It was not the best of Christmas seasons for Gen. George Patton in December of 1944.
Yes, the general’s Third Army was marching through Europe toward Berlin. Yes, the Nazis were less than a year away from defeat. So, too, were the Japanese. But as Patton’s tank division approached Bastogne, a southern Belgium stronghold occupied by 15,000 U.S. troops and besieged by 50,000 German troops encircling it, he had a problem.
Rain. Lots of it.
“There is about four inches of liquid mud over everything,” Patton told his wife in a letter, “and it rains all the time, not hard but steadily.” What’s worse, he didn’t have the air cover to relieve the brave Americans holding off the Germans.
According to the Friends of the National World War II Memorial, Patton realized he needed more than just hope. He realized he needed God.
So, Patton placed a Dec. 8, 1944 call to the Third Army’s chief chaplain, Fr. James O’Neill.
“Do you have a good prayer for weather?” Patton asked O’Neill. “We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war.”
O’Neill promised the general he would look for one. Finding none that was suitable, he instead wrote his own. He presented it to Patton.
The general’s order in response? “Have 250,000 copies printed,” he said, “and see to it that every man in the Third Army gets one.”
The Christmas card would enter Patton lore and is still talked about today.
“Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend,” it read.
“Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.”
On the reverse side, Patton wrote, “To each officer and soldier in the Third United States Army, I wish a Merry Christmas. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We march in our might to complete victory. May God’s blessings rest upon each of you on this Christmas Day. – G.S. Patton, Jr., Lt. Gen. Commanding, Third United States Army.”
We know, of course, that Pattons’ prayer worked. The following day, the weather cleared and the Third Army made its way to Bastogne to relieve the 101st Airborne. The Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive, was repulsed by the end of January, and the war moved toward its inexorable end.
December 26 1944 Battle of the #Bulge
Relief of #Bastogne #BoxingDay Major #Milestone in #WW2#101st #Airborne #McAuliffe and 10th #Armored Div relieved by 4th Armored, spearhead of #Patton #ThirdArmy #USArmy #Ardennes pic.twitter.com/z8jczToEoU— John Robson 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 (@Jaeger_9) December 26, 2017
“Chaplain, I am a strong believer in prayer,” Patton told the chaplain before the prayer went out. “A good soldier is not made merely by making him think and work. There is something in every soldier that goes deeper than thinking or working — it’s his ‘guts.’ It is something that he has built in there: It is a world of truth and power that is higher than himself.”
It’s a reminder that even Patton — a man who had pagan leanings, as anyone who’s watched the biopic can tell you — still knew the importance of Christian prayer. So, too, did anyone who served before the 1960s. Now, we’re just a few years removed from the days when Lloyd Austin ran the Pentagon under Joe Biden. Things have changed a bit under Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, but it’ll still take a long way to get back to being a God-fearing nation.
We are not liberating occupied Europe this Christmas, nor will many of us ever undertake something that parlous or important in our lives. But the reason for the season remains: our Savior, and prayers we offer to Him. If Gen. Patton can remember that while looking down the most urgent mission a man can undertake for his country, certainly we — and the president — can, as well.
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