Patton had three children, Beatrice Smith (born March 1911), Ruth Ellen (born February 1915), and George Patton IV (born December 1923).
By all accounts George Patton was a very good officer like his father. George had his legal name changed just to “George Patton.” He became a major general.
Ruth Ellen’s wedding. She “favored” Patton and was a red head. They often struck sparks.
The Pattons with daughter Beatrice on the right.
In “A Genius For War” there is a story. Patton had the chance to become military attache at the Court of Saint James. His wife might rightly have thought that “this Army wife crap may finally pay off.” Patton didn’t want that assignment. He wrote Beatrice that they had two soon to be marriable daughters. Englishmen were very charming but once they married their spouses were forgotten, ornaments. And they always needed money for polo ponies and the grousing moor. Patton wrote: “They may think I’m an old bastard now, but one day they will thank me.”
