Alexander Patch

General Alexander McCarrell "Sandy" Patch (23 November 1889 – 21 November 1945) was an officer in the United States Army, best known for his service in World War II. Patch graduated from the United States Military Academy before serving as an infantry officer and machine gun instructor in World War I.

By World War II he was promoted to brigadier general. He commanded U.S. Army and United States Marine Corps forces during the invasion of Guadalcanal, and the Seventh Army in Operation Dragoon (the invasion of southern France). He died a few months after the end of the war.

Early career
Patch was born on Fort Huachuca, a military post in Arizona where his father commanded a detachment. He never considered any career other than the army, and received his appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1909. He wanted to follow his father into the cavalry, but realizing that it was becoming obsolete, he instead chose the infantry, into which he was commissioned in 1913.

In World War I, Patch served as an infantry officer and as an instructor in the Army's machine gun school. While he was commanding troops on the front line in France, his leadership came to the attention of George C. Marshall, then a member of General John Pershing's staff.

During the buildup before the United States's entry into World War II, Marshall was appointed Chief of Staff of the United States Army. He promoted Patch to brigadier general, and sent him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to supervise the training of new soldiers there.

Pacific Theater
Patch was promoted to major general on 10 March 1942. In that year, he was sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations to organize the reinforcement and defense of New Caledonia. He took command of a loose collection of units, and formed them into the Americal Division (a contraction of "American, New Caledonian Division" adopted as the division's name on Patch's suggestion after it was proposed by a soldier in the division.)

The Americal Division first saw action in the Guadalcanal campaign in October 1942, when it relieved the valiant but malaria-ridden 1st Marine Division there. In December 1942, Patch moved up to command of the XIV Corps, and he was given charge of the entire offensive on Guadalcanal. Patch personally led troops under his command on a dangerous offensive in the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse to capture several fortified hills and ridges from Japanese forces. Under his leadership, by February 1943 the Japanese were driven from Guadalcanal.

European Theater
Impressed by Patch's performance on Guadalcanal, General Marshall ordered him to the European Theater of Operations, where he took over command of the Seventh Army from General Mark Clark. Under Patch, the Seventh Army landed in southern France in Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944, after which Patch – who was promoted to lieutenant general on 18 August 1944 – led the Seventh Army in a fast offensive up the Rhone Valley. On 9 September 1944, near Dijon, France, it met up with elements of Lieutenant General George S. Patton's Third Army that had driven east from the beaches of Normandy. Patch suffered personal tragedy when his son, Captain Alexander M. Patch III, was killed in action on 22 October 1944 while serving as an infantry company commander in the 79th Infantry Division.

In the spring of 1945, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower offered Patch a B-25 Mitchell and pilot for his personal use, but Patch turned down the offer because he wished to remain in touch with his subordinate commanders during fast-moving operations and preferred a smaller plane that could land on unimproved fields and pastures. Patch narrowly escaped injury or death on 18 April 1945 when a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter intercepted the United States Army Air Forces 72nd Liaison Squadron Stinson L-5 Sentinel liaison aircraft Sea Level, which was taking him from Kitzingen to Öhringen, Germany, to coordinate operations during the Battle of Nuremberg. His pilot, Technical Sergeant Robert F. Stretton, maneuvered the L-5 so skillfully that Patch arrived safely at Öhringen, and Stretton later received the Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight.

Patch retained command of the Seventh Army through the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, crossing into Germany and over the Rhine River, leading the Seventh Army's attack on the German Siegfried Line, and then moving into southern Germany.

Awards and decorations
Ribbon bar with the list of General Alexander M. Patch´s decorations:

Death and legacy
In August 1945, Patch returned to the United States to take command of the Fourth Army, but he was soon hospitalized with lung problems. He died of pneumonia on 21 November 1945 at Brooke General Hospital at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He is buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Kurmärker Kaserne, in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, 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 an elementary and high school named after General Patch. The United States Navy transport USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122) was also named for General Patch.

Patch was promoted posthumously to general on 19 July 1954 under.