Robert Patton was 12 years old in 1970 as he sat beside his father in a Times Square theater and watched the newly released film "Patton," starring George C. Scott.
"I couldn't understand why my dad was sobbing during the movie," he recalled. "I guess that's the first time I realized I was the grandson of the famous general I was watching depicted on the big screen."
Before seeing "Patton," the adolescent boy only vaguely grasped the historical importance of the famous World World II commander and knew him as a long-dead grandfather seen in faded photographs and heard about in stories at family gatherings.
More from Paul Grondahl in yesterday's Times Union: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Grandson-of-Gen-Patton-examines-war-5458306.php
Robert Patton visited the Writers Institute on April 29th: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/patton_Robert14.html
