ng assigned to the infantry. Patton was almost immediately promoted to the permanent rank of major and returned to the cavalry and polo. Finding himself with time on his hands in the early 1920s, Patton decided to acquire another useful military skill he learned to fly. He also displayed his valour off the battlefield in several episodes during these years. Typical of such actions was when he saw three men abducting a woman. Though on his way to a formal dinner and wearing a tuxedo, he leaped out of the car and drew his pistol to rescue her. He carried out another rescue of three boys from a capsized boat in Salem Harbor, which won him the Congressional Life Saving Medal, Second Class. By 1925, Patton was serving in Hawaii. After Hawaii he finished out the 1920s in Washington, where he pressed for getting increased armour assigned along with horse cavalry the two would complement each other depending on the mission and the terrain. At the time, his arguments made very good sense. He kept fighting for more and better armoured vehicles, too. By 1935 Patton had risen to the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel and had returned to Hawaii, this time sailing all the way there on his own boat. While in Hawaii, Patton warned of possible problems from spies among the civilian Japanese population. Posted to Fort Clark in Texas, Patton, who believed that the U.S. would be involved in a war before long, rigorously trained the men under his command. As the 1930s drew to a close, Patton took command of Fort Myer. When the German Blitzkrieg was unleashed on Europe, he finally convinced Congress that the U.S. needed a more powerful armoured striking force and Patton finally got his star. He was promoted to brigadier general and put in command of the new armoured brigade, which he had to create by training the men in obsolete tanks. As Patton's force expanded, it became the 2nd Armoured Division and Patton earned the rank of major general. Patton's ...
