On December 21, 1945, General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S 3rd Army, dies from injuries suffered not in battle but in a car accident. He was 60 years old.

Descended from a long line of military men, Patton graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1909.

He represented the United States in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden -as the first American participant in the pentathlon.

He went on to serve in the Tank Corps during World War I, an experience that made Patton a dedicated proponent of tank warfare.

During World War II, as commander of the U.S 7th Army, he captured Palermo, Sicily, in 1943 by just such means. Patton’s audacity became evident in 1944, when, during the Battle of the Bulge, he employed an unorthodox strategy that involved a 90-degree pivoting move of his 3rd Army forces, enabling him to speedily relieve the besieged Allied defenders of Bastogne, Belgium.

At the Battle of the Bulge, during which Patton once again succeeded in employing a complex and quick-witted strategy, turning the German thrust into Bastogne into an Allied counter thrust, driving the Germans east across the Rhine. In March 1945, Patton’s army swept through southern Germany into Czechoslovakia—which he was stopped from capturing by the Allies, out of respect for the Soviets’ postwar political plans for Eastern Europe.

Besides being known for his battle strategy and leadership, he is also well known for his flamboyant character and  for things that he said. 

While Allied leaders expressed mixed feelings on Patton's capabilities, the German High Command was noted to have more respect for him than for any other Allied commander after 1943. Adolf Hitler reportedly called him "that crazy cowboy general". Many German field commanders were generous in their praise of Patton's leadership following the war, and many of its highest commanders also held his abilities in high regard.

Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt stated simply of Patton, "He is your best."