This book is full of facts and is told first hand by those who fought side by side with Patton and memories are graciously added from his loving wife. This is not a book about a conspiracy against "Old Blood and Guts," it is about his life, his love and his loss. There are added chapters by those who witnessed his death and the truth on how he really died. "On December ninth, shortly before he was scheduled to go home for a long leave, the General set out one afternoon to shoot pheasant. The army sedan in which he was riding collided with a two and a half ton truck just north of Mannheim. Patton, who at first appeared slightly injured, was the only one hurt. The following day he was paralyzed from the neck down, a condition resulting from a broken neck and spinal injuries. During the next few days, especially after the arrival of Mrs. Patton, his condition improved until by the fourteenth it was pronounced "excellent" and plans were made to move him to the United States. The progress continued under expert care in the Seventh Army Headquarters Hospital at Heidelberg until the afternoon of December nineteenth. Patton was cheerful and confident and had regained some movement in his body. Hopes of bringing him to America within a week or ten days were high.On the nineteenth, a blood clot appeared in his lung, and this, aggravated by the paralysis, proved too great a strain on his heart. On December 21, 1945, General Patton, who had expected and hoped to die in a tank in combat, died peacefully in his sleep in a plaster cast, yet he went down in a gallant fight against his injuries and in a place symbolic of his success—a hospital which had been a barracks for enemy cavalry. Mrs. Patton was at his side. It was just a year after his swift thrusts had brought relief to the encircled defenders of Bastogne."
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