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Jean Gordon (Red Cross)

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File:Jean Gordan niece of General Patton 1946.jpg
Personal details
Born (1915-02-04)February 4, 1915[1]
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died January 8, 1946(1946-01-08) (aged 30) (30 years old)[1]
New York, New York, U.S.
Nationality American
Occupation American Red Cross Clubmobile Staff Assistant ("donut girl")

Jean Gordon, a niece of General Patton, was a Red Cross worker during World War II. Patton bragged that he had sex with her, a claim historians have used to explore his mental health.[2]

Early life[]

Jean Gordon's father died at an early age and her invalid mother was the half sister of Patton's wife. She was the same age as Patton's daughters, and in her youth spent most of her holidays with the extended Patton family. She was the bridesmaid for both the Patton girls.[3]

World War II[]

During the war Gordon signed on to become a Red Cross "donut girl", arriving in London in July 1944. Patton told his staff that they should keep her presence a secret, and they would spend long hours together speaking in French, a language both were fluent in. On July 8, 1944 Patton told his close friend General Everett Hughes that Jean Gordon has "...been mine for twelve years"[4][5] thus putting the start of their affair around when Jean was 17 years old. Although according to historian Terry Brighton Gordon was just one of several extra-marital affairs Patton had, and that Gordon's started when she was 21 years old.[6] Gordon and her Red Cross friends would often join Patton and his staff for dinners. Gordon's supervisor Betty South recalled, "driving the doughnut and coffee trucks to Third Army units in combat was hard, rough, and dirty. General Patton's dinners were enjoyable affairs for us, a bit of glamour and elegance, excitement ... We dressed in our Class A uniforms, wore white gloves, white scarves, dress pumps and perfume (which [Patton] liked very much)." South said the relationship was strictly father–daughter, and that Gordon actually loved a young married captain who left her despondent when he went home to his wife in September 1945.[7]

Patton seldom saw her in 1945, and Hirshson says the relationship was casual.[8] Showalter believes that Patton, under severe physical and psychological stress, made up claims of sexual conquest to prove his virility.[9] D'Este agrees, saying, "His behavior suggests that in both 1936 and 1944–45, the presence of the young and attractive Jean was a means of assuaging the anxieties of a middle-aged man troubled over his virility and a fear of aging."[10] Eisenhower told George Marshall that Patton was a "mentally unbalanced officer."[11] Moffett says he suffered from pipolar disorder.[12]

Gordon committed suicide by filling her apartment with gas.[13]

See also[]

Bibliography[]

Notes
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Steward 1993, p. 92
  2. ↑ Showalter 2006, pp. 128, 412-2
  3. ↑ Blumenson 2009, p. 854
  4. ↑ Murfett 2009, p. 69
  5. ↑ Irving 1981, p. 191
  6. ↑ Brighton 2009, p. 60
  7. ↑ D'Este 1995, p. 744
  8. ↑ Hirshson 2003, p. 535
  9. ↑ Showalter 2006, pp. 412–13
  10. ↑ D'Este 1995, p. 745
  11. ↑ Murfett 2009, p. 65
  12. ↑ Murfett 2009, p. 46
  13. ↑ Washington Post 1946, p. 8
References
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