Usns General Alexander M Patch

Military Sea Transportation Service over to the Navy in a ceremony on the transport General Alexander M. Patch at the USNS General Alexander M. Patch T.

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive USNS General Alexander M. Patch T-AP-122 ex USAT General Alexander M. Patch 1946 - 1950 USS Admiral R. E.

General Alexander McCarrell Sandy Patch 23 November 1889 – 21 November 1945 was an officer in the United States Army, best known for his service in World War II. He commanded U.S. Army and United States Marine Corps forces during the Guadalcanal Campaign, and the Seventh Army in France and Germany. He died a few months after the end of the war.

Contents

1 Early career

2 World War II

2.1 Pacific Theater

2.2 European Theater

3 Awards and decorations

4 Personal life

5 Death and legacy

6 Notes

7 References

8 External links

Early career edit

Patch was born on Fort Huachuca, a military post in Arizona where his father commanded a detachment. He never considered any career other than the army, and received his appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1909. He wanted to follow his father into the cavalry, but realizing that it was becoming obsolete, he instead chose the infantry, and was commissioned in 1913.

During World War I, Patch served as an infantry officer and as an instructor in the Army  s machine gun school. While he was commanding troops on the front line in France, his leadership came to the attention of George Marshall, then a member of General John J. Pershing s staff.

Marshall was appointed Army Chief of Staff in 1939, just before World War II. He promoted Patch to brigadier general, and sent him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to supervise the training of new soldiers there.

World War II edit

Pacific Theater edit

Patch was promoted to major general on 10 March 1942. In that year, he was sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations to organize the reinforcement and defense of New Caledonia. He took command of a loose collection of units, and formed them into the Americal Division a contraction of American, New Caledonian Division adopted as the division  s name on Patch  s suggestion after it was proposed by a soldier in the division.

The Americal Division first saw action in the Guadalcanal campaign in October 1942, when it relieved the valiant but malaria-ridden 1st Marine Division there. In December 1942, Patch moved up to command of the XIV Corps, and he was given charge of the entire offensive on Guadalcanal. Patch personally led troops under his command on a dangerous offensive in the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse to capture several fortified hills and ridges from Japanese forces. Under his leadership, by February 1943 the Japanese were driven from Guadalcanal.

European Theater edit

Impressed by Patch  s performance on Guadalcanal, General Marshall ordered him to the European Theater of Operations, where he took over command of the Seventh Army from General Mark Clark. Under Patch, the Seventh Army landed in southern France in Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944. Patch – who was promoted to lieutenant general on 18 August 1944 – then led the Seventh Army in a fast offensive up the Rhône valley. On 9 September 1944, near Dijon, France, it met up with the Third Army, which had driven east from Normandy.

Patch stayed in command of the Seventh Army through the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, leading the Seventh Army through the Siegfried Line, over the Rhine, and then into southern Germany.

In the spring of 1945, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower offered Patch a B-25 Mitchell and pilot for his personal use. Patch turned down the offer because he wished to remain in touch with his subordinate commanders during fast-moving operations and preferred a smaller plane that could land on unimproved fields and pastures. Patch narrowly escaped injury or death on 18 April 1945, while flying from Kitzingen to Öhringen in Germany during the Battle of Nuremberg. His Stinson L-5 Sentinel liaison aircraft Sea Level was intercepted by a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, but the pilot, Technical Sergeant Robert Stretton, maneuvered the L-5 so skillfully that it escaped and landed safely at Öhringen. Stretton later received the Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight. 1

Awards and decorations edit

Ribbon bar with the list of General Alexander M. Patch s decorations:

1st Row

Army Distinguished Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters

Navy Distinguished Service Medal

Bronze Star

Mexican Border Service Medal

2nd Row

World War I Victory Medal with three battle clasps

American Defense Service Medal

American Campaign Medal

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ two service stars

3rd Row

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/ three service stars

World War II Victory Medal

Companion of the Order of the Bath United Kingdom

Commander of the Légion d honneur France

4th Row

Croix de guerre with palm France

Order of Leopold II, Grand Cross Belgium

Croix de guerre with palm Belgium

Order of Abdon Calderón Ecuador

Personal life edit

On 20 November 1915, he married Julia Adrianne Littell 1893 - 1988, daughter of Colonel Isaac W. Littell. 2 They had two children. Patch suffered personal tragedy when their son, Captain Alexander M. Patch III, was killed in action on 22 October 1944 while serving as an infantry company commander in the 79th Infantry Division.

Death and legacy edit

In August 1945, Patch returned to the United States to take command of the Fourth Army, but he was soon hospitalized with lung problems. He died of pneumonia on 21 November 1945 at Brooke General Hospital at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He is buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Kurmärker Kaserne, in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany, was renamed Patch Barracks in his honor on July 4, 1952. Patch Barracks is the home of Headquarters, United States European Command HQ USEUCOM, the supreme American military command in Europe. Patch Barracks also has an middle school named after General Patch. The United States Navy transport USNS General Alexander M. Patch  T-AP-122 was also named for General Patch. Boulevard Patch going from the main road to Pampelone Plage in Ramatuelle France is named for General Patch.

Patch was promoted posthumously to general on 19 July 1954 under Pub.L. 83–508.

Notes edit

Weirather, pp. 18-19.

Patch-Littell. Evening Star Washington, D.C.. 21 November 1915. p. 4 of Part 7. Retrieved 16 May 2015. 

References edit

Charles Pfannes and Victor Salamone. The Great Commanders of World War II, Volume III: The Americans. 

Weirather, Larry. Saving General Patch. Aviation History, May 2012, pp. 18–19.

William K. Wyant 1991. Sandy Patch - A Biography of Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch. Praeger. ISBN 0-275-93454-3. 

External links edit

Biography portal

United States Army portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander M. Patch.

Alexander M. Patch 1913. Memorials. West Point Association of Graduates. 

Lost Victory - Strasbourg, November 1944

Alexander Patch at Find a Grave

Military offices

Preceded by

Mark Wayne Clark

Commanding General of the Seventh United States Army

March 2, 1944 to June 1945

Succeeded by

Wade H. Haislip

Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php.title Alexander_Patch oldid 686965876

Categories: 1889 births1945 deathsPeople from Fort Huachuca, ArizonaUnited States Army generalsRecipients of the Distinguished Service Medal United States Honorary Companions of the Order of the BathCommandeurs of the Légion d honneurRecipients of the Croix de guerre France Grand Crosses of the Order of Leopold IIRecipients of the Croix de guerre Belgium Recipients of the Order of Abdon CalderónUnited States Military Academy alumniAmerican military personnel of World War IAmerican military personnel of World War IIBurials at West Point Cemetery.

Ribbon bar with the list of General Alexander M. Patch The United States Navy transport USNS General Alexander M. Patch A Biography of Lt. Gen. Alexander M.

Sep 23, 2009  Anonymous said Traveled on the patch during the winter of 65 I believe. Germany to New Jersey. I was a ten year old Air Force brat. The North Atlantic.

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