“Jeep” Sanza
Moderator: John Neuenburg
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- G-Staff Sergeant
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:05 pm
- Location: Napa, CA
“Jeep” Sanza
Tomorrow, Monday Feb. 5th, is the funeral for Francis(Jeep) Sanza here in Napa. “Jeep” was General Patton’s main driver from when he took over command of the 3rd Army after D-Day until he dropped him off at the Lipizzaner Riding Academy in Austria just after the end of the War. He was a first generation Italian-American born in Pennsylvania and he settled in Napa after he got out of the Army. He enlisted before the war and was a mechanic/driver. He was in the cadre that evaluated the Truck, Quarter-Ton, Reconnaissance, before and during the Georgia Maneuvers. He was a great guy and had a million stories to tell about the Jeep and the General. I had the honor and privilege to have driven him in several local parades and heard these stories. He will be interred at Tolucay Cemetary tomorrow morning with full military honors. RIP “Jeep”
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- G-Command Sergeant Major
- Posts: 233
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- Location: napa valley ca.
Re: “Jeep” Sanza
i would like to respond to cj's post on the funeral for francis(jeep)sanza. cj, scott rohrs ,and myself were their with our jeeps,including a replica of the jeep that jeep sanza built for general patton, and in our ww2 uniforms, out of respect for one of the truly finest men you could ever know.we were asked,after the service, if we could drive his sons and daughters up to the cemetery in our jeeps,following the hearse, which was an honor ,for the interment. it was a very nice service.he will not be forgotten.
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- G-Sergeant Major
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Re: “Jeep” Sanza
Are there any published, or otherwise, wartime photos available of Mr. Sanza?
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- G-Command Sergeant Major
- Posts: 233
- Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 7:37 am
- Location: napa valley ca.
Re: “Jeep” Sanza
his family had quite a few pictures of him during the war years,at his funeral service.also a slid show with alot of pictures of him driving the patton jeep.if you research it,you will find pics.google it.
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