Handguns of the generals
Why Patton Carried Two Guns
We know that George S. Patton, the most pugnacious and perhaps the most famous American general officer who actually took the field in World War II, carried two handguns as his trademark. At first, they were twin Colt Single Action Army .45 revolvers. After he gave one of that brace of sixguns to a Hollywood star he admired and appreciated having the courage to entertain his boys at The Front, he backed up the remaining Peacemaker with a 31/2-inch barreled Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum.
Many thought the pair of ivory-handled revolvers conspicuously strapped to his waist connoted merely showmanship. Certainly, there was some of that. Patton knew the importance of inspiring his troops, and if it took flamboyance to make an inspiring impression then, by all the gods of war, he would be flamboyant.
But, it turns out, there was more than that. Stanley P. Hirshon’s biography General Patton, published in 2002 by Harper Collins, contains Patton’s explanation to his friend, General Kenyon A. Joyce, of exactly why he carried two handguns instead of just one.