Packed with history, General Patton Memorial Museum at Chiriaco Summit a must-see destination

Gen. George Smith Patton Jr. may have been killed in a December 1945 automobile accident in Heidelberg, Germany, and buried alongside his men at the Luxembourg American Cemetery as per his request, but he is still remembered in Southern California.

His death conjures up conspiracy theories even after 76 years. Was the car crash that took his life an accident? Or was he poisoned by agents of the Soviet Union or the American government? 

The man from San Gabriel, California, was referred to by his men as Old Blood-and-Guts for his daring military maneuvers during World War I and World War II.

On the other hand, his friend and one-time senior officer General Omar Bradley said this about Patton: “Patton was a superb field general and leader — perhaps our very best. But his many human and professional flaws held the potential for disaster.”

Patton was a brilliant strategist and leader, but he may have been a tough to deal with publicly. In the end, was this tough, honest, and dedicated soldier a little too much for the higher military brass to tolerate? Are the conspiracies about his traffic accident true?

I don’t know, but that is what makes Patton so fascinating not only from a military perspective but from a personal level.

Who was Patton? 

Patton was born into a wealthy California family who sent him to the best schools. But Patton had dyslexia. He still got into the United States Military Academy at West Point through hard work, but he had to repeat his first year due to poor grades.

Educators would refer to Patton as an average student. He graduated from West Point 46th out of 103 students in 1909. But those same educators would all agree that this young Second Lieutenant had an unmistakable spark of self-confidence. Even with his dyslexia, Patton became an avid reader and wrote numerous essays and papers on military issues later compiled after his death.

So, I wanted to know more about this man. And, I knew just the right place. I decided a trip to General Patton Memorial Museum at Chiriaco Summit was called for. 

“I feel a calling to visit the General Patton Memorial Museum,” I mentioned to my lovely spouse.

Laureen smiled. “Then, by all means, you must follow your calling.”

She is very supportive that way.

Before leaving for my destination, some research was completed, and I learned quite a few things about the General Patton Memorial Museum.

According to their website, "The mission of the General Patton Memorial Museum is to promote peace by honoring the service and sacrifice of America’s veterans while educating the public on modern U.S. military history through the preservation and interpretation of artifacts from the major conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries."

The motto of the museum is short and sweet. “Preserving the peace through lessons of the past.”

What a concept — to learn from the past.

Also, on the museum's website were photographs of cool military hardware: Tanks, half-tracks, jeeps, full-tracks, automobiles, quarter-tracks, guns, knives, bazookas, and so much more to make any military history lover drool. I wiped my chin and headed out the door.

Rich history of Chiriaco Summit

The history of Chiriaco Summit is interesting and shows how one person's dream can become a reality and positively influence future generations.

Successful entrepreneur Joe Chiriaco had left his home in Alabama to attend a football game at the Rose Bowl in 1927. As he was driving west along the unpaved Box Canyon Road, he envisioned a great investment opportunity at Shaver Summit.

Joe fell in love with Southern California and took a job with the Los Angeles Bureau of Water and Power. Later, he heard of plans to pave Box Canyon Road, purchased the land at Shaver Summit, and built a service station.  

Joe opened the doors of his new enterprise on Aug. 15, 1933, the same day that the newly paved section of roadway — U.S. Route 60, later to become Interstate 10 — was opened to the public. Joe had invested wisely, as tourists would stop by to fill up their vehicles at the gas pump and fill up their stomachs at the general store.

Things kept getting better for Joe, so good that he worked on the Colorado River Aqueduct as an engineer in the mid-1930s. This guy didn’t know the word for taking it easy.

While working throughout the Coachella Valley as an engineer, the entrepreneur met a local nurse, Ruth Bergseid. A short time later, in 1934, they were married.

These were still somewhat primitive times. Gasoline generators provided the electricity for businesses. To light the night, gas lamps were used. It was not easy, but the couple succeeded in making the summit a must for visitors coming or leaving California along the highway.

Patton happened to stop by Shaver Summit in 1942 and met Joe Chiriaco. Patton was on a mission — to build one of the largest desert training centers in the world.

Patton explained to Joe that the military staff headquarters would be within a mile of the family businesses, and more than a million men would be trained at the various facilities that were to be built in the desert.

And so, 18,000 square miles of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts were turned into training grounds for the United States military. The desert conditions were exactly what Patton had been looking for. And, growing up in Southern California, he knew the deserts by Shaver Summit well.

The land would be crucial for the war effort since they resembled the terrain the soldiers would one day encounter, fighting in North Africa.

For a couple of years, soldiers by the carloads would visit the general store and became a regular sight at the summit. In 1944, after the Allies declared victory in the Sahara Desert, the camps were shut down.

Then when Patton was killed in that accident in Germany in 1945, both Joe and Ruth Chiriaco decided to erect a memorial for their friend at the summit.

After the war, news of the memorial spread through the area, and many young veterans came to visit the memorial and tell tales of when they had served under Old Blood-and-Guts.

The place became so popular that in 1958 a post office was opened, and the small community was renamed Chiriaco Summit.

It was the right thing to do, not only to honor the Chiriaco family’s devotion to the area but also for their dedication to the man who would become so famous during World War II.

In 1989, the Bureau of Land Management and Patton’s estate decided to expand the memorial and opened a museum at the site of Camp Young.

Museum packed with memorabilia

I arrived, entered the museum, and was immediately struck by the five-ton jigsaw relief map that is front and center in the lobby.

The map is huge and very detailed. It is so big that it takes an hour to walk around it.

It was developed by the Los Angeles Department of Water in the 1930s to show how the water from the Colorado River would traverse the desert landscape to reach the city of Los Angeles. Later, it was used by Patton’s staff to show the 11 training camps scattered across the massive desert training center.

The museum is large, well laid out, and crammed to the ceiling with military memorabilia from World War I to the present.

Fascinating is a word I often use, but I was truly fascinated as I wandered through the Chandi West Wing to the Matzner Tank Pavilion and into the exterior Tank yard. There was not only so much to see, but the evidence of love and care the folks who run the museum show each piece on display.

I spent three hours in the museum and could have spent more reading about Patton, checking out displays, listening to the history of the place on a large screen, and gazing at the dozens of military vehicles. Even after spending time in the museum, I know I must have missed something.

I usually miss something on my outings.

The General Patton Memorial Museum is a must-see destination. It tells the story of people with dreams and the successes that followed those dreams.

A side note: Both Joe and Ruth passed away in 1996. Their children, Robert and Margit, ran the museum, gas station, store, motel, and airport. In 2015, a Golden Palm Star was placed on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars, dedicated to the couple who gave so much of themselves for their community.

To visit

• What: General Patton Memorial Museum
• Where: 62-510 Chiriaco Road, Chiriaco Summit
• Hours: 9:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. 7 days a week
• Tickets: $15 adults; $13 seniors and veterans; $7 children 7-12; free to active military and children under 7.
• Information: generalpattonmuseum.com or (760) 507-4143

.