Patton: Blood, Guts and Prayer
by Michael Keane

General George S. Patton, known as one of America's greatest military leaders, was also a devoutly religious man who undertook little without prayer. "Blood and Guts" Patton, known for his speeches punctuated with profanity and violent exhortations, also wrote poetry and recognized that all men are afraid on the battlefield.

In Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer, Keane examines a man of complex attributes from his early childhood through his death. Military battles are mentioned as backdrops to events but this is not a history of Patton's military feats; the author delves into the character of the man.

Born into a family of military veterans with southern roots and educated at home for his first 12 years, Patton's first readers were the Bible and The Pilgrims Progress. Young "Georgie" Patton believed his walls to be decorated with portraits of God and Jesus, but he later learned they were Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

Suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia, determination got him through his early education, accepted to Virginia Military Institute and later to West Point. His failure to pass his first year at West Point was a humbling experience for the young man.

Patton's outward brashness and boastfulness belied his humility when seeking guidance through prayer. His diaries, letters, speeches and personal papers reveal a man who continually turned to God for guidance and to give thanks. He often wrote about his need for prayer: "No one can live under the awful responsibility that I have without Divine help."

Patton demanded no more of his men than he demanded of himself. He constantly tested his own courage and tempted fate by putting himself in dangerous situations. He took his survival as a sign that God meant for him to become a great military leader.

When his commanding officer, Brigadier General Rockenbach, instructed him to remain in the background and "not to go into this fight in a tank," Patton went into battle on top of a tank.

On one occasion in 1944, clear weather was needed before a battle could begin. Patton instructed his chaplain to come up with a "Fair Weather for Battle Prayer" that was then distributed on 250,000 cards to his soldiers. When the weather cleared, Patton declared, "God damn! Look at the weather. That [chaplain] sure did some potent praying. Get him up here. I want to pin a medal on him."

(Regnery Publishing Inc., 2012, 225 pp., $27.95)