Evening star., 1945-06-08
Patton Leaves Boston
On Flight 10 Coast;
Hopes 10 Fight laps
By the Associated Press.

BOSTON. June 8.-Gen. George
s. Patton, jr., hoping he was on his
way to fight the japanese" took off
from the Bedford Airport for Los
Angeles today-leaving before most
of the million people who gave him
a heros welcome yesterday had left
their homes for their work.
MY ambition is to get to the
Pacific, but it may not be fulfilled -
Gen. Patton said. He did not am
plify the remark.
The dynamic. -toting chief of
the invincible Sd Army-stirred by
the welcome of his adopted State
on his first return to the United
States from the war in Europe, told
newsmen, II sincerely hope I fight
the Japanese.
= The general was accompanied by
Mrs. Patton. They will stop at Den
yer, Colo, where they will be ac-
corded reception.
Tumultuous Reception.
The 59-year-old four-star general
talked briefly with newsmen after
one of the most tumultuous recep-
tions in the city's history.
Gen. Patton said he hoped to get
q week or Today leave which he
would like to spend with his sister
in Los Angeles.
There Is little church out there
where I was baptized and con-
frmed," he said. God has been
very good to me and I'd like to go
there to give thanks to him."
The church is ST. Gabriel's Episco-
pal Church.
Gen. Patton said it was hard for
him to talk about the Sd Army "be-
cause when I start out on the Sd
Army get incoherent."
Crowds Line Parade Route.
The general was welcomed by
shouting throngs estimated at more
than a million people by Police
Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan,
after transatlantic fight from
Paris via Newfoundland
Crowds lined the parade route from
Bedford airport to Boston and a
vast multitude heard him speak
briefly from the hatch shell on the
Charles River esplanade before he
attended a state dinner
About 400 wounded veterans of
the Sd Army sat in reserved Sec
ton in front of the shell and all
during his speech the general looked
directly at the men who had fought
with him.
With your blood and bonds we
crushed the Germans before they
got here" he said.
This ovation is not for me,
George S. Patton-George S. Patton
Is simply a hook on which to hang
the Sd Army
He said it was popular idea that
q man was a hero when he was
killed, but Gen. Patton said, "a man
is frequently a fool when he gets
killed"
These men are the heroes he
added looking at the wounded,
Then he saluted the veterans and
walked from the platform.
When his plane reached Bedford
Gen. Patton didn't wait for the steps
to be placed but jumped the foot or
two to the unloading platform and
strobe across the 50-foot runway
where Mrs. Patton. who had come
up from their farm at Hamilton,
waited.
AS he doffed his helmet and kissed
Mrs. Patton, she said quickly:
"Oh, I'm so glad to have you
back"
Kisses Son on Cheek.
Then he turned to his son, George
S. Patton III, a West Point cadet
who was given special leave to meet
his father, and kissed him on the
cheek. He then embraced his two
daughters, Mrs. James Totten and
Mrs. John K. Waters, both of Wash
ington.
Asked by a correspondent for the
Army newspaper Stars and Stripes
If he had any news to send back to
his.boys in Europe, Gen. Patton said:
Please tell them not to get into
another war until I get back to
them"
Gen. Patton expected to die fight
ing the Germans, Mrs. Patton told
reporters.
When he left me two years and
seven months ago." she said, he told
me he expected to die fighting. 1t
seems like a miracle that he has
come back"
Patton and DooIittIe