Evening star., 1943-11-24

Patton.
Now the question has been raised
as to whether this is punishment
enough and whether Gen. Eisen-
hover should or should not continue
Gen. Patton in command. Most
members of Congress wisely take the
position that matters of discipline
are primarily the concern of the
commanding generals and the War
Department itself. Any other view
would mean intrusion, and there
would be no discipline possible be-
cause troops would consider that
they could carry the matter to the
political precincts of Congress.
Wrong Acknowledged.
The important fact is that Gen.
Patton acknowledged his wrong, and
did so before a lot of officers and
men. To apologize or confess wrong
takes much courage, and yet it is
the very essence of the Christian
philosophy. Gen. Patton should
never have struck the soldier. The
fact that he did indicates that he |
himself must have been under
severe nervous strain. In quieter |
and calmer moments, especially in
a hospital, such an incident would |
not occur. But under the impact of |
battle zone conditions strange things
happen even to the nerves of gen.
erals and other higher officers.
The real difficulty about the Incl
dent is the way it was handled from
news viewpoint. Gen. Eisenhower
undoubtedly sought to protect Gen.
Patton from undue publicity, and
probably from a breakdown of his
morale at time when the Sicilian
campaign operations were in full
swing.
The newspaper correspondents al
Allied headquarters in Italy and
North Africa knew since last August
what had happened. In fact one of
ten was said to have been present
vhen the incident first occurred |
T-.e-e was, however, definite un-
Outstanding among the newsmen
g road, in Difference to the wishes
CT Gen. Eisenhower, that nothing
m re would be said about it.
But this was mistake Any time
a lieutenant general stands up be-
fore the officers and men of his
army and at the direction of his
superior officer makes an apology,
that's news. And when several
thousands of persons who write tc
several thousands of families back
home know about such thing it is
difficult to keep it suppressed. In
fact the very fact of suppression
leads to exaggerated significance
and an accusatory spirit. The in
ference is left that those who sup
press somehow do not wish the facts
to become known for reasons which
are not fully justified.
Mistake in Judgment.
Gen. Eisenhower is a great GEN.
eral and a tactful one and his mo-
tlves in trying to keep the Patton
incident secret are fully understood,
but he made a mistake in Judgment
One is inclined to believe that if
the news at the time Gen. Patton
made his open apology were given
to the press, the public would have
been greatly impressed by the gen.
erals acknowledgement of error and
possibly nothing more would have
been heard about the episode.
AS 1t is the secret has been nur-
tuied in newspaper and magazine
offices in the United States and
abroad. 1tswas inevitable that some
one on this side of the ocean ulti-
mately would make it public and put
the correspondents abroad-who de-
1erred to Gen. Eisenhower's wishes
In position of suppressing impor-
tant news. 1t tends to undermine
confidence in what the correspond
ents do write and works a grave
injustice.
II Gen. Patton's nerves are in
better shape and he is himself again,
MS value as a general may continue
TO be such as to merit the reputa-
ton he has had, namely one of the
best field generals in our entire
Army. If the repercussions back
'nf',a interfere with his usefulness,
Zen. Eisenhower may point the
finger of blame at the press for
disclosing the story now. Time
a one will give the complete an
sWer to this most difficult of public
relations questions for an army
comm nder tn daoido