'I can never look on one of our wounded soldiers or on the corpses of one of our men without my eyes filling with tears and my throat choking up, but we should not, as I often say, regret that such men have died, rather we should thank God that men like that have lived.'
These are the incredibly moving words of General George S. Patton, the famously tough leader who played a pivotal role in U.S. operations during World War II, in a newly-discovered letter to the grieving mother of a young soldier killed in combat.
The rare piece of correspondence is part of a remarkable collection of wartime artifacts, published for the first time by DailyMail.com and being sold by memorabilia site, Momentsintime.com.
General Patton wrote the letter in January 1944 to Viola Reichstein after her desperate attempts to discover the fate of her son, Private Sam Reichstein, who died aged 25 on September 21, 1943, after stepping on a land mine near Salerno, Italy.
Reichstein's death came just weeks after the Allied Invasion of Italy where joint operations pushed back Nazi forces and secured the south of the country.
Patton, remembered as one of the greatest generals in military history, bared his emotions as he attempted to comfort a grieving mother, thousands of miles away in the small town of Lititz, Pennsylvania.
'It is perfectly futile to try to comfort anyone for the loss of a son, but I do think that you should be proud to be the mother of one of our heroes who gave his life in the defense of his country,' he wrote.
He signed off, 'With renewed expressions of sympathy'.
Private Reichstein, the son of Viola and Ulysses S. Reichstein, had entered the service on March 21, 1941.
Patton's letter was written to Mrs Reichstein from Seventh Army Headquarters on January 12, 1944, shortly before he assumed command of the Third Army.
The Third Army was instrumental in battles in France and Germany in the months following the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
Patton was a prolific letter-writer and keeper of diaries throughout his four decades on the front lines and his colorful speeches, often laced with profanity, inspired great loyalty among his troops.
He was born in San Gabriel, California in 1885 into a military family whose members had served in both the U.S. and Confederate States armies.
He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he was known as a poor student but an excellent athlete who went on to represent the U.S. in the pentathlon during the 1912 Olympics in Sweden.
His first combat tour was during the Pancho Villa Expedition in 1916 and soon afterward he joined the U.S. Tank Corps in World War I. He was wounded in France while leading tanks into combat.
Between the war years, he climbed steadily through the ranks and when America joined the Allied effort in World War II, Patton was placed in command of the 2nd Armored Division.
He led troops during the invasion of Casablanca, Morocco in 1942 and subsequently commanded the Seventh Army during the Allied Invasion of Sicily.
With nicknames like 'Bandito' and 'Old Blood and Guts', he was known for his grizzled war dog persona who held no truck with cowardice. He was temporarily removed from command after slapping two shell-shocked soldiers but later returned to lead the Third Army in its push across France and into Nazi Germany following the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
The following year, Patton died aged 60 after breaking his neck in a car accident in Germany.
He remains one of the best known American war heroes following the release of the biographical war movie, Patton, in 1970 which won seven Oscars.
Many of his letters and diary entries were published as The Patton Papers two years later and his portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in DC.
The newly-discovered Patton letters are part of a wartime archive of Private Sam Reichstein's letters, telegrams and personal property including his Purple Heart medal, WWII Victory and Defense medals, along with the dog tags which accompanied his body when it was shipped home to the U.S.
The collection also holds Reichstein's two garrison caps, two small photographs, five wartime letters to his sister and the personal address book which accompanied his personal effects.
The archive is for sale on a 'first come, first served' basis, priced at $75,000 on Momentsintime.com.
Gary Zimet owns the site and has been dealing in rare and sometimes bizarre memorabilia for four decades, including the vehicles that rappers Tupac and Biggie Smalls were fatally shot in, locks of Marilyn Monroe's hair and an original copy of Schindler's List.
Zimet bought the Reichstein archive from a colleague who acquired it from a military historian.
'This is the most remarkable soldier's archive of wartime service that I've ever seen,' he said
Zimet said that he was able to authenticate the items using comparisons of Patton's signature and the envelope, part of War Department stationery, with the stamp of the U.S. Army.
The rare collection also includes the original envelope that the letter was sent in and signed: 'Censored G. S. Patton Jr. Lt. Gen.'
An earlier letter from Patton, sent from Seventh Army Headquarters on December 5, 1943, attempts to reassure Mrs Reichstein while efforts to locate her son were still being made.
At the time, Patton wrote: 'At the present time, the 180th Infantry is not under my command [Patton had been passed over for the role], but I am enclosing a copy of a letter which I have written and to which you will unquestionably receive an answer.
'However, to reassure you, I will state that the War Department is very quick and accurate in giving notice of fatal wounds; therefore, since you have not heard anything for three weeks I am sure that it is a good sign and that your son is probably well on the road to recovery.
'Trusting that I am right and with all good wishes to you as the Mother of an American soldier...'
Another letter, dated November 7, 1944, from Reichstein's staff sergeant to his mother is also part of the collection.
'I am writing you this letter...because of a promise I made your son Slim, I was his platoon Sgt, and was with him in the end...So I am keeping my promise by writing you...he was the only man that followed me in taking a hill...' it reads.
In a letter on December 14, 1943 letter from his first sergeant, he wrote: 'Sam was wounded in action and sent to a hospital. I haven't heard from him since…'
There is also a carbon copy of a letter from December 5, 1943, sent via General Mark Clark seeking information on Reichstein, and a letter to Mrs Reichstein from a general on White House letterhead advising that the War Department had been notified to act on her request.
A letter on November 26, 1943, from Adjutant and Maj. Gen. J. A. Ulio, confirms Pvt. Reichstein's death to his mother.
Reichstein's draft notice from March 1941 is also part of the archive, along with dozens of letters, documents and telegrams concerning locating the private, notes from Jewish and other support groups, his insurance policies, his resting place in Italy, repatriation of his body and pensions.
A letter of apology, for the insult of Reichstein's exclusion from the 180th Infantry 1945 yearbook, completes the collection.
(Source: Loise Boyle, The Daily Mail- 30/10/2019)
