1945.12.22 “Immortality”
by Paul Albert Plaschke (1880 – 1954)
11 x 15 in., ink and charcoal on paper
Coppola Collection
Plaschke (1880-1954) studied art with George B Luks (“The Yellow Kid”) and spent most of his early professional life as a cartoonist in Louisville, KY, and then moving to Chicago in 1937. After about 1905, he began a significant period of oil painting, for which he became more generally known. He moved back to KY in 1948.
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general of the United States Army who commanded the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. His name is synonymous with the wartime Generals of the early 20th Century.
He was an outspoken and controversial figure. He was particularly upset when learning of the end of the war against Japan, writing in his diary, "Yet another war has come to an end, and with it my usefulness to the world."
Patton was appointed as military governor of Bavaria, where he led the Third Army in denazification efforts. He attracted controversy when it was noted that several former Nazi Party members continued to hold political posts in the region. When responding to the press about the subject, Patton repeatedly compared Nazis to Democrats and Republicans in noting that most of the people with experience in infrastructure management had been compelled to join the party in the war, causing negative press stateside and angering Eisenhower. On September 28, 1945, after a heated exchange with Eisenhower over his statements, Patton was relieved of his military governorship. He was relieved of command of the Third Army on October 7, and in a somber change of command ceremony, Patton concluded his farewell remarks, "All good things must come to an end.”
Patton died at 60 from injuries he got in a freak car accident that occurred on December 8, 1945.
