and
edited video of Spearhead's advance into Cologne, Germany, in
1945. First posted on YouTube in January, 2007, and with this
100,00 milestone complete, the video has been replaced by an
improved version with better resolution and improved sound-track.
President Barack Obama has said:
"My grandfather marched with Patton across Europe."
What he should have said: "My grandfather
served in Europe with Courtney Hodges' First Army, then briefly
with Patton late in the war."
The "Marching with Patton"
symbolic theme, or close variations thereof, has been spoken
by President Obama many times during 2008-2009, always without
elaboration, but with understandable pride in his grandfather's
WWII service. As early as Obama's 1995 autobiography, he wrote
that his grandfather was "sloshing around the mud of France,
part of Patton's Army." The facts, however, paint a different
picture. (See details of his grandfather's service further below,
based on new research by the Associated Press and as published
in the Army Times on 6/6/2009.)
Apparently the President, like perhaps 99% of the American public,
wrongly assumes that it was "Patton's Army" that liberated
western Europe and defeated Nazi Germany. And who can fault the
President or the public? There has been a never-ending and often
careless "bombardment," so to speak, of the Patton
name and image from television, magazines, books, Hollywood,
and most recently from a production by famed documentary film
director Ken Burns, as well as repeatedly from The History Channel.
(continued below)
Above: Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges (left) visiting the 3rd Armored Division in France
in 1944, and (right) Gen. George Patton photographed in
1945 after the war in Europe.(Hodges photo by Marvin
Mischnick, 3AD Hq G-2 photographer, and Patton photo from the
Patton Museum, Fort Knox, KY.)
No one can dispute the brilliance and accomplishments
of Gen. Patton in North Africa, Sicily, and western Europe. But
with regard to contributing to the Allied victory in Europe,
consider this: It was not Patton's Third Army, but Hodges'
First Army, initially and briefly under command of Omar Bradley,
that achieved the following (with its 3rd Armored Division -
no connection to the Third Army - often at the front of the action):
Landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day
Led the break-out from Normandy at St.
Lô
Liberated Paris
First to cross the Seine River
First to fire artillery into Germany
First to enter German soil
First to cross the Siegfried Line
First to capture major German cities
First to cross the Rhine River
Largest total capture of German troops
by a U.S. force
First to link up with Soviet forces
Largest U.S. force under single command
in WWII
(18 divisions at peak)
Beginning on August 1st, 1944, following St.
Lô, it was Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges who commanded the First
Army all the way to the German surrender in May, 1945. Our hope
is that President Obama, Ken Burns, the producers at The History
Channel, and media professionals everywhere, will finally discover
Courtney Hodges, arguably the "real Patton" of the
Allied victory in Europe, whose greatest flaws seem to have been
his reserved, thoughtful demeanor (i.e., uncolorful) and an aversion
to self-promotion.
About President Obama's Grandfather, Sgt.
Stanley A. Dunham:
Dunham served in the Army Air Corps with a
supply & maintenance ground unit of the 9th Air Force in
support of Gen. Patton's Third Army. However that was limited
to about two months during February to early April, 1945, after
the Battle of the Bulge. Prior to that, starting in Normandy
in late July, 1944, and for the next six months, Dunham's unit
was in support of Gen. Courtney Hodges' First Army. During that
time, Hodges' troops advanced from Normandy through northern
France, then into Belgium, and then becoming the first Allied
ground force to enter Germany. Again, the 3rd Armored Division
(no connection to Patton or the Third Army) was often the lead
unit in Hodges' advance.
LEARN
MORE about
Courtney Hodges and the First Army.
Above editorial was written in
2009 by Vic Damon of 3AD.com staff in collaboration with 3AD
WWII veteran Marvin Mischnick, formerly of Division Hq G-2.
