GEORGE S. PATTON
(George Smith Patton Jr.)
Patton was an anti-Semite which was then not uncommon for Southerners of his socio economic class. However, for those Jews fighting in his Army his attitude was usually very positive.
Some citations quote Patton using the word “Asiatic” rather than “amiable” in the fourth sentence but sources with the full diary entry use “amiable.”
Patton, though a great leader and fighting general, also was almost crazy and irrational at times. This quotation illustrates one of those periods. Somehow, most of the officers and enlisted men under his command were generally able to distinguish and live with him. In this case, no one tried to ferret out the cowards and kill them despite the Generals exhortation. Also, his—and other people’s notion that bravery is genetically inherited is scientifically incorrect.
George Smith Patton Jr. was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
