Your dad understood.
General Patton was suffering from a form of “battle fatigue” when he slapped the two soldiers in Sicily.
Actually he still understands, he’s very much with us at 96. He even keeps in touch with a 98 yr old who was in that battery with him. They both remember those days more easily than they do current events. But don’t we all...
Dad was in the 7th Army and Patton commanded it until some time after the slapping incidents. Patton likely would have been scheduled for reassignment in preparation for Normandy anyway but slapping around subordinates and suggesting that they should be shot wouldn’t have helped him any. I may have learned about the battle fatigue soldiers in my dad’s unit by bringing up the Patton incident.
Patton’s replacement was Alexander Patch, a very capable General who had commanded the battle for Guadalcanal when the Army landed. Dad says he preferred Patch as commander for reasons having nothing to do with the slapping brouhaha. Years later, in Vietnam, my dad served with Patton’s son, whom he found to be an excellent officer.