It might seem strange to some historians where General Patton fits in with the Battleship Texas and why his involvement now with Denny Hair as General Patton and the 3rd Army Living historians.

General Patton had two connections with the Battleship Texas that are recorded to history and both were as a fighting General in WWII. The General Patton connection during of World War Two is not that complicated. The Battleship Texas was part of the navel bombardment of North Africa during Operation Torch. It was the first time, in her operational history, that she fired her 14 inch guns at the enemy. It would not be it’s last. General Patton landed his troops as one of three ground commands in North Africa and the Battleship Texas supported the land invasions. She fired ship to shore bombardment of enemy positions with her guns in protection of the landing crafts and later at enemy fixed positions. General Patton’s second involvement was during the Normandy invasion when he acted as a decoy in and remained in England to fool the Germans in thinking he would be leading the main invasion.

The Battleship Texas participated in the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944 and remained off the coast while supporting the Rangers at Ponte de Hoc. Later on June 25, 1944, still off the coast, she took two hits from a German shore battery named “Hamburg”. One of the 280 mm rounds penetrated her starboard side but failed to detonate. The second 280 mm round hit the coning tower killing the helmsman and wounding 13 others. She remained off shore as ship to shore support till its guns were no longer in range of targets as the troops moved in further away from the shore line.

Her operational history in both World Wars and before will be listed elsewhere.

Denny Hair grew up in Texas and spent many hours onboard the ship as a youngster. When the ship had become an obvious restoration issue and endangered of sinking, Denny was appointed in 1984 as the First Chairman of the new Battle Ship Texas State board, by the then Governor of the State of Texas, Mark White. During his Chairmanship of the board, they raised the funds to have her dry docked for the first and last time since WWII.  During this time, Denny spend from 1984 through 1989 serving the on the board to help save the ship. More on that on a separate link located on the bottom of this page.

100th Birthday Celebration
On March 15, 2014 the Battleship Texas celibrated her 100th birthday

The real birthdate of the Battleship Texas was when she was commissioned on March 12, 1914. She was, at that time, the most powerful ship afloat in the world. She had 10 fourteen inch main guns and 21 five inch guns. She would later become the flagship for the U.S. Navy. (See operational history link)

On Saturday, March 15, 2014, many thousands of Battleship Texas supporters came together to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the commissioning of the Battleship Texas.  Among the many groups present was the 6th Cavalry Historical association and Patton’s Third Army Living Historians. Both of these organizations were founded by Denny Hair and both have supported the Battleship Texas in one way or another since they were founded. The current President of the 6th Cavalry Historical association, Mr. Shawn Gourley, invited Patton’s Third Army to participate in the celebration. His invitation was accepted immediately, without hesitation.