Venturing a little farther west, this is a statue of General George S. Patton and his beloved bull terrier, Willie, outside the General Patton Memorial Museum. The museum is located at Chiriaco Summit 30 miles east of Indio, California on the I-10 freeway.
- The museum was established to honor all veterans and opened on Patton's 100th birthday (November 11, 1988 at 11 A.M.)
- In 1942 the War Department ordered Gen. Patton to locate, establish and command a training center to train troops for desert warfare in anticipation of fighting Germany in Northern Africa
- The area was 350 miles wide and 250 miles deep, ranging from Pomona, California eastward to Phoenix, Arizona. And from Yuma, Arizona to Boulder City, Nevada and was named the California-Arizona Maneuver Area
- The museum also has a West Coast Vietnam Wall honroing all veterans who served in Vietnam and a Defenders of Freedom Wall to honor those who have served since 9-11-2001.
Patton's bull terrier, Willie, was named after William the Conqueror. He followed the General everywhere. Willie wore jingle bells on his collar so everyone would know when he was around and he was rumored to be a prodigious "lover." He supposedly had his own set of "dog tags," too.
3 comments:
i am distantly related to william th conqueror...so does that make the dog my third cousin twice removed? smiles.
I don't know Brian--legend has it the dog was a great lover........
Great statue and I thought George C. Scott portrayed Patton on target. So to speak. MB
Thanks for the history. I agree with commenter above re: Scott's portrayal of the great general. I loved the movie Patton - one of my all-time favorites.
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