PATTON’S TRUSTY LEICA

hat if there was an incredible treasure of immense value, but its existence was essentially unknown to those who would most appreciate its worth? In 1996, Kevin M. Hymel—a historian, magazine research director, author, and battlefield tour leader—stumbled upon just such a treasure while mining the Library of Congress’s Patton Papers collection. “What a gold mine!” Hymel recalled after discovering that the library’s collection not only contained the general’s papers, but also held and negatives, most personally taken with his ever-present Leica camera during his World War II campaigns from North Africa to Germany. Hymel’s “gold mine” historical treasure revealing the existence of the photo stash was so rarely known and unexpected that even Patton’s acclaimed biographer, Martin Blumenson, was taken by surprise: “I didn’t know Patton had a photo collection,” Blumenson told Hymel. The discovery of the library’s Patton Papers photo collection is, indeed, of immense value since it provides Patton scholars and World War II historians in general, as Hymel noted, “a whole new dimension on one of World War II’s greatest commanders.” In 2006, Hymel’s excellent book, , featuring many of the Library of Congress’s Patton Papers collection photos—and including quotes from the general’s war diary referring to specific photo scenes—was published by Potomac Books. History owes a great debt to Hymel’s lucky find—and to Patton’s trusty Leica.