General George Patton Museum...

High on our list of things to do was a visit to the General George Patton Memorial Museum. We came to learn about his Desert Training Center (DTC).

For those who don't know, Desert Training Center is where, in two short years, a million men trained in the Mojave Desert to fight in World War II. Camps housing 15,000 men each sprung up overnight in California, Arizona, and Nevada. The Desert Training Center was planned and initiated by General George S. Patton. Many of the doctrines, strategies, and tactics in armored and airborne warfare that helped win the war were developed at the DTC. Today little remains but its legacy lives on.
Once it became clear that Americans would be fighting in the deserts of North Africa during World War II, a suitable place to train them was essential. The celebrated armor commander, General George S. Patton Jr., was called upon to identify and develop such a place. He found it in the Colorado and Mojave Deserts of southern California. Largely uninhabited, with extremely rugged terrain and climate, this was the perfect place to “harden” American troops for what they would face when confronting the more experienced Axis troops.

Desert Training Center (DTC) opened in spring 1942 and expanded far beyond its original borders and scope before it closed in 1944. It covered approximately 18,000 square miles, including much of the southern California deserts, the southern tip of Nevada, and a significant portion of western Arizona. Even after the successful end of the North African campaign in May 1943, training in the DTC continued to mimic wartime conditions, with none of the comforts offered by established military bases. Soldiers lived in temporary tent camps while being subject to strict rationing of water and other supplies. Large unit training maneuvers covered large swaths of the desert.

It is quite an experience today to visit this place and think about what happened to the 18-year-old soldier from Arkansas or Kansas or Michigan who left behind the ration can you hold in your hand, the .30 caliber shell casing ejected from his M1, or the sweeping track of the M4 Sherman tank he was driving. What must these young soldiers have thought when they were first dropped off in this land that “God forgot,” and what did they go on to experience over the next several years? WOW.


After watching the informational video Sands of War we meandered amongst the "Skeletons of Camp Young" being amazed by the equipment used there.





After two years here, Patton and his troops left DTC and upon their departure, much was left behind. This is the 1930's era trailer which General Patton used to develop film. We were not able to see the inside exhibits but this outside museum satisfied our quest for knowledge... for now.
"Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge.
It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base.
All men are afraid in battle.
The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty.
Duty is the essence of manhood."
-General George S. Patton
As part of our travels, in 2000, we explored the Luxembourg American Cemetery. Here is where 5,070 service members lie, many of whom lost their lives in the Battle of the Bulge and in the advance to the Rhine River. The cemetery was established on December 29, 1944 by the 609th Quartermaster Company of the U.S. Third Army while Allied Forces were stemming the enemy's desperate Ardennes Offensive, one of the critical battles of World War II. The city of Luxembourg served as headquarters for General George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army. The cemetery is the final resting place of General Patton (who died of injuries sustained in a traffic accident, in Germany, in 1945). It was his wish to be buried with his troops. It was a very emotional stop on our Europe tour for us and the first connection to Patton, as well.
The reason the General Patton Memorial Museum is in Chiriaco Summit is because during World War II, the headquarters of an important military training ground was located there. The area was known as Camp Young and was the world's largest Army post. And it was rather amazing that we could camp in the footsteps taken by the greatest generation.
"Better to fight for something
than live for nothing."
-George S. Patton

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