- Charles Kuhl
-
Charles H. Kuhl Born November 6, 1915 Died January 31, 1971 (aged 55)
Mishawaka, IndianaAllegiance 
United States of AmericaService/branch 
United States ArmyYears of service 1941 – 1945 Rank Corporal Unit 1st Infantry Division Battles/wars - Operation Torch
- Battle of Sicily
Awards Purple Heart Charles Herman Kuhl (6 November 1915 – 31 January 1971) was a American soldier who became the target of General George S. Patton's ire in a 1943 incident which made nationwide headlines in the United States during World War II.[1]
Life and career
Kuhl was born the son of a Mishawaka, Indiana casketmaker, Herman F. Kuhl.[2] Charles Kuhl worked as a carpet layer in South Bend prior to World War II.[3] During the war, Kuhl had served as a private for 8 months in Company L, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, when he was admitted to the 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry aid station for reported combat exhaustion.
At the aid station, Kuhl was initially diagnosed with "exhaustion," and his medical chart said "psychoneurosis anxiety state, moderately severe (soldier has been twice before in hospital within ten days. He can't take it at the front, evidently. He is repeatedly returned.)"[4] Kuhl was transferred from the aid station to the Army's 15th Evacuation Hospital near Nicosia for further evaluation.
On a tour of the 15th Evacuation Hospital, Patton encountered Kuhl, who was sitting slouched on a stool midway through a tent ward filled with injured soldiers.[5] Years later, Kuhl would recall that when General Patton entered the hospital tent, "all the soldiers jumped to attention except me. I was suffering from battle fatigue and just didn't know what to do."[6] When Patton asked Kuhl where he was hurt, Kuhl shrugged and replied that he was 'nervous' rather than wounded, adding "I guess I can't take it."[3] Patton slapped Kuhl across the chin with his gloves, then grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the tent entrance, shoving him out of the tent with a final kick to Kuhl's backside.[3] Yelling "Don't admit this son-of-a-bitch", Patton demanded that Kuhl be sent back to the front at once, adding "You hear me, you gutless bastard? You're going back to the front."[3] Following the incident, Kuhl was found to have both chronic dysentery and malaria.[7] Patton's actions may have been motivated in part by a report given him by Gen. Clarence R. Huebner, the commander of the 1st Infantry Division to which Kuhl belonged. Prior to visiting the 15th Evacuation Hospital, Patton had asked Huebner how things were going. Heubner replied, "The front lines seem to be thinning out. There seems to be a very large number of "malingerers" at the hospitals, feigning illness in order to avoid combat duty."[8]
Word of Patton's actions soon spread to several Allied commanders in Sicily, who took no action in the matter. Initially, the incident was not reported by any of the news reporters in the theater. However, a group of war correspondents eventually decided that General Dwight D. Eisenhower should be informed of the incident. They compiled a report on the Kuhl slapping and sent it to General Bedell Smith, Eisenhower's chief of staff.[9] When General Eisenhower learned of the matter, he ordered Patton to make amends, after which Patton formally apologized to the soldier "and to all those present at the time,"[10] The news reporters who had sent their report to Bedell Smith demanded that Patton be fired in exchange for killing the story, a demand which Eisenhower refused.[11] Contrary to popular impression, Eisenhower never seriously considered removing Patton from duty in the ETO: "If this thing ever gets out, they'll be howling for Patton's scalp, and that will be the end of Georgie's service in this war. I simply cannot let that happen. Patton is indispensable to the war effort - one of the guarantors of our victory."[12]
Kuhl wrote his parents about the incident, but asked them to "just forget about it."[13] Kuhl's parents later stated that they had avoided mention of the matter "because they did not wish to make trouble for General Patton."[14] Eventually the story of Kuhl's slapping was broken in the U.S.A. by muckraking newspaper columnist Drew Pearson on his November 21, 1943 radio program. Pearson's version of the incident bore little relation to the actual event,[15] and falsely claimed that General Patton would "not be used in important combat anymore."[16][17] Allied Headquarters denied that Patton had received either an official reprimand or a relief from combat duty, but confirmed that Patton had slapped a soldier with his gloves.[18] Demands for Patton to be recalled and sent home soon came from Congress as well as in newspaper articles and editorials across the country.[19] However, public opinion was largely favorable to Patton, and Kuhl's father Herman even wrote his own congressman, stating that he forgave Patton for the incident and requesting that he not be disciplined.[20][21] While Patton was later reassigned, he was not relieved and would continue to serve in the European theater, where he would later command the famous U.S. Third Army, which under his leadership advanced further and faster than any army in military history.[22]
Kuhl was discharged from the Army as a private. Following the war, he returned to the Mishawaka area and obtained a job as a floor sweeper for Bendix Corporation in South Bend, Indiana. Patton's encounter with Kuhl was later depicted in the 1970 film Patton, where the slapped soldier was played by Tim Considine.[23] After the film was released, Kuhl was interviewed on the incident by news reporters. Kuhl related that "After [Patton] left, they took me in and admitted me in the hospital, and found out I had malaria," Kuhl noted, adding that when Patton apologized personally (at Patton's headquarters) "He said he didn't know that I was as sick as I was."[24] Kuhl added that "I think at the time it happened, he was pretty well worn out himself."[25]
Kuhl died in Mishawaka of a heart attack in 1971 at age 55.[26][27]
References
- ^ United Press (November 24, 1943). Indiana Family Cites Son's Letter Telling Of Slap and Kick Administered by Patton. New York Times
- ^ Patton and Truth, Time Magazine, 6 December 1943
- ^ a b c d Atkinson, Rick, The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944, New York: Henry Holt & Co., ISBN 9780805088618 (2007), p. 147
- ^ Blumenson, Martin, ed. (1996). The Patton Papers 1940-1945. Da Capo Press, ISBN 9780306807176
- ^ Atkinson, Rick,The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944, New York: Henry Holt & Co., ISBN 9780805088618 (2007), p. 147
- ^ Gen. Patton Slap Haunts Former GI,, South Bend Tribune, 25 March 1970, p. 12
- ^ Toplin, Robert Brent (1996). History by Hollywood: The Use and Abuse of the American Past. University of Illinois Press, ISBN 9780252065361
- ^ Province, Charles M., The Unknown Patton, CMP Publications, ISBN 9780517455951, 9780517455951 (2002), p. 26
- ^ D'Este, Carlo, Patton, A Genius For War, HarperCollins, ISBN 0060164557 (1995), pp. 535-536
- ^ D'Este, Carlo: Patton: A Genius For War, p. 8
- ^ D'Este, Carlo, Patton: A Genius For War, p. 536
- ^ D'Este, Carlo, Patton: A Genius For War, p. 536"
- ^ D'Este, Carlo, Patton: A Genius For War, p. 901
- ^ Port Arthur News, 11/24/43, Id.
- ^ Sweeney, Michael S., Secrets of victory: the Office of Censorship and the American press and Radio in World War II, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 0807825980 (2001), p. 158
- ^ Reprimand for Patton is Denied, The Fresno Bee, November 22, 1943, p. 1
- ^ Sweeney, Michael S., Secrets of victory: the Office of Censorship and the American press and Radio in World War II, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 0807825980 (2001), p. 158: "General George Patton...will not be used in any European war theatre anymore...He (Patton) will not be used in important combat anymore."
- ^ Farago, Ladislas, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, p. 312: In fact, two soldiers had been slapped in separate incidents, the other being Paul G. Bennett.
- ^ Command: Conduct Unbecoming, Time Magazine, 6 December 1943
- ^ Patton and Truth, Time Magazine, 6 December 1943
- ^ D'Este, Carlo, Patton: A Genius For War, pp. 543-544
- ^ Wallace, Brenton G., Patton and his Third Army, Harrisburg, PA: Military Service Publishing Co. (1946), ISBN 081172896X pp. 194-195: In 281 days of continuous combat, Patton's Third Army advanced further and faster than any army in military history.
- ^ Staff report (April 06, 1970). U.S. headlines. Time
- ^ "Gen. Patton Slap Haunts Former GI," Charleston Daily Mail, March 25, 1970, p. 12
- ^ "Gen. Patton Slap Haunts Former GI, Charleston Daily Mail, March 25, 1970, p. 12
- ^ Staff report (February 3, 1971). GI Slapped by Patton in World War II DiesLos Angeles Times
- ^ Staff report (February 3, 1971). GI Slapped by Patton in '43 Dies. Chicago Tribune
External links
"Charles Kuhl". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7056561. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
Categories:- 1915 births
- 1971 deaths
- People from South Bend, Indiana
- United States Army soldiers
- American military personnel of World War II
- Deaths from myocardial infarction
- Cardiovascular disease deaths in Indiana
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