GENERAL PATTON’S FUNERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 304, 26 December 1945, Page 5

GENERAL PATTON’S FUNERAL

CEMETERY AT HAMM AN INCONSPICUOUS GRAVE Recd. 6.30 p.m. London, Dec. 24. General George Patton, former commander of the United States Third Army, wnich played a conspicuous part in the battle of Germany, was ouried 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 ot Luxemburg, and his Cabinet, joined them. Mrs. Patton accompanied the procession and stood at the graveside during the military ceremony. The “Daily Mail” says the inscription “George Patton, Junior,” painted on a plain wooden cross, which was fashioned by a soldier carpenter, will stand iat 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 the late General Patton crowded into old Heidelberg to pay their last respects to their leader. An Episcopal funeral service was held at Heidelberg’s Christ Church. After the service, 60,000 American soldiers and German civilians lined the route of the cortege on the way to a special train for Luxembourg. The soldiers were clearly grieved, says an Associated Press correspondent; the Germans watched with stony 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 and a large number of Allied representatives. Pall-bearers from the church were six soldiers, including Master-Sergeant William Meeks, a negro, who was General Patton’s orderly for eight years.