With the recent ugliness on our college campuses, it’s clear that we haven’t taught history and the Jewish Holocaust for years. That lack of history extends to the men and women who fought World War II in Europe. How they fought, how they survived and what sustained them through that fight must be taught. On this D-Day +81 years, let’s look at faith in the ranks with the prayer distributed by General George S. Patton.

When those of us who have heard of General George S. Patton picture him, we picture actor George C. Scott from the movie Patton. Even if you were too young to see it, as I was, the pictures of Scott as Patton were everywhere in the 70’s.

Patton was known for his imposing figure, his salty attitude and language and his battlefield genius. His deep faith Christian faith is not generally acknowledged by current historians or the media. He was raised in the Episcopal Church and maintained a strong faith throughout his life, often expressing belief in God and referencing Christian principles in his writings and speeches. His spirituality influenced his sense of duty and leadership. He was not directly involved in the D-Day landings. Instead, he was involved The Ghost Army.

One of D-Day's main elements was Operation Fortitude South, which attempted to convince the Germans that the invasion would be via the Pas-de-Calais, not Normandy. It even used a fictional 1st U.S. Army Group, supposedly commanded by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton as a deception. pic.twitter.com/urCMgoYwLD

— Army Counterintelligence Command (ACIC) (@Real_ArmyCI) June 6, 2025

The prayer was written six months after D-Day. By December, we won’t be thinking of World War II. We will be thinking of Christmas presents. So, now if the right time to write about this prayer.

This is the Patton’s Prayer section of the Friends of the National World War II Memorial:

Around 11 am on December 8, 1944, Patton picked up the telephone in his office in the Caserne Molifor, an old French Army barracks in the city of Nancy that was being used as Third Army headquarters.

Patton called 52-year-old Chief Chaplain of the Third Army, James H. O’Neill.

“Do you have a good prayer for weather?” asked Patton. “We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war.”

This was, of course, a highly unusual request, even from a character as unpredictable and quixotic as Patton.

O’Neill told Patton he would look for a suitable prayer. He couldn’t find one so he created his own, jotting it down on a card:

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.

O’Neill pulled on his overcoat, walked across the barracks and then stood before Patton.

O’Neill held out the card.

Patton took the card and examined it.

Patton was pleased.

“Have 250,000 copies printed,” he said, “and see to it that every man in the Third Army gets one.”

O’Neill was surprised by the number: “This was certainly doing something about the weather in a big way.”

“Very well, sir!” replied O’Neill.

“Chaplain, sit down for a moment; I want to talk to you about this business of prayer.”

O’Neill did as he was ordered. He had grown to admire Patton. The general cared that his men got hot meals whenever possible, that they had dry socks.

He had once seen Patton looking after a wounded man, injecting him with morphine, remaining with him until an ambulance arrived.

“Chaplain, how much praying is being done in the Third Army?” asked Patton.

“Does the General mean by chaplains, or by the men?”

“By everybody.”

“I am afraid to admit it, but I do not believe that much praying is going on. When there is fighting, everyone prays, but now with this constant rain – when things are quiet, dangerously quiet, men just sit and wait for things to happen.”

“Up to now, in the Third Army, God has been very good to us,” said Patton. “We have never retreated; we have suffered no defeats…This is because a lot of people back home are praying for us. We were lucky in Africa, in Sicily, and in Italy. Simply because people prayed. But we have to pray for ourselves, too.”

Patton concluded the meeting by telling O’Neill that soldiers should pray wherever they found themselves; if they didn’t, they’d sooner or later go to pieces – “crack up.”

O’Neill returned to his quarters and issued a directive, in Patton’s name, which would be distributed to the Third Army’s 486 chaplains, representing thirty-two denominations, and senior officers in more than twenty divisions:

“Pray when driving. Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle…Pray for victory. Pray for our Army, and Pray for Peace.”

On 14 December, the last of Patton’s 250,000 prayer cards were distributed to his men. The timing of their delivery could not have been better. Just two days later, calamity struck on the Western Front: Hitler launched his last desperate gamble to change the outcome of the war – the surprise strike by over 200,000 troops that became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

Although in this dramatized version from Patton, the Chaplain is only given an hour, that’s difficult to believe.

General George S. Patton died that same month.

General George S. Patton died on December 21, 1945, following a car accident on December 9, 1945, near Speyer, Germany. His Cadillac collided with a U.S. Army truck, causing a broken neck and paralysis. He developed pulmonary edema and heart failure, leading to his death.…

— Grok (@grok) May 15, 2025

Featured Image: Wikimedia Commons.org/cropped/Public Domain