Charles Herman Kuhl
(November 6, 1915 – January 31, 1971)
During WW 11, Kuhl had served as a Private for 8 months in
Company L, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division,
when he was admitted to the 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry aid
station for reported combat exhaustion.
At the station, Kuhl was initially diagnosed with “exhaustion,”
and his medical chart said “psychoneurosis anxiety state,
moderately severe (soldier has been twice before in hospital
within ten days. He can’t take it at the front, evidently. He is
repeatedly returned.)” Kuhl was transferred from the aid
station to the Army’s 15th Evacuation Hospital near Nicosia
for further evaluation.
On a tour of the 15th Evacuation Hospital, Patton encountered
Kuhl, who was sitting slouched on a stool midway through a
tent ward filled with injured soldiers. Years later, Kuhl would
recall that when General Patton entered the hospital tent, “all
the soldiers jumped to attention except me. I was suffering
from battle fatigue and just didn’t know what to do.” When
Patton asked Kuhl where he was hurt, Kuhl shrugged and
replied that he was ‘nervous’ rather than wounded, adding
“I guess I can’t take it.”
Patton slapped Kuhl across the chin with his gloves, then
grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the tent
entrance, shoving him out of the tent with a final kick to
Kuhl’s backside.Yelling “Don’t admit this S-O-B”,
“ Patton demanded that Kuhl be sent back to the front at
once, adding “You hear me?”
Following the incident, Kuhl was found to have both chronic
dysentery and malaria.
Kuhl later worked as a carpet layer in South Bend, IN, after
his military service. He died of a heart attack at age 55.
Patton’s encounter with Kuhl was later depicted in the 1970
film Patton.
George Smith Patton Jr.
(November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945)
