WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The World War II soldier who was driving Gen. George Patton's limousine when the car crashed, causing injuries that killed the four-star general days later, has died.
Horace L. Woodring, 77, died Sunday of heart failure.
Woodring, who was a 19-year-old Army private first class when he became Patton's driver, said President Dwight D. Eisenhower didn't blame him for Patton's death.
"Ike told me no way was I responsible," Woodring said in 1994. "It made me feel great. . . . I never question myself about the accident."
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Woodring was taking Patton on a hunting trip in Germany on Dec. 9, 1945, when another vehicle turned in front of the Cadillac limousine. Patton's neck was broken and he died 12 days later.