Alexander Patch General Alexander McCarrell " Sandy " Patch ( 23 November 1889 – 21 November 1945 ) was an officer in the United States Army , best known for his service in World War II . Patch graduated from the United States Military Academy before serving as an infantry officer and machine gun instructor in World War I . By World War II he was promoted to brigadier general . He commanded U . S . Army and United States Marine Corps forces during the invasion of Guadalcanal , and the Seventh Army in Operation Dragoon ( the invasion of southern France ) . He died a few months after the end of the war . Early career . Patch was born on Fort Huachuca , a military post in Arizona where his father commanded a detachment . He never considered any career other than the army , and received his appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York , in 1909 . He wanted to follow his father into the cavalry , but realizing that it was becoming obsolete , he instead chose the infantry , into which he was commissioned in 1913 . In World War I , Patch served as an infantry officer and as an instructor in the Armys machine gun school . While he was commanding troops on the front line in France , his leadership came to the attention of George C . Marshall , then a member of General John Pershing ' s staff . During the buildup before the United Statess entry into World War II , Marshall was appointed Chief of Staff of the United States Army . He promoted Patch to brigadier general , and sent him to Fort Bragg , North Carolina , to supervise the training of new soldiers there . World War II . Pacific Theater . Patch was promoted to major general on 10 March 1942 . In that year , he was sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations to organize the reinforcement and defense of New Caledonia . He took command of a loose collection of units , and formed them into the Americal Division ( a contraction of " American , New Caledonian Division " adopted as the divisions name on Patchs suggestion after it was proposed by a soldier in the division . ) The Americal Division first saw action in the Guadalcanal campaign in October 1942 , when it relieved the valiant but malaria - ridden 1st Marine Division there . In December 1942 , Patch moved up to command of the XIV Corps , and he was given charge of the entire offensive on Guadalcanal . Patch personally led troops under his command on a dangerous offensive in the Battle of Mount Austen , the Galloping Horse , and the Sea Horse to capture several fortified hills and ridges from Japanese forces . Under his leadership , by February 1943 the Japanese were driven from Guadalcanal . European Theater . Impressed by Patchs performance on Guadalcanal , General Marshall ordered him to the European Theater of Operations , where he took over command of the Seventh Army from General Mark Clark . Under Patch , the Seventh Army landed in southern France in Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944 , after which Patch – who was promoted to lieutenant general on 18 August 1944 – led the Seventh Army in a fast offensive up the Rhone Valley . On 9 September 1944 , near Dijon , France , it met up with elements of Lieutenant General George S . Patton s Third Army that had driven east from the beaches of Normandy . Patch suffered personal tragedy when his son , Captain Alexander M . Patch III , was killed in action on 22 October 1944 while serving as an infantry company commander in the 79th Infantry Division . In the spring of 1945 , Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D . Eisenhower offered Patch a B - 25 Mitchell and pilot for his personal use , but Patch turned down the offer because he wished to remain in touch with his subordinate commanders during fast - moving operations and preferred a smaller plane that could land on unimproved fields and pastures . Patch narrowly escaped injury or death on 18 April 1945 when a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter intercepted the United States Army Air Forces 72nd Liaison Squadron Stinson L - 5 Sentinel liaison aircraft " Sea Level " , which was taking him from Kitzingen to Öhringen , Germany , to coordinate operations during the Battle of Nuremberg . His pilot , Technical Sergeant Robert F . Stretton , maneuvered the L - 5 so skillfully that Patch arrived safely at Öhringen , and Stretton later received the Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight . Patch retained command of the Seventh Army through the end of the war in Europe in May 1945 , crossing into Germany and over the Rhine River , leading the Seventh Armys attack on the German Siegfried Line , and then moving into southern Germany . Awards and decorations . Ribbon bar with the list of General Alexander M . Patch´s decorations : Death and legacy . In August 1945 , Patch returned to the United States to take command of the Fourth Army , but he was soon hospitalized with lung problems . He died of pneumonia on 21 November 1945 at Brooke General Hospital at Fort Sam Houston , Texas . He is buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the U . S . Military Academy at West Point , New York . Kurmärker Kaserne , in Stuttgart - Vaihingen , Germany , was renamed Patch Barracks in his honor on July 4 , 1952 . Patch Barracks is the home of Headquarters , United States European Command ( HQ USEUCOM ) , the supreme American military command in Europe . Patch Barracks also has an elementary and high school named after General Patch . The United States Navy transport was also named for General Patch . Patch was promoted posthumously to general on 19 July 1954 under .