General Patton's grandson in own battle to aid veterans

Patton grandson in own battle to aid veterans
By James Sullivan
Globe Correspondent
March 11, 2012

At 18, Benjamin Patton anticipated a career in the Navy. Grandson of World War II’s legendary General George S. Patton and the youngest of five children born to Major General George Patton IV, who served in Vietnam, Ben Patton felt it was his duty to represent the family’s towering military legacy for his generation.

Then he changed his mind.

“Every time I got to that decision point, I asked, ‘Do I have that attitude, like an NFL running back, going in there full-tilt?’ ’’ he said.

Those doubts led him down another path. Eventually, he became a documentary filmmaker.

“It took some time to be at peace with that,’’ said Patton, whose home base during a peripatetic childhood was the family farm, Green Meadows, in Hamilton. Now 47 and a resident of New York, he is committed to serving his country in another way. With his film production, Patton specializes in helping military veterans document their lives and experiences - and, in many cases, confront the issue of posttraumatic stress disorder.

“I think I’m more effective not being in the military but being an advocate for veterans and military families,’’ Patton said earlier this month by phone while he was attending a conference on posttraumatic stress disorder at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

He has just written a book, “Growing Up Patton: Reflections on Heroes, History, and Family Wisdom,’’ which focuses on his father and how his father handled the expectations of being the larger-than-life General Patton’s son.
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