I was putting my books into some new bookcases I bought recently. I tend to read biographies, history, and mysteries set in the period between the two world wars. I think everyone should read the Complete Sherlock Holmes cover to cover, all 56 short stories and 4 novels. As Holmes said "I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles."
Currently on my night stand I have the following books I am working on. My Life in France by Julia Child. The Federalist by Alexander Hamilton et al. Patton A Genius for War by Carlo D'Este. Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears. Lighting in a Jar by Cot Campbell whom I have had the great fortune of meeting and spending a morning with watching horses workout in Aiken, SC. And last but not least When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops by George Carlin.
Next up is a bio of Benjamin Franklin but I promise to finish at least two of the books I am working on.
General George S Patton Jr. is a figure most people know from the movie Patton. I have always been drawn to him since I was a young boy because my father served in Patton's Third Army in World War II. My father drove a truck in the artillery. The deuce and a half as it was called back in the war. Dad would drive those 2-1/2 ton capacity trucks full of shells and powder for the 155mm Long Tom cannons, from the supply depots up to the guns.
Some where in their drive across France, Patton issued an order that tank convoys were not to be passed on roads. This was a safety issue as the roads were not too wide to allow vehicles to pass safely. My father was ordered to bring 3 trucks full of shells and powder charges up to a battery of guns that was getting running out of supplies and being blown off the side of a hill. As he and the other two trucks raced to get to the guns they rounded a curve they pulled up to a tank convoy plodding along at about 8 miles an hour. After about 5 minutes of driving behind the tanks he did what any native New Yorker would do today in traffic, he went for it.
After he and the other trucks worked their way to the front of the convoy he was about to hit the gas, but he was in for a little surprise. General Patton was leading the convoy in his staff car.
So my Dad being the NCO leading the three trucks was welcomed by Patton with a face to face butt chewing and given a ticket that docked him a months pay for braking the rules. When the General asked my father why he passed the tank convoy and was told that a battery of 155's was getting blown off the side of a hill, he reply was and I'm paraphrasing here " Well you damn well better get going." Dad still had the ticket but also Patton's blessing.
Patton's family has a long military history. Sixteen of his relatives served in the Confederate Army in the War Between the States. His grandfather was killed in action. A great uncle was a member of Pickett's division that advanced the furtherest into the Union lines before being killed. After the war Patton's family left Virginia for California where he was born, although he always considered himself a Virginian.
Patton was a remarkable figure in American History. As a young junior officer he designed the saber used by the Calvary, and in World War I he wrote the first Tank Manual for the US Army.
The pages of history are filled with great personalities we just have to find them. Sherlock Holmes states it well "You see, but you do not observe." We all need to observe more.
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