AFTER MARINE CORPS B-DAY, VETS DAY, A FEW PATTON QUOTES

(Ed.'s Note: The combined Marine Corps Birthday Nov.10 (244 years old) coming one day ahead of Veterans Day [Nov. 11] gave us some free time and led us to pick out an old book we had in our library. That book – Gen. George S. Patton's "War As I Knew It,"– was first published in 1947 and it is reflective of the times before political correctness, tolerance or such civilized niceties were the norm. 

We've picked out a few telling excerpts where the general makes his observations on a number of things, including his views of other cultures, most notably those relating to Arabs, Mexicans and Blacks. Patton fought in Africa (Morocco), Italy, Sicily, in Mexico with Pershing's Punitive Force against Pancho Villa, and across much of Europe.

He died in a car accident and is buried in Luxembourg.)

About Arabs and Mexicans he wrote:

"Another similarity between the Arab and the Mexican is the utter callousness with which both treat animals. Neither and Arab nor a Mexican would think of unpacking an animal during a prolonged halt. If the beast is chafed raw, the Arab does not even bother to treat the wound with lard, which is the inevitable panacea with the Mexican. Because a horse is dead lame is no reason for not working him."

"All of the animals are head-shy and many are blind as a result of the cheerful method of beating them on the head with a stick.The method of castrating sheep and cattle is unspeakable cruel. I think that the reason that the horse and donkey are not altered is due to their architecture which forbids the employment of the Arab method.

"One cannot but ponder the question: What if the Arabs had been Christian? To me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Mohammed and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for , the arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have kept on developing. Here, I think, is a text for some eloquent sermon on the virtues of Christianity."

About "colored" soldiers:

"On the 31st, I inspected and made a talk to the 761st Tank Battalion. A good many of the lieutenants and some of the sergeants had been my sergeants in the 9th and 20th Cavalry. Individually they were good soldiers, but I expressed my opinion at that time, and have never found the necessity of changing it, that a colored soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor."

"During the summer of 1914, I happened to be the only officer on duty at Ft. Riley, Kansas, when one of the colored soldiers was accused of having raped a white girl in the neighboring town. It was rumored that the inhabitants intended to lynch this man. Naturally, I am opposed to rape. However, I felt it was my duty as an officer to see that the soldier of the United States Army was not lynched. I, therefore, informed the leading citizens that, if any such attempt were made, it would be over my dead body. As a result of my stand, the man was not lynched, and, later, was proven not guilty."

About Sicilians:

"The people of this country are the most destitute and God-forgotten people I have ever seen. One day, when I was in the town and the enemy nearly took it, some shells and bombs killed a few civilians, and everyone in the town screamed like coyotes for about 20 minutes..."

"The southern Sicilian is, if possible, the dirtiest of all Sicilians. There were actually cases in which they lived with corpses in their houses for several days because they were too lazy to remove them. Yet, when we used post-hole diggers to remove them, they were very angry and said the dead should be buried horizontally and not vertically. We gave them the opportunity of horizontal burial by "permitting" the civilians to dig the graves.

"In the courtyard back of the house I occupied, I once counted eight children, 11 goats, three dogs, a flock of chickens and a horse, all picking up filthy scraps from the pavement.

None of them seemed to die. I suppose people that have been raised on tomato sauce made after the Sicilian manner are immune.

Their method of preparing this sauce is to collect tomatoes, many of them overripe, and squeeze them out with their hands onto old sheets, or pieces of paper, or doors, or anything else they find. They leave this bloody-looking mess for several days, and then, put it on trays, usually lying on the sidewalks, to dry. Since the streets are never cleaned, there is plenty of germ-laden dust to mix with the sauce. This is the thing with which they eat their macaroni."

"Not only do they cook in the street, but sit in the street, and, what is more distressing, sing in the streets at all hours of the day and night. Owing to the fact that they live primarily on garlic, which is sold by old men carrying garlands of garlic over their shoulders, the singing not only impresses the ear, but also the nose."

About Egyptians:

"Cairo is a really disgusting place...the Egyptian peasant, who abounds in large numbers, is distinctly lower than the Sicilian, whom I had previously considered at the bottom of the human curve...As a result of the hookworm, the Egyptian peasant constantly suffers from the bellyache and has his sexual vigor reduced. In order to relieve this pain and restore his vigor, he has taken to smoking hashish.

"This has the desired results for a few months and then becomes impotent, and the peasant even more susceptible to the attack of the hookworm, so that he is in a vicious cycle...They are unspeakably dirty in their habits and in their dress. On a fresh-water canal I saw a man defecating in the water, while below him, at a distance of not more than ten yards, women were washing clothes, and a short distance farther downstream a village was drawing drinking water."
 

About Italians:

"I was amazed at the stupidity and gallantry of the Italian Army: stupid, because they were fighting for a lost cause, and gallant, because they were Italians. I asked the Cardinal's' Vicar to tell them that and to spread the rumor. I further said that we had demonstrated our ability to destroy them and that if they had failed to take the hint and surrender, we should certainly do so. As a matter of fact, I called off the air and naval bombardments we had arranged, because I felt enough people had been killed, and felt that with the drive of the 2nd Armored Division we could take the place without inflicting unproductive losses on the enemy."

On decorated soldiers and discipline:
"On the 22nd I decorated a number of nurses with Bronze Stars and also Lt. James H. Fields of the 4th Armored Division with the Medal of Honor. I told Gaffey I did not want Lt. Fields sent to the front anymore, because it has been my unfortunate observation that whenever a man gets a Medal of Honor or even the Distinguished Service Cross, he usually attempts to outdo himself and gets killed, whereas, in order to produce a virile race, such men should be kept alive."

One of the greatest defects in our military establishment is the giving of weak sentences for military offenses. The purpose of military law is the administrative rather than legal. As the French say, sentences are for the purpose of encouraging others.

I am convinced that, in justice, to other men, soldiers who go to sleep on post, go go absent for an unreasonable time in combat, who shirk in battle, should be executed.; and that Army Commanders or Corps Commanders should have the authority to approve the death sentence.

"It is utterly stupid to say that General Officers, as a result of whose orders thousands of gallant and brave men have been killed, are not capable of knowing how to remove the life of one miserable poltroon."