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General Patton Memorial Museum Well Worth the Day Trip
By Alison Elsner
J
ust 30 miles east of Indio can arguably be found one of the most satisfying day trips in the country. The General Patton Memorial Museum proudly salutes visitors, established to honor the late General George S. Patton and the thousands of men who served with him at the Desert Training Center (DTC) and overseas during World War II. The museum is located off Interstate 10 at Chiriaco Summit, at the entrance to the command post for the DTC during World War II. Here’s some quick historical background before you make the trip: In February, 1942, the U.S. military – up to its epaulets in the throes of World War II – developed a plan to stop Germany’s advance in Northern Africa. It just so happens that the landscape east of Indio replicated the harsh conditions of the African desert, and General George S. Patton, Jr. was designated to establish the “Desert Training Center”, or DTC there. He was tasked with training men and machines for desert combat action at Camp Young, which had the benefit of proximity to water with the newly constructed Colorado River Aqueduct. The area selected by General Patton in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts encompassed approximately 18,000 square miles, making it the largest military installation and maneuver area in the world. It stretched from the outskirts of Pomona, California eastward to Phoenix and Yuma, Arizona. It eventually became the training ground for more than a million troops in seven armored divisions and 13 infantry divisions. Patton imposed an intense training regimen, and conditions were primitive during the four months he was
on site before being dispatched to Operation Torch, the North African campaign to invade Casablanca, which was decisive in Allied victory. Patton himself shunned the offer to stay at a hotel in Indio, instead bunking with his men amidst the sand and scorpions. The U.S. War Department designating the DTC Command Post as Camp Young, in recognition of General S.M.B. Young who had fought Indians in the area and was the first Army Chief of Staff. Patton’s troops, loyal to their tough-love boss, felt the area should have been named after him instead. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) established the General Patton Memorial at the location, basically a small triangular rock monument with an American flag, in honor of the colorful and controversial general and his troops. Flash forward to 1985 when the BLM and Margit Chiriaco Rusche formed a committee that would evolve into the
non-profit General Patton Memorial Museum, a valuable repository of artifacts and informational displays related to the DTC and Patton’s activity there. The Museum officially opened in November, 1988, and thousands of people now enter its doors each year. Rusche is the daughter of early pioneers Joseph and Ruth Chiriaco, who established a service station at the site in 1933 – then called Shaver Summit before the site’s namesake was officially changed to Chiriaco Summit in 1958. The Chiriacos were influential in preserving the legacy of Patton’s influence, being a part of the scene during Patton’s wartime training. Margit Rusche lives at Chiriaco Summit and continues to serve as an active supporter of and primary force behind the Museum, along with her brother Robert, her husband Jerry and a local board of directors. Today the area features special events, group tours, remembrance
walls, natural science exhibits and fascinating historical memorabilia. Oh, and there’s still a gas station and food mart (the modern day general store) along with a Foster’s Freeze, gift shop and coffee shop on site. The tagline, “Preserving the peace through the lessons of the past” points to the Museum’s significance as so much more than a pit stop on the way to Lake Havasu. It’s a defining part of our culture, locally and nationally, and deserves to be added to your bucket list of places to visit. General Patton Memorial Museum is located at 62510 Chiriaco Road, Chiriaco Summit. For more information, call 760227-3483, or visit generalpattonmuseum. com. Museum is open daily 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, closed Christmas and Thanksgiving. Admission: Adults $6, Seniors $5.50, Children $1.50, Active Military free. Memberships available.