Brothers Alphonse, Kenneth, and Mayo Prud’homme were playing with a foot-long toy cannon in Natchitoches, La., in September 1941 when they saw a man peering at them through binoculars from the opposite side of the Cane River. “We just fired a shot at him to see what would happen,” Kenneth remembered later. “He bailed out of the tree and went flying back down the road in a cloud of dust.”
Presently the man returned with infantry. “They started shooting back at us, and when they’d shoot, we’d shoot back.”
This went on for half an hour, escalating gradually. The boys’ father added firecrackers to their arsenal; their opponents set up smoke screens and readied a .155 howitzer. At last an Army officer appeared at their side and said, “Mr. Prud’homme, do you mind calling off your boys? You’re holding up our war.”
The boys, ages 14, 12, and 9, had interrupted war games involving 400,000 troops spread over 3,400 square miles in preparation for America’s entry into World War II. At the sound of the cannon, George S. Patton had stopped his Blue convoy and engaged what he thought was the opposing Red army. His men were firing blanks, but the maneuvers were real.
“That’s my one claim to fame,” Kenneth told an Army magazine writer in 2009. “I defeated General Patton.”
An amusing tale. I'm not much of a Patton fan. My dislike for the man causes me to wonder whether this is a true story since I imagine Patton to be rather ruthless.
ReplyDeleteHe seems a bit too polite in this story for it to ring true.
I should also add that any ambush would receive the full force of my troops had I been Patton, which also adds to my incredulity about this tale.
I was thinking that this makes Hitler look even worse, if he didn't have the skill of a child.
ReplyDeletePatton was one of our greats. America would be much better off if we could bring him and Teddy Roosevelt back.
By the way, you might want to insert a [sic} after .155 howitzer. A 155 is a 6 inch gun, while .155 would be a needle shooter.
ReplyDelete"He seems a bit too polite in this story for it to ring true."
ReplyDeleteI didn't think the appearing army officer in the story was necessarily Patton himself but then I haven't had time to follow the link yet.
I don't dislike Patton but I am sure a lot of his "stardom" came from the need to create heroes at the time. He was certainly a brave man but I often wonder if he may have just been in the right place at the right time with the right equipment and right army as much as he may have been brilliant.
ReplyDeleteHe definitely was an effective General once but his later antics show him perhaps as the equivalence of the modern day pop star that acquired fame too quickly without the ability to handle it or the perpetual scrutiny that goes with it.
The government needed a hero to parade in public, rally support and sell bonds; but what they got instead was the 1944 version of flashing a bare crotch when getting out of the limo at the club.
FatWhiteMan:
ReplyDeletePatton is what Al Haig wanted to be, unfortunately he lacked the necessary manquipment.
Greg, thanks for that chuckle about the [sic].
ReplyDeleteGlad to help. I encourage laughter whenever appropriate.
ReplyDelete