General Alexander McCarrell Patch was a senior United States Army officer who fought in both world wars, rising to rank of general. During World War II, he commanded U.S. Army and Marine Corps forces during the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific, and the Seventh Army on the Western Front in Europe.
Alexander "Sandy" Patch, pictured here as a lieutenant general, in August 1945
Senior officers aboard USS Catoctin (AGC-5), operation flagship, en route to the invasion area on August 14, 1944. Left to right: Brigadier General Gordon P. Saville, Air Commander; Lieutenant General Alexander Patch, Army Commander; Vice Admiral Kent Hewitt, Naval Commander; James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy; Rear Admiral André Lemonnier, Chief of Staff of the French Navy.
Three lieutenant generals in October 1944: Lucian Truscott, Alexander Patch, and Jacob L. Devers
Lieutenant Generals Jacob L. Devers and Alexander Patch at Lunéville, France, January 1945
Seventh United States Army
The Seventh Army was a United States army created during World War II that evolved into the United States Army Europe (USAREUR) during the 1950s and 1960s. It served in North Africa and Italy in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and France and Germany in the European Theater between 1942 and 1945.
View of Lieutenant General Patton's Seventh Army staff aboard SS Monrovia, en route to Sicily, June/July 1943.