LAST RESPECTS PAID

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23392, 26 December 1945, Page 5

LAST RESPECTS PAID

Funeral Of General Patton

Representative Cortege

By Telegraph—N.Z Press Assn.—Copyright (6.30 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 24. General G. S. Patton was buried this morning in the United States Army cemetery at Hamm. British. French, Russian, Dutch, Belgian. Yugoslav, Italian and Czechoslovakian representatives were in the cortege which wound through crowded, rain-soaked streets to the cemetery, where Prince Felix of Luxembourg and his Cabinet joined them.

Mrs Patton accompanied the procession and stood at the graveside during the military ceremony. Tire “Daily Mail” says that the inscription “George Patton, Junior.” painted on a plain wooden cross, which was fashioned by a soldier carpenter, will stand at the head of General Patton’s grave, which was dug by a German prisoner of war. It lies undistinguished among long lines of similar graves and crosses.

High-ranking soldiers who fought across Europe with General Patton crowded into Old Heidelberg yesterday to pay their last respects to their leader. An Episcopal funeral service was held in the Church of Christ, Heidelberg. After the service 6009 American soldiers and German civilians lined the route of the cortege on the way to the special train for Luxembourg. The soldiers were clearly grieved, says the correspondent of the Associated Press. The Germans watched with stonv stares. An 80-piece band led the cortege through lines of helmeted. armed guards spaced every 20 feet. The United States Army provided a special train for Mrs Patton and senior American officers, including General Joseph T. MacNarney (Commander of US. European Forces) and a large number of Allied representatives. The bearers from the church were six soldiers, in-ludine: MasterSergeant William Meeks, a negro, who was General Patton’s orderly for eight years.