Peter D. Regis - Memories of Patton

Below is another fragment taken from unknown newspaper/journal.
It was sent to me by Peter D. Regis in 1998.


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UNKNOWN NEWSPAPER/JOURNAL

Peter Regis tells memories of Patton

by Richard Quinby
Journal Staff Writer


Peter Regis, a Lt. Colonel and five year resident of Jupiter, can speak with authority on a wide variety of subjects.

Regis has been a newspaper reporter, owner and editor, travel writer and one of the top store builders and designers in the United States.

Regis was also press officer for the 20th Armoured Corps during World War II. The Corps functioned as a spearhead for the Third Army, commanded by one of the most colorful, competent and controversial generals of the war -- General George Patton.

Regis was often in close contact with the General and had the opportunity to observe him under a wide variety of circumstances.

In an interview with Regis, he recalls what stands out in his mind about the General.

"Patton was all-confidence, at times arrogant and overbearing, and one of the greatest field commanders of the war," Regis begins. "He was also a great student and a scholar of military history, and a very religious man."

"Patton had enormous presence. When he walked into a room he filled it up with Patton... He dominated everything and he always had an opinion. He was forceful, at times quite humourous and always very persuasive," Regis said.

It's hard to tell after talking with Regis whether Patton played a role simply because it was expected of him, or because he was inseparable from the part.

Regis' first encounter with Patton came during a meeting in Knutsford, England. Patton made it a point to explain to all present about his famous pistols that he always wore. "These are not pearl handles," Regis recalls the General saying. "They're ivory, and I don't wear them because I like them; I wear them because they are part of the image."

The pistols may have been part of the role, but is absolute coolness under fire seemed real enough to Regis.

He recalls that the rapid advance of the Third Army through Europe was impeded by a flooded Moselle River. Two bridges needed to be constructed, one for the infantry and another for the tanks. "We walked across the infantry bridge to the bridgehead," Regis recalls.

The situation was far from stabilized as the Germans had only been driven back about four hundred yards. Patton and Regis turned their attention to the tank bridge which still had another hundred yards to be built, when "Mortar fire started coming in," recalls Regis.

Everyone immediately threw themselves flat on the ground, except Patton. Regis remembers looking up from the ground and watching an immobile, impassive Patton standing just as before the shelling.

Regis wasn't sure how to evaluate Patton's response to the danger, but he remembers thinking that the ground was the wisest place to be since "shells have on them -- 'to whom it may concern.'"

"Patton just did not have the type of fear that we did under fire ... He had more control of his nerves," Regis says.

The Third Army had a "frozen press" says Regis, because they did not want the Germans to know the movements of the Army or even the fact that Patton was in France. Regis' corps was dubbed the "ghost corps" by the Germans.

Since radio contact between corps headquarters and the divisions was prohibited, Regis often served as combat liaison officer. During a mission, he cracked up his jeep and spent some time in the hospital tent in Vitre, France.

Regis remembers peeking out from beneath the rolled up canvas siding to see the approach of a jeep flying the three star general flag on one fender and the Third Army flag on the other. Patton entered the tent and, according to Regis, there was a tangible tenseness in the air. Regis guesses that perhaps this was partially due to the soldier's awareness of the famous slapping incident in Africa. (Patton slapped a hospitalized soldier who was diagnosed as suffering from battle fatigue).

Patton walked through the tent, recognized Regis and bellowed out. "What the hell are you doing here. Better get yourself out of bed because we're well the hell out there," Patton's comment had the whole tent laughing and the tension disappeared, says Regis.

After the war a recreational area for the troops was set up in Thionville, France. Soldiers were brought in by convoy to indulge in some of the luxuries they had been denied during the war.

Patton wanted the best for his troops and he made sure ...

(Continued on page 9)

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Unfortunately, there was no continuation in what I received.