And the star of one was "Little Sorrel" Stonewall Jackson's horse and on the wall of one of the buildings is a plaque dedicated to VMI's dead in WWII which includes one George Patton.
I have the greatest admiration for General Patton, and I have paid my respects at his grave in Luxembourg, but how does he qualify as WW2 dead ?
He attended VMI to get his grades up enough to get into West Point and I guess that at some point someone decided that he qualified to be included.
My point is that he died as the result of a car smash 7 months after the war in Europe had ended.
Memorial Garden is filled with plaques from various classes in tribute to their classmates who've died. While most are war dead, some are not. Patton's classmates obviously wanted to commemorate him with a plaque in Memorial Garden, which is befitting not only because he died prematurely during war, regardless of cause, but also because of his rank and stature at time of death. To note, if you complete rat year with your class, you are always considered a classmate even if you don't graduate.
I guess that someone thought him worthy of inclusion and our VMI inside man has provided the answer.
Just as the Civil War was not officially over until President Johnson's April 2, 1866 Proclamation #153, WWII was not officially over for the U.S. until December 31, 1946 with President Truman's Proclamation #2714.
Good point. My maternal grandfather enlisted in the US Marine Corps on 15 Aug 1945. He served till Jun 1946, and never left the states. On his headstone is the VA plaque with "World War II" on it.
I guess I never realized he died 7 months later. How long did he lie in the hospital?
12 days I believe.
Bringing the