Manton Spraque
- Eddy, Manton Spraque
U.S. Army Lieutenant General. 3rd Service Command and Deputy.
- 16-05-1892, Chicago, Illinois.
- USA.
- 10-04-1962, age 69, Fort Benning.
Arlington Cemetery, Virginia USA. Section 3-Grave 2502 1 R.
Eddy, Manton Spraque
Manton Eddy, born on 16-05-1892 in Chicago, Illinois, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1916. Thoroughly the infantryman, Manton Eddy served in France in World War I in rifle and machine gun units. Promoted to major, he served in the army of occupation in Germany until 1919. The years of preparation and training returned great dividends to the Army. In 1941 Eddy became commanding officer of the 114th Infantry Regiment. one year later he was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of the 9th Infantry Division 
nickname Old Reliables, in campaigns in Tunisia, Sicily, and Normandy, with General Eisenhower (see Eisenhower) and Bernard Montgomery (see Montgomery). Eddy was the officer who saved Patton (see Patton) (his driver) from a bad choice of words on the eve of the Sicily invasion. Patton began an amazingly bellicose and agitated tirade about what we were going to do to the enemy when we got to Sicily. Then he said, "And gentlemen, when we land on the beaches of Sicily, there will be no prisoners taken." Eddy stepped forward and tugged gently at Patton's shirtsleeve. "General," he said so softly I could barely hear him, "you might want to rethink your last statement." As Commander of XII Corps, his units successfully held the southern shoulder of the German salient in the Battle of the Bulge, where the 101 Airborne Division 
saved Bastogne, (see MacAuliffe) and (Harry Kinnard). In April 1945, he returned to the USA because of illness. For his role in the capture of Cherbourg and his defender General Karl Wilhelm von Schlieben (see Schlieben),
nickname Old Reliables, in campaigns in Tunisia, Sicily, and Normandy, with General Eisenhower (see Eisenhower) and Bernard Montgomery (see Montgomery). Eddy was the officer who saved Patton (see Patton) (his driver) from a bad choice of words on the eve of the Sicily invasion. Patton began an amazingly bellicose and agitated tirade about what we were going to do to the enemy when we got to Sicily. Then he said, "And gentlemen, when we land on the beaches of Sicily, there will be no prisoners taken." Eddy stepped forward and tugged gently at Patton's shirtsleeve. "General," he said so softly I could barely hear him, "you might want to rethink your last statement." As Commander of XII Corps, his units successfully held the southern shoulder of the German salient in the Battle of the Bulge, where the 101 Airborne Division 
saved Bastogne, (see MacAuliffe) and (Harry Kinnard). In April 1945, he returned to the USA because of illness. For his role in the capture of Cherbourg and his defender General Karl Wilhelm von Schlieben (see Schlieben),
Eddy was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, by General Omar Bradley (Bradley). He retired in 1953. 
General Manton Eddy died in Fort Benning on 10-04-1962, at the age of 69 and is buried on the Arlington Cemetery, in Section 3. Close by in Section 3 the graves of the Generals Charles Bonesteel (see Bonesteel), Anthony McAuliffe (see McAuliffe) the Bastogne defender, Truman Boudinot (see Boudinot), Adna Chaffee (see Chaffee), Hugh Casey (see Casey), Adna Chaffee (see Chaffee), Hugh Drum (see Drum).
