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Category: Diaries

Black and white photograph of lieutenant George Patton, in uniform with a pipe, standing outside of a tent.

Inside George S. Patton’s First War Diary

Posted by: Lewis Wyman

George S. Patton kept a personal journal during his involvement in the 1916 Mexican Expedition. While serving as aide-de-camp to General John J. Pershing, he recorded many observations of the military campaign against Pancho Villa’s forces - everything from day to day activities, to the first use of airplanes by the U.S. Army in a combat roll and its last use of mounted cavalry. This is the first of many wartime diaries that Patton kept during his military career.