Saving General Patton

By Robert Corns

SAVING GENERAL PATTON is a story inspired by events of World War ll, Pearl Harbor. The era of nuclear weapons that led the world to Cold war. The story starts with the mobilization and training of General Patton’s tank forces in the Mojave Desert. Patton’s mission, in part, was to defeat the German General Rommel, aka The Desert Fox, in North Africa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781796082630

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Copyright © 2020 by Robert Corns.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/06/2020

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CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

End Of This Story

CHAPTER ONE

The railroad tracks led to the underpass. Hershey was puzzled. There had been no rain, but the underpass was muddy with some standing water. There was a black car parked by the back door of the center cabin, and a trash barrel was burning with flames flickering above the edge of the barrel.

Rob, I have an idea. Let’s put the bullet in the burning trash barrel and see what happens. You stay here in the underpass. I will take the bullet and sneak up hidden by the car and then throw the bullet in the fire. I will sneak back, and then we will run to the top of the tracks and watch and wait for something to happen. What do you think?

Rob was petrified but tried not to show it. Your dad said not to go past the underpass and …

Hershey said, You are right, OK. You stay here and be the lookout.

Rob unbuttoned his pants. Wait a minute. I have to take a pee. Rob buttoned up. OK, here is the bullet. Put it in the barrel, and then let’s run like hell. Be careful. Stay low. Rob waited in the shade of the underpass, hoping his legs could keep up with Hershey.

Hershey handed Rob his canteen. Hold on to this. Hershey stayed low and crept up to the black car. He was about to dash to the barrel and thought, Where’s the bullet? He partially stood to dig into his pocket for the bullet, and his eyes caught the face of a dead man staring back at him.

Hershey ducked. Dear Jesus, what the hell was that? This time, he peeked very slowly. Yes, that was a dead man in the back seat of the car with a bullet hole in his forehead. He heard voices in the cabin. That was enough. With bullet in hand, he ran past the barrel, threw the bullet in the flames, and ran in a crouch back to the underpass.

Rob said, Let’s go. Hurry!

They scrambled to the top of the tracks, lay down between the rails, and watched and listened. Everything was quiet.

Hershey took two swigs of water. Man, you won’t believe this. There was a dead man in the back seat of that car. We need to get back to the station.

Kabang! Kshueeeee. That was the loudest bang they ever heard, followed by the shrill of a ricocheting bullet. The trash barrel exploded like a cannon and threw fire and flames into the air along with ripped metal fragments. A woman screamed, and a man ran out the back door with a gun in hand and crouched down behind the car, ready to fire at anything that moved. The man and the black car were covered by bits of paper and ash floating downward. Seeing no one, the man with the gun fired one shot into the air and ran to the railroad underpass and climbed to the top of the tracks. In the distance, he saw two youngsters running at top speed toward the safety of Ludlow. The man laughed and fired another round into the air.

The man was cursing and stomping mad as he stored the image of two young kids, a white and a black kid, running down the tracks. Dammit. Well, I can find them if need be.

The man ran back to their car, and the woman quickly ran out with a bag and threw a blanket over the dead man in the back seat.

The woman, dressed in shorts, was screaming. Who was that? Where did they go? What was that explosion? Did you see who it was? Did they see us? What do we do now?

Calm down, reassured the man. It was just kids. They live in Ludlow. I know who they are, but they do not know me. Hopefully, he added, they did not see anything. Now let’s get out of here.

And together they piled into the car and sped away, turning north on US Route 66.

When the boys heard the man’s pistol shot, all pretense of a leisurely hike was destroyed and replaced with utter panic and thoughts of Am I going to die? Rob discovered he could run as fast as Hershey. With canteens and other hiking gear thrown aside, they ran with arms and legs flying until they reached the train station completely out of breath, with no gear, no water, and a story to tell. They both drank warm fountain water, and it tasted as good as a full glass of sweet tea. They looked back down the tracks. The man was no longer there, but Rob’s image of the man chasing them with a gun would always be there. To avoid parental disfavor and punishment, Rob and Hershey agreed not to reveal the existence of the .45 caliber bullet. That would be their secret forever. Rob nervously kept his eye out the window. He was shaking. He was afraid the man with the gun could reappear at any time.

CHAPTER TWO

Brothers Rob and JJ, ages seven and five, respectively, had died and gone to heaven. No, not really. They were alive and well, living with Mom and Dad in a freshly painted sixty-year-old house in Ludlow, California. But if there was a heaven on earth for young boys, this was it—the train station in Ludlow, California.

The boys had been transplanted to Ludlow by their proud parents, Major Ike Corns and wife, Milly. Major Ike was assigned to the world’s newest and largest army base, which became known as CAMA, the California-Arizona Maneuver Area. CAMA was located in the Mojave Desert and commanded by General George S. Patton. The Corns family was a military family.

The Ludlow train station and depot would become the grand central station of arriving and departing military hardware destined for desert warfare maneuvers before being shipped overseas. The young brothers Rob and JJ had unknowingly been given front-row seats to the arrivals and departures of the military might of the United States Army. Almost on a daily basis, the boys witnessed the thunderous steam and diesel engines pulling the military hardware of the US Army through the small town of Ludlow, California. Could any young boy ask for a more exciting, fun-filled adventure?

There were only three places of any interest in Ludlow: the gas station on US Route 66, the one-room schoolhouse, and the train station. Ludlow, founded in 1883, originally existed to serve as a water stop for the railroads that carried ore and borax from the mining camps in Death Valley. You might think that Ludlow, with a declining population of twenty, would be a hellhole in the desert, and you would be right. But for Rob and JJ, every day was packed with sights and sounds of an army on the move.

Trains—great, huge, gigantic, long trains—passed through Ludlow almost every day. These were not trains loaded with ores and minerals dug from the earth but flatcars loaded with every military vehicle possessed by the US Army and military convoys, which could stretch for miles on US Route 66. Everyone in town lived within three blocks of the tracks, and when the rumble of a long military train was heard and felt, all activities came to a halt. Heads turned to watch, listen, and feel the shock and awe of a mighty steam or diesel engine pulling a hundred or more flatcars loaded with tanks and artillery, speeding past and creating a wind that would blow your hat right off the top of your head. For Rob and JJ, it was a wide-eyed, breathtaking experience. Never had the boys, or any adult for that matter, known or seen such might and power that shook the earth underneath their feet and rattled every kitchen shelf in town. Doors and windows were swung ajar as if an earthquake had shook the Mojave.

Rob and JJ first met Hershey that first summer at the railroad station. Shortly after arriving in Ludlow, the boys were on the station platform listening and watching for the train heard in the distance. As the roaring diesels grew closer and then sped through at top speed, Rob saw something red flash across the platform and land farther down the track. It was a red bag thrown from the cab of the diesel engine. Quickly, a young black boy who was standing alert on a baggage cart jumped down from his perch and ran off in pursuit of the red object. He came running back with a red bag tied with a red bandanna. He ran through the open door of the station while pointing at the boys and yelled, Hey, don’t go anywhere! The boy returned with a friendly smile and said, Hi, I’m Hershey. Who are you guys?

Rob’s first thought was Why would a person be named after a candy bar? In a flash of youthful observation, the answer became evident: because that’s the color of his skin.

Hi, I’m Rob Corns, and this is my brother John Jay. Is Hershey your real name, and what was that red bag all about?

Hershey looked around as if to make sure no one else could hear and then whispered, My real name is Herschel, and the red bag carries secret army messages about the fighting that’s going on. You know about the war and the Germans, don’t you?

Sure, we do. Our dad’s in the army, and we know about those things.

What does he do in the army? Does he drive a tank?

No, he is a major. Major Isaac Corns. Everyone calls him Major Ike.

But what does he do in the army?

John Jay stood tall. He works for the general, and he is a major and helps run the army.

Hershey looked excited. Are you talking about that George Patton general, the one with all the stars on his uniform?

Yes, that’s him. Dad works for General Patton, and they train soldiers to fight for America.

General Patton, added Hershey, was in a war. Has your daddy fought in a war?

I don’t think so, thought Rob. He was a farmer in Texas before we came here. We’re from Texas, the biggest state in America. Where are you from?

Right here in Ludlow. Hershey pointed to the house behind the depot. I was born in that house right over there behind the train depot. My mom and daddy and I still live there. So your daddy works for the General Patton?

Yes, he sees him every day. Well, almost every day. Sometimes the general goes to Washington, DC. That’s the capital.

Now Hershey was growing excited. I’ve seen the general. He has been here before. He comes to look at his tanks. He meets people here. They come for inspections and climb on the train and into the tanks. Sometimes they hold the train up for half a day, and that makes my daddy mad as a hornet’s nest.

Rob leaned against the four-wheel baggage cart. Well, who’s your daddy? Is he in the army?

No, he’s inside the station, and my daddy works for the railroad and Charlie Wiggins. Mr. Wiggins is the boss of this railroad station. Hershey waved his arm. Come on in and look around.

Rob and JJ followed Hershey into the waiting room. There were several benches against the yellow walls, and above the benches were old photographs of steam locomotives and the crews who ran them. On the track side was a small office with a door and an open window to the station platform. There was a clickety-clack, clack-clickety sound coming from the office.

Hershey explained, That’s Mr. Wiggins. He operates the telegraph office. He has been here forever. He used to run the ore trains until the ore ran out. He retired, but then the railroad called him back when they opened the new army base.

On the next desk, Hershey’s dad was laying out papers from the red bag. He would read each slip of paper, then go to a big board and make some notes with colored chalk. Next, he passed the papers to Charlie Wiggins at the telegraph, and without looking up, Charlie continued with his clickety-clack dots and dashes.

That’s Morse code, said Hershey, and that’s my daddy, Casey Washington, with the chalk. He keeps the trains running on time.

The dots and dashes suddenly stopped, and Charlie Wiggins spun around in his chair. Well, who do we have here? Are you the new folks in town? We need new folks, or this town will dry up and blow away.

Rob started to speak, but Hershey answered, This is Rob and John Jay. They work for the general. Well, their dad works for the general. He’s a major.

Charlie was impressed. Is that right, boys? Your father is a major. What’s his name?

Rob replied with a proud look, Yes, sir. He is Major Ike Corns, and he works with General George Patton. And we live here in Ludlow.

"Well, welcome, boys. Casey, did you hear that? We finally have some brass here in Ludlow. Hershey, you look after those boys and show them around town, such as it is. And the three of you keep out of trouble and stay off those damn railroad tracks. Do not mess with that railroad handcart that is my pride and joy. And stay back from the trains. If you get too close, it could damn well sure kill you."

Casey Washington added, Hi, boys. Hershey, you tell them about the water tower. Do not drink that water. It is for steam engines only. Don’t be drinking from it. And watch out for snakes and critters hanging out in these old shacks. They like the shade, you know. OK, time for you boys and Hershey to head home. I’m sure somebody’s looking for you. You boys are welcome back any time. Just be sure to tell your mother you are going to the train station.

The trio headed down the once-paved street toward their homes. To be exact, they walked down the middle of the street to avoid any critters lurking in cool shadows or shady spots. Hershey pointed to his home behind the train station. I live there with my mom and daddy. We live next door so Dad can be at the station in case of an emergency. Charlie Wiggins stays most nights in that house across the street, but his real home is in Needles. He drives that old black Dodge.

JJ started to kick a small sand mound and then, with good instinct, stepped around it. What kind of emergencies? Has there ever been a train wreck? I saw a picture of one on the wall.

Hershey proudly assured the young newcomers there would be no train wrecks while Charlie and his dad ran the train station. The only emergencies are when, for some reason, the telegraph line goes down. That’s when Dad gets his pumpers, and they go out on the handrail cart to fix the problem. Pumpers are his helpers that pump the handles to make the cart travel down the track. Dad says they can get up to forty miles per hour.

Someone yelled, Hershey! and he turned and waved to his mother. See you guys tomorrow, OK? We can go for a hike, OK?

OK, Rob agreed. Where would we go, and how far is it? Do we need to bring water?

Yes, always have water, advised Hershey. And I will take you along the tracks to my special hiding place.

JJ chimed in, OK, see you tomorrow.

Hershey yelled back, Make it early to beat the heat.

Milly Corns was standing on the front porch and saw her boys walking down the road. She gave a come here wave and then went inside to be cooled by the air of the vibrating swamp cooler. Neither Milly nor Ike ever complained in front of the boys. Any complaints were kept private. But Milly surely must have thought, How