General George S. Patton Jr.
A General Talks to His Army- "Now I want you to remember that no bastard
ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other
poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men, all this stuff you've heard
about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is
a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. ALL REAL Americans,
love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion
marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest
boxers . . . Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans
play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in Hell for a man who
lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose
a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. Now,
an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality
stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about
individuality for the Saturday Evening Post, don't know anything more about
real battle than they do about fornicating. Now we have the finest food
and equipment, the best spirit, andthe best men in the world. You know
. . . My God, I actually pity those poor bastards we're going up against.
My God, I do. We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to
cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks.
We're going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. Now some
of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under
fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you'll all do your duty.
The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood, shoot them
in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo, that a moment
before was your best friends face, you'll know what to do. Now there's
another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages
saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything, we'll
let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested
in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him
by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick
the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like
crap through a goose. Now, there's one thing that you men will be able
to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years
from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on
your knee, and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War Two?"
You won't have to say, "Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana." Alright now,
you sons of bitches, you know how I feel. Oh! . . . I will be proud to
lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere. That's all." General
George S. Patton, Jr. 3rd Army speech England, 31 May 1944 6th Armored
Division