Title: Saving General Patton
Author: Robert Corns
Publisher: Xlibris
ASIN: B0844PS2SP
Pages: 194
Genre: Fiction based on True Story
Reviewed By: Dan MacIntosh

Read Book Review

Saving General Patton is a World War Two story, set in Ludlow, CA, a small town in the Mojave Desert. It mostly revolves around the adventures of three young men – two brothers and their neighbor friend, during the years leading up to (and including) the United States’ entry into that great second world war. One of these boys is Rob, the book’s author, but we don’t fully learn his identity until near the book’s end. Up until that point, the reader is led to believe this is a work of fiction. However, Corns includes pictures of his friends and of his small town, in the closing pages of the book. Perhaps the best description of Saving General Patton, then, is that of embellished fiction. And it is quite the engaging story.

It’s the kind of tall tale that small town life is quite adept at producing. We learn from the start there just isn’t a whole lot to do in little old Ludlow. There’s a train station, which is where one of these three boy’s father works. He’s named Hershey, and he gets into a lot of adventures with bothers JJ and Rob. There’s also one lone gas station. (Oh, and there’s also a cathouse, but these pre-teen boys are too young to comprehend all of what happens in this house of ill repute).

Corns does a good job of painting an accurate small-town picture. If you’ve ever lived in a small town – especially as a young person – you know well how a vivid imagination is essential. You don’t have a lot of visual stimulation in a place like that, so you have to conjure up your own excitement. Without the military’s presence, this town wouldn’t have been much to speak of at all. However, it was a part of the Desert Training Center, where soldiers trained to fight Germans in the deserts of Africa. It’s also here that these boys are instrumental in saving General Patton’s life from a German assignation attempt. With Corns’ storytelling skills, these boys can rise above their otherwise dreary desert lives to save an American military hero. This is most likely a storyteller’s embellishment, but something like that could have actually happened, with just the right circumstances.

The story of Rob and JJ’s father, Major Corns, is also essential to this book. He is a military leader on the rise, respected by his peers and – most significantly – by Patton. One of this book’s other storylines involves the safety of Boulder Dam. Corns’ most important jobs is protection of Boulder Dam from possible Japanese attack. It would have made an obvious target for the United States’ enemies at the time. This potentiality became especially relevant after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, which also happens during this story’s timeline.

Although Corns alludes to the racial divisions in play back when this book was set (the fact that, for instance, blacks and whites could not swim together in the same pools in some places), one of the most heartwarming messages created by this story is the friendship forged by Hershey (who is black), Rob and JJ (who are white). Although friendships that crossed color lines were rare in many locales at that time, these three boys simply didn’t see how color distinctions made any difference at all. They were three adventurous boys that loved playing together and letting their imaginations run wild. In a perfect world, such relationships would not be so rare.

It’s obvious by the way he tells this story, Corns loves the military and especially loves his country. Although revisionist history is hip and cool these days, where many American heroes from the past are presented to be far from heroic, Corns treats General Patton with deep love and respect.

Saving General Patton will appeal to fans of history, especially those that can’t get enough information about World War II. Additionally, it’s a story that young boys will enjoy. Innocent boys will easily put themselves into the shoes of our three protagonists. Best of all, it may just whet your appetite to explore World War II history even deeper.