Villanova Coach Ed Geisz and the Story of General George Patton’s Watch
The Rhine River! The heart of Europe. The idyllic destination for many European river cruises. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002. The “Romantic Rhine,” with more than 40 castles and fortresses from the Middle Ages and many quaint and lovely country villages. That is the Rhine of today. This story is about the Rhine of 80 years ago and the story of one coach.
This story started at the 2008 Olympic Trials, sitting in a hotel lobby with Frank Keefe. Chatting with Frank, a Villanova teammate of Frank’s approached and the conversation quickly went to Ed Geisz, the longtime coach of Villanova University who had passed away in 2002.
Frank: “So, who got the watch?”
Teammate: “I don’t know who got the watch. Maybe the watch went to Villanova. I think Mary Lou may still have the watch.”
When Frank’s teammate departed I asked, what’s with the watch?
This is the story of Coach Ed Geisz and George Patton’s watch.
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Courtesy: Villanova University
Ed Geisz was born in 1924 and grew up on Northeast Philadelphia. He graduated from Northeast Catholic Boys High School where he was captain of the swim team. As a senior, he became National Catholic interscholastic 100-yard breaststroke champion. Soon after graduation in 1942, Geisz joined the Army and soon after that found himself in the infantry of Patton’s Third Army.
Patton’s Third Army entered France after D-Day but quickly became one of the allies best fighting forces. After breaking out of Normandy, it conducted the southern envelopment of the German Army in Falaise pocket, and liberated Paris. The Third Army dash across France was not stopped by the Germans, but by a lack of supply. Third Army was permitted to make limited advances as far as the rationed gas and ammunition allowed. This persisted through September to November with the Third Army slowly pushing forward and the German’s grudgingly giving ground.
In December 1944, General George Patton and the Third Army moved to support the encircled 101st Airborne Division in the Battle of the Bulge. Over the next 30 days, American forces set to the task of reducing the bulge and finally returned to the original lines about January 25, 1945. With the Battle of the Bulge concluded, the Third Army turned to drive into the heart of Germany and end the war. After a month of hard fighting, the Third Army broke through German resistance and raced for the Rhine River.
The Rhine, a formidable natural barrier, had long been anticipated by both sides as a critical battleground. While Supreme Allied Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery meticulously planned a large-scale assault for late March to cross the Rhine up north, Patton, ever the maverick, had other ideas on the southern end of the Rhine.
Determined to steal a march on his rivals, Patton orchestrated a surprise crossing under the cover of darkness on the night of March 22.
Crossing a river was a known exercise for Patton’s army. In previous weeks, Patton’s Army had spanned numerous rivers in the western half of Germany: the Ruhr, the Roer, the Mosel, the Main, the Ahr, the Our, the Saar, the Nahe, the Kyll, and others – each waterway being more or less vigorously defended by desperate German troops on home soil. Before them now was the Rhine, mightiest of them all.
Getting an army as large as Patton’s across a river is no trivial feat. It requires boats, bridges, engineers and daring. The 3rd Army’s 88th Engineering Heavy Pontoon Battalion sole purpose in the war was to get the Army across rivers. The 88th made three crossings of the Seine, five of the Moselle (in three countries) and three of the Main. They never had to make the same crossing twice.
Every crossing starts the same way, something or someone has to get across the river and secure the far side. It is the most dangerous and difficult part of the operation. Patton chose the location; a small town, Oppenheim, 10 miles south of Mainz where XII Corps laid on a heavy smoke screen to confuse the defending German Army into thinking the crossing was going to be in Mainz.
The initial action for the creation of a Pontoon bridge is sending over soldiers in boats to set a secure perimeter around the ‘far’ side landing area. The movement of this first echelon of troops had to be done at night, in silence, and the number of troops had to be enough to hold the perimeter from German counterattack. To get this first wave over, the army needed to secure a line across the swift moving and deep Rhine for the first wave of boats. Enter Ed Geisz.
According to the story, as night approached on March 22, 1945, Geisz, an infantryman in Patton’s army and an excellent swimmer, is said to have crossed the Rhine River to secure this critical line. Elements of the 5th Infantry Division, under the XII Corps were the first wave of soldiers securing the perimeter for the landing area, then the 88th Engineering Heavy Pontoon Battalion came in to construct the bridge.
The crossing was not without its challenges. The swift current and the threat of German artillery fire posed significant risks. Yet, Patton’s men, driven by their unwavering resolve and their commander’s audacious spirit, pressed forward. By dawn, a bridgehead had been established on the eastern bank, paving the way for the rest of the Third Army to follow.
Patton called General Omar Bradley near midnight on the 22nd to crow about his – or rather, his men’s – accomplishment: “Brad, for God’s sake, tell the world we’re across… We knocked down 33 Krauts (aircraft) today when they came after our pontoon bridges, I want the world to know that Third Army made it before Monty starts across.” Field Marshall Montgomery crossed two days later on March 24.
In his memoir, A Soldier’s Story, Bradley wrote: “In this first assault crossing of that river bastion by a modern army, the 5th Infantry division suffered a total of 34 dead and wounded.”
The watch? I was told the watch was given to Ed Geisz by General Patton when Geisz crossed back over the Rhine. Patton took the watch off his wrist and said: “That is the bravest thing I’ve ever seen a man do.”
Two days later, Patton himself crossed the Rhine on that Pontoon bridge and famously relieved himself into the Rhine saying: “I have been looking forward to this for a long time.”
That original crossing at Oppenheim gave the Third Army a foothold on the eastern shore. From there, bridgeheads were set up as far south as Worms and north of Oppenheim in Boppard and St. Goar. Patton’s Third army had over 230,000 men and included hundreds of tanks. The entire Army was over the Rhine River within five days. The war in Europe was over six weeks later.
Ed Geisz was wounded not long after the crossing of the Rhine and received a Purple Heart. After being discharged from the Army, he earned a bachelor’s degree from La Salle College. He was a member of the La Salle team that won an Association of American Universities outdoor swimming championship. For his accomplishments as a swimmer and coach, Geisz was inducted into the Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame in 1973, the Villanova Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1975, and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1987, he was the Villanova Varsity Club Man of the Year and one year later was named the National Catholic Collegiate Championships Coach of the Year.
