George Patton IV George Smith Patton , IV ( December 24 , 1923 – June 27 , 2004 ) was a Major General in the United States Army and the son of World War II General George Patton . Military biography . A 1946 graduate of West Point Patton was initially trained as an infantry officer . His first assignment was to Regensburg , West Germany where he participated in the 1948 Berlin Airlift . The troops under his command were used to load supplies onto Air Force transport aircraft bound for Berlin . In 1952 , a year after he returned from Germany , he married Joanne Holbrook . Patton served in Korea starting in February 1953 , commanding " A " Company of the 140th Tank Battalion , 40th Infantry Division . Patton received his first Silver Star and the Purple Heart in Korea . Returning to the United States in 1954 , Patton , now a captain , was initially assigned to West Point but was quickly picked up as part of an exchange program and was sent to teach at the United States Naval Academy . Patton served a total of three tours of duty in Vietnam , the first from April 1962 to April 1963 at Military Assistance Command , Vietnam , during which he was promoted to lieutenant colonel . He then took command of the 2nd Medium Tank Battalion , 81st Armored Regiment of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood Texas , before his second tour in 1967 , this one lasting only three months . During Patton ' s final and most intense tour , lasting from January 1968 to January 1969 , he was awarded two Distinguished Service Cross es for his actions on the battlefield . During this final tour , he was initially assigned as Chief of Operations and Plans at Headquarters , United States Army Vietnam . However , after his promotion to colonel in April 1968 , he was given command of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment . During his three tours in Vietnam , Patton , who frequently used helicopters as a mobile command post , was shot down three times and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross . After Vietnam , he was promoted to brigadier general in June 1970 before becoming the commanding officer of the U . S . 2nd Armored Division , a unit his father had commanded in North Africa during World War II , making this the first time in U . S . Army history that a father and a son had both commanded the same division . The Abramses were the second to accomplish this feat . Brigadier General Patton was Deputy Post Commander at Fort Knox , Kentucky during 1972 . Patton was known by the troops as a " GI General , " often appearing in A - 2 - 3 Dining Hall during meal times . Often the general would be behind the serving line . Major General Patton was assigned to the VII Corps in Germany , as the Deputy Commander . He was stationed near Stuttgart , where Manfred Rommel , son of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel , was an government officer who later became the city ' s mayor and the two met for the time . The sons of the two former adversaries entered a much publicized friendship , which continued until the general ' s death in 2004 . The men shared the same birthday , December 24 . During his tour in Germany , General Patton caused commanders to take equal opportunity seriously when he stated with characteristic frankness that ( paraphrased ) , " Anyone in my command who thinks he has no race relations problem is a lying son - of - a - bitch . " Post - military work . In the years after his 1980 retirement , Patton turned an estate owned by his father located north of Boston into the Green Meadows Farm , where he named the fields after Vietnam soldiers who died under his command . In 1997 Patton worked alongside author Brian Sobel to write " The Fighting Pattons " , a book which served as an official family biography of his father as well as a comparison between the military of his father ’ s generation and that of his son , a time which covered five conflicts and almost 70 years of combined service . He died from a form of Parkinson ' s disease at the age of 80 in 2004 and is survived by his wife Joanne ( née Holbrook ) , and their five children , Mother Margaret Georgina Patton OSB , George S . Patton V , Robert H . Patton , Helen Patton - Plusczyk , and Benjamin Wilson Patton ; six grandchildren ; and a great - grandson . Youngest son Ben has written a family biography entitled " Growing Up Patton : Reflections on Heroes , History , and Family Wisdom " , which reflected on his grandfather and father ' s careers . Family Name . Patton was the fourth in his line to be named George Smith Patton . His great - grandfather , the first George Smith Patton , was a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . He was killed in 1864 , at the Battle of Opequon . Patton ' s grandfather , born George William Patton in 1856 , changed his name to George Smith Patton in 1868 , in honor of his father . He was the only one of the four not to serve in the military ( although he , like the other three , attended the Virginia Military Institute ) . Patton ' s father was the renowned George Smith Patton , Jr . , the World War II general most famous for his command of the Third US Army in Northwest Europe in 1944 and 1945 . Though given the name Junior , Patton ' s father was actually the third George Smith Patton . For this reason , Patton was christened George Patton IV . Following his father ' s death in 1945 , Patton changed his legal name to George Smith Patton , dropping the Roman numerals . His eldest son , technically the fifth George Patton , is also known as George Smith Patton , Jr . General Patton ' s young grandson , who still is living , has given interviews on the History Channel and the Military Channel , recalling his family heritage .