George S. Patton Jr.
Fort Myer, VA, February 5, 1935
George S. Patton Jr. Twice Signed to Sister about Upcoming Sea Voyage to Hawaii
TLS

GEORGE S. PATTON JR., Typed Letter Signed and Initialed, to Anne Wilson "Nita" Patton, February 5, 1935, Fort Myer, Virginia. On "Lieutenant-Colonel George S. Patton Jr." letterhead. 2 pp., 6" x 7". Light toning; very good.

After serving in Europe during World War I, Patton returned to the United States and held several positions during the inter-war years. Much of his attention was focused on the development of tanks and tank and mechanized warfare. From 1932 to 1935, Patton was the executive officer of the 3rd Cavalry in Washington, with headquarters across the Potomac River at Fort Myer, Virginia. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the regular Army on March 1, 1934.

Patton was transferred to the Hawaiian Division in 1935 to serve as G-2 assistant chief of staff for military intelligence at the headquarters of the Hawaiian department at Fort Shafter. In this letter to his sister, still living in southern California, Patton discusses his plans for an upcoming sea voyage from California to his new assignment in Hawaii. He encloses a letter for Joseph B. Banning Jr. (1889-1969), the grandson of Los Angeles shipping pioneer Phineas Banning and a manager of the Matson Navigation Company.

According to contemporary newspaper reports, Patton, his wife Beatrice, Gordon C. Prince (1888-1983) of Boston and Hamilton, Massachusetts, his wife Anna Agassiz Prince (1896-1973), Banning's brother-in-law, banker Francis Graves (1895-1963) of Los Angeles, and sailing master Captain Joe Eakland of Bristol, Rhode Island, sailed from Los Angeles to Hawaii on the schooner yacht Arcturas. The voyage took fifteen days.

Complete Transcript
Feb.5 1935.
Dear Nita:
Read the inclosed letter to Joe Banning and then see that he gets it P.D.Q. B. Gordon and Annah Prince and I hope Fred are going this with the hired man will be the crew. If Fred cant go I was thinking of asking either Joe or Ormsby. Joe for choice as he can pay his own way back.
I hope to leave from here about Apr 15 and will be with you around the 20th of April if that is convenient.
I could not tell Joe that I dont like Francis hence hate to be under obligations to him but you see my point.
If you can get Joe to take over the job either personally or through one of his men it would be fine unless you and he think Ormsby would be all right. If it is one of Joes men or Ormsby I would expect to pay them for their time. The job I refer to is the setting up of the masts rigging and all the odd jobs that invariably occur in getting ready for a SEA VOYAGE??? (Dont them words give you a thril they do me – that is why I am taking the trip)
She realy is a hell of a good boat and in fin[e] shape, when you think of the wrecks of boats and the nuts of crews that have made the trip you can see that there is no danger. Gordon Prince has navigated accross the Atlantic in several ocean races and ennumerable times to Bermuda so we will get there.
We will leave Ruth Ellen with you till we arrive. Geoare and Allace will come later as he has to wait to get his teeth fixed.
Please talk this whole thing over with J.B. and let me know what you recomend.
We are all well.
With lots of love, your devoted brother,
G S Patton Jr.
P.S. Keep the trip dark and above all don't tell Aunt Susie—it would get in the papers if you did and as I explained in the letter to Joe I dont want that till the day we sail or rather the day after. Then as we have no radio they cant stop us.
GSP

George S. Patton Jr. (1885-1945) was born in California and educated at the Virginia Military Institute (like his father and grandfather) and the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1909. An avid horseback rider, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the cavalry. In 1910, he married Beatrice Banning Ayer (1886-1953), the daughter of a wealthy Boston businessman. He competed in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, in the modern pentathlon, where he finished fifth behind four Swedes. He then traveled to France, where he learned fencing techniques. Returning to the United States, he redesigned cavalry saber combat doctrine and designed a new sword. In 1915 and 1916, Patton participated in the Pancho Villa Expedition in Mexico as Commander John J. Pershing's aide. In the spring of 1917, he accompanied Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, to Europe. Patton took an interest in tanks and was soon training crews to operate them. By 1918, he was in command of a tank brigade. After World War I, he served in various army posts and began to develop the methods of mechanized warfare. At the beginning of World War II, Patton worked to develop and train armored divisions in the army. In the summer of 1942, he commanded the Western Task Force in the Allied invasion of French North Africa. He commanded the Seventh U.S. Army in the successful invasion of Sicily in July 1943. After the Normandy invasion of June 1944, Patton's Third Army sailed to France and formed on the extreme right of Allied land forces. Through speed and aggressive offensive action, the Third Army continuously pressed retreating German forces until it ran out of fuel near Metz in northeastern France at the end of August. When the German army counterattacked in the battle of the Bulge in mid-December 1944, Patton's ability to reposition six full divisions to relieve besieged Allied forces in Bastogne was one of the most remarkable achievements of the war. As the Germans retreated, Patton's Third Army advanced, killing, wounding, or capturing 240,000 German soldiers in seven weeks before crossing the Rhine on March 22. After the end of the war in Europe, Patton hoped for a command in the Pacific but after a visit to the United States returned to Europe for occupation duty in Bavaria. In December 1945, the car in which he was riding collided with an American army truck at low speed, but Patton hit his head on a glass partition, breaking his neck and paralyzing him. He died twelve days later at a hospital in Germany. He was buried among some of his men of the Third Army in an American cemetery in Luxembourg.

Anne Wilson "Nita" Patton (1887-1971) was born in San Marino, California, and was the younger sister and only sibling of General George S. Patton. In 1917, she was engaged to widower General John J. Pershing, whose wife and three daughters died in a fire in 1915. Pershing's absence in Europe during World War I strained and ultimately ended their relationship. She never married and continued to live in the family home in San Marino, California.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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6" x 7"