A Peek Inside:
The Button Box

The Patton Saber is pleased to present excerpts from The Button Box: A Daughter’s Loving Memoir of Mrs. George S. Patton (University of Missouri Press, 2005). This memoir of Beatrice Ayer Patton was written by her daughter Ruth Ellen Patton Totten and edited by her grandson James Patton Totten. Published posthumously, the book spans Beatrice’s life from her youth in a wealthy New England family to her death. Here is just a brief look at the treasures within:

On the Meeting of Beatrice and George
Ma, who was sixteen years old at this time, had already had three proposals of marriage; she got off the train to be smothered with Banning kisses and admiration. She wore her long auburn hair in a braid that reached the hem of her skirt, and under her arm she carried her constant companion, Marguerite. The girl and the doll were dressed alike in smart suit dresses of crushed linen, suitable to the California climate. But George took one look at the much-touted “Belle of Boston” and backed away in disgust. In California “young ladies” of sixteen had their hair up and did not play with dolls. If anyone thought he was going to escort this little kid around, they were making a big mistake. His friends would laugh him off the face of the earth!

On George’s Change of Heart
As a cadet at West Point, Georgie wrote to his mother, “The Ayers are so awfully nice that it is positively oppressive. We ride, swim, sail, motor and see Bee. Be sure though, I have not told her she is the only girl I have ever loved, but she is–though it would be fatal for me to mention that fact now or perhaps ever. She is very nice to me and I think likes me for she has been wearing my favorite color dresses ever since I said I liked them. Gosh, those skirted bipeds at Catalina, who pawn themselves off as girls, aren’t in it with her shadow.

On Bee’s Wedding
Ma’s and Georgie’s wedding on May 26, 1910, was the wedding of the year. It was also the first military wedding on the North Shore since the Civil War. Ma wore the wedding dress that had been made for Ellie in 1884. It was trimmed with real orange blossoms from Lake Vineyard, brought on the train by the Pattons in a box of wet cotton. Georgie and the ushers, except for Fred Ayer, wore their full dress blue uniforms…

A Life Changing Moment
…Ma was walking the carriage with “little Bee” along a path up above the quarters where she could look out over the prairie, with its grass blowing like waves in the wind that never stops blowing in Kansas. The endless blue sky stretched over the endless green-gray-gold prairie. She looked down at a ridge of chalky white rock that cropped up across the path…suddenly she saw that it was not a rock, it was thousands and thousands of tiny shells, melded together with sand,…and she was standing on the shores of a dead seas, millions of years gone dry. She ran as fast as she could push the baby carriage…and sat right down and wrote to Lauriat’s, a bookstore in Boston, to send her immediately all the books they had on American marine fossils. She found out, after reading several volumes, that Kansas had once been the bottom of the Permian Sea during the sixth period of the Paleozoic Era…No longer were the plains of Kansas bleak to her. They were a treasure house to be explained, explored and exploited. That one minute, she told us, changed her whole life. Her inner eye had been opened. She never again in her life had a dull moment…

On War Service
Ma had started making her speeches for the war effort, and to help sell war bonds. With practice, her speeches got better and better and her audiences got bigger and bigger. It was good for her; it got her away from her live-in worries; she saw other people; she heard other sides of the war, and even had some funny things happen. Also, she was actively engaged in helping Georgie–she was almost fighting at his side. And she was taking her own advice–have a war job.

On Losing Her True Love
As only expected, Ma was magnificent. She comforted others; made arrangements for people in charge who were too shaken to do what they were supposed to do; acted her part, wherein all honor lay.

A Life Well Lived
It is as hard to end a book as it is to begin one, although Ma, in her way, is a book that will never really be written, and a story that will never really end. There is a quotation that fits Ma and Georgie, and with it, I will close my box of memories. They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles: they were stronger than lions. (2 Samuel 1:20) My hiding place is an old law. Holla! I hide in songs!

Excerpted from The Button Box: A Daughter's Loving Memoir of Mrs. George S. Patton by Ruth Ellen Patton Totten, edited by James Patton Totten, and published by the University of Missouri Press in 2005. To order this book, please call (800) 828-1894 or look online at:
http://www.umsystem.edu/upress
www.umsystem.edu/upress

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A Daughter’s Tribute – A Gift to Future Generations

James Patton Totten discusses the creation of The Button Box: I believe my mother (Ruth Ellen Patton Totten) started writing the book as a form of therapy after my father died in the late 1960s. Mother had an old beat up Remington typewriter that she used to write letters on. She basically had a conversation with her typewriter. The book reads the way she talked.

It was no surprise. Mother was always the family archivist. She was interested in family history long before the family got famous. She wanted to record it all for future generations. It took her seven or eight years to finish the manuscript. When she was done she had it reproduced and gave copies to my brother, my sister and me and other family members to proofread.

When (Historian Carlo) D’Este went to see her about his book (Patton: A Genius for War), she loaned him a copy of the manuscript. After she died we got a letter from his publisher that said this was an unpublished reference and that we needed to read over his book to verify the quotes. I reread it later and thought it was a cool book and that we needed to do something to keep it around. After we got the copy cleaned up and picked out some previously unpublished photos, I asked D’Este about how to go about getting it published. He suggested trying a university press. I sent a few chapters to Kansas and Missouri and Missouri accepted it.

The book offers insight into how much influence a supportive wife can have into a man’s career, particularly a military career. There are expressions out there like “It’s a wife’s duty to pack, pay and follow” and “If the Army wanted you to have a wife they would have issued you one.” Beatrice Patton made a career of supporting the General’s career, but she did not take a back seat. Gen. Patton got famous for what he did in the last five years of his life, the previous 55 were unrecorded. She (Beatrice) was there for the whole deal!

The central message of the book is that the Patton’s were a team. Grandmother was a special person and she was a compliment and supplement to my grandfather and to his career. He would not have been who he was without her.

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Remembering Noted Patton Biographer Martin Blumenson (1918-2005)

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of historian Martin Blumenson, who died April 15 at his home in Washington after a bout with cancer. He was 86. A preeminent historian of World War II, Blumenson wrote the Army's official account of the D-Day invasion and was an authority on the life of Gen. George S. Patton Jr.

Serving as an historian for Patton’s 3rd Army, he was later invited by the Patton family to examine the general’s letters and personal papers, which yielded the two volumes that make up The Patton Papers. The volumes published in 1972 and 1974 totaled nearly 2,000 pages. The work was described in the New York Times as a “sympathetic and flawlessly crafted biography.”

“America lost a giant in the field of military history with the passing of Martin Blumenson. His keen sense as an observer was first sharpened by his own battlefield experience in World War II,” noted Dick Chegar, MG, AUS (Retired), president and CEO of the Patton Museum Foundation. “As the depth of his intellect and perspective became known, he was widely sought after, not least of all by Mrs. George S. Patton, Jr. That five year endeavor produced The Patton Papers, and lifted Mr. Blumenson's reputation as a military historian to the same level as his most famous subject.”

Blumenson drew on his 20 years as an official historian of the army to write 23 books detailing the exploits of World War II commanders and describing military campaigns. His subjects included Rommel, Eisenhower and Patton. His biography, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945, was praised for its evenhanded and comprehensive look at the life of the general.

A skilled pianist, Blumenson chose to follow his love of history and earned a bachelor’s and a master's degree from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. He later earned a second master’s degree in history from Harvard University.

In addition to his service in World War II, he served as an Army Reserve officer and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War.

In the course of his career, Blumenson taught at institutions including George Washington University, the U.S. Military Academy and the Army and Navy war colleges. He received the prestigious Samuel Eliot Morison Prize for his contributions to military history in 1995.

“Until his death, Mr. Blumenson continued to write widely and effectively with illuminating insight and lessons for today’s military leaders. The Patton Saber was honored to have published one of his last articles on General Patton. His generosity of time, talent and wisdom is a lesson for all who honor the profession of arms,” observed Chegar. At the time of his death, Blumenson was working on a new book about Patton.

News reports of Blumenson’s death were used to compile this report.

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Dick Chegar Receives Noble Patron of Armor Award

Major General Richard “Dick” Chegar, AUS (ret.), receives the United States Armor Association’s Noble Patron of Armor Award for his tireless and innovative work on behalf of the Patton Museum. Chegar is only the fifth recipient of this honor, which recognizes the elite among members of the U.S. Armor Association.

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Chegar Acquires Lovell Portrait of Patton

While portraits of great leaders are numerous, they rarely depict important personal moments. That is one of many reasons Dick Chegar, president of the Patton Museum Foundation, was thrilled to acquire an original oil portrait by American artist Tom Lovell. The painting shows LTG George S. Patton, Jr. praying for a “Christmas miracle” in a damaged church with a battle map nearby. While its original owner is uncertain, the painting found its way to a former officer on the Third Army staff, who later published it along with his article in True Magazine entitled “Patton’s Christmas Miracle” in December, 1947. “My wife and I have been collecting art for over 30 years and this is an exceptional portrait by a recognized American artist depicting General Patton’s faith during the Battle of the Bulge,” said Chegar.

While Tom Lovell (1909–1997) was best known for his Western art and illustrations for magazines including Life, The Saturday Evening Post and National Geographic, many readers will recall his famous painting of Lee and Grant in Surrender at Appomattox. Lovell was the first artist to twice win the Prix de West, the National Academy of Western Art’s highest honor, was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame and was honored by both the National Academy of Western Art and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

During World War II, Lovell served in the U.S. Marines as an illustrator for their publication, Leatherneck Magazine. He produced several historical paintings including the Marines’ fight for Belleau Wood during World War I, Admiral Robert E. Peary, Guadalcanal, and The Battle of Tenaru River. Lovell’s painting, Tarawa Landing, is on display at the Marine Corps Historical Center in Washington, D.C. He was known for his in-depth research on subjects and attention to detail, which is evident in the portrait of Patton. Details include a battle map on a nearby table, Patton’s famous pistol and his West Point ring.

The oil on canvas portrait measures 24 by 38 inches and had been in storage for several decades as part of an unsettled estate. There was a suggestion that the last owner, a local banker, had won the painting in a poker game with the former staff officer. Chegar is most pleased that it is appearing in the The Patton Saber after being lost to the public for so long.

With restoration complete and the painting now hanging in the Chegar’s home, Dick reflected on General Patton’s well-known faith. “General Patton, like many of us who have served our nation in battle, placed great emphasis on God’s role in his life. This painting is a wonderful reminder of the value of prayer and faith in God to the soldier, regardless of his rank.”

Patton’s Prayer

As explained by Carlo D’Este in “Patton: A Genius for War” It was November in the Lorraine when a frustrated Patton called the Third Army chaplain, Msgr. (Col.) James H. O’Neill and asked for a prayer for the weather. O’Neill composed the following prayer, which Patton shared with the troops in the form of a greeting card which read:

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. Amen.

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 blessing rest upon each of you on this Christmas Day.

G. S. Patton, Jr.
Lieutenant General
Commanding, Third United States Army.

As commentator Paul Harvey says, now you know “the rest of the story.”

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