Alexander Patch

Patch was born in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, although he was raised in Pennsylvania. His father, Captain Alexander M. Patch, was a former cavalryman in the United States Army and an 1877 graduate of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York and his mother was Annie Moore Patch, the daughter of Congressman William S. Moore of Pennsylvania. Of German, Scottish and Irish descent, Patch attended Lehigh University for a year, before receiving an appointment to West Point in 1909. Patch's eldest brother, Joseph Dorst Patch and commonly known as "Dorst", also enlisted in the army the same year. He originally wanted to join the Cavalry Branch, but, realizing that it was becoming obsolete, he instead chose the Infantry Branch of the U.S. Army, and was commissioned on June 12, 1913, after graduating 75th in a class of 93. Some of his classmates, all of whom were, like Patch, destined to become general officers, included William R. Schmidt, Henry B. Lewis, Henry B. Cheadle, Paul Newgarden, Charles H. Corlett, Robert L. Spragins, Douglass T. Greene, Willis D. Crittenberger, William A. McCullogh, Robert M. Perkins, Carlos Brewer, Geoffrey Keyes, Louis A. Craig, Lunsford E. Oliver, Richard U. Nicholas, Francis K. Newcomer.

Upon being commissioned, Patch's first assignment was with the 18th Infantry Regiment, then based in Texas City, Texas. He later saw action in the Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico in 1916, and was later promoted to first lieutenant. In November that year he married Julia A. Littell, the daughter of an army general, who Patch had met while he was a cadet at West Point.

In June 1917, two months after the American entry into World War I, he was promoted to the rank of captain and was, along with his brother Dorst, sent overseas with his regiment, which became part of the 1st Infantry Division, to join the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front where he remained until November. He then attended the British Army's Machine Gun School in England and commanded the 3rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 1st Division until April 1918, when he then went on to direct the U.S. Army's Machine Gun School until October. Towards the end of 1918, returning to the 18th Infantry, he fought in the Second Battle of the Marne, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest battle in the history of the United States Army. His leadership came to the attention of Colonel George Marshall, then a member of General John J. Pershing's staff. The war came to an end on November 11, 1918, at 11:00am, by which time Patch was a lieutenant colonel, having been promoted to the rank a month before, and major the previous January. In February 1919 he reverted to the rank of captain and was a staff officer at AEF Headquarters.

After briefly serving on occupation duties, Patch returned to the United States in May 1919 and chose to remain in the army during the interwar period. After four years at Fort Benning, Georgia, and Washington, D.C., he spent the next few years as professor of military science and tactics at Staunton Military Academy, Virginia. He returned to this post twice in the interwar years, from 1925–28 and 1932–36. In 1922 he attended the Field Officer's Course at the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning. In 1924 he attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and graduated there with distinction a year later.

This was followed by service with the 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment from 1929–31 at Fort Washington, Maryland. He then entered the U.S. Army War College in 1931 and graduated the following year. Promoted again to lieutenant colonel, he was later a member of the Infantry Board at Fort Benning, Georgia, from 1936–39, where he helped to develop the army's transformation from the old square division, with four infantry regiments, into the triangular division, with three.

In November 1940 he was promoted to colonel and assumed command of the 47th Infantry Regiment, then part of the 9th Infantry Division commanded by Major General Jacob L. Devers. General George Marshall, who had been impressed with Patch's leadership in France in World War I, was appointed Army Chief of Staff in 1939, just before World War II. He promoted Patch to the one-star general officer rank of brigadier general in August 1941, and sent him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to supervise the training of new soldiers there.

On 20 November 1915, he married Julia Adrianne Littell (1893–1988), daughter of Brigadier General Isaac William Littell.[4] They had two children. Patch suffered personal tragedy when their son, Captain Alexander M. Patch III, was killed in action on 22 October 1944 while serving as an infantry company commander in the 315th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Infantry Division in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Captain Patch was a posthumous recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star and Purple Heart. He is interred in the Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial, Lorraine, France.

General Patch died of pneumonia on November 21, 1945, two days short of his 56th birthday, at Brooke General Hospital at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He is buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the USMA.

Kurmärker Kaserne, in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, West 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 a middle school named after General Patch. The United States Navy transport USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122) was also named for General Patch. Boulevard Patch going from the main road to Pampelonne Plage in Ramatuelle in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur of southeastern France is named for General Patch.

Patch was promoted posthumously to full general on 19 July 1954 under Pub.L. 83–508.

Ribbon bar with the list of General Alexander M. Patch's decorations:

Insignia	Rank	Component	Date
No insignia	Cadet	United States Military Academy	March 1, 1909
No insignia in 1913	Second lieutenant	Regular Army	June 12, 1913
	First lieutenant	Regular Army	July 1, 1916
	Captain	Regular Army	May 15, 1917
	Major	National Army	January 5, 1918
	Lieutenant colonel	National Army	October 31, 1918
	Captain	Regular Army	March 15, 1920
	Major	Regular Army	July 1, 1920
	Lieutenant colonel	Regular Army	August 1, 1935
	Colonel	Army of the United States	June 26, 1941
	Brigadier general	Army of the United States	August 4, 1941
	Major general	Army of the United States	March 10, 1942
	Colonel	Regular Army	July 1, 1942
	Lieutenant general	Army of the United States	August 7, 1944
	General	Posthumous	July 19, 1954

[5]

• Charles Pfannes and Victor Salamone. The Great Commanders of World War II, Volume III: The Americans.
• Weirather, Larry. "Saving General Patch." Aviation History, May 2012, pp. 18–19.
• William K. Wyant (1991). Sandy Patch: A Biography of Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch. Praeger. ISBN 0-275-93454-3.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander M. Patch.

• "Alexander M. Patch 1913". Memorials. West Point Association of Graduates. Archived from the original on 2016-02-24.
• Lost Victory - Strasbourg, November 1944
• Alexander Patch at Find a Grave