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On May 31, 1944, General George "Blood and Guts" Patton gave his controversial speech on the activation of the Third U.S. Army.  Of  this historical event former Sgt. Fred Riley of Company "B", 702nd Tank Battalion, remembers:

"We were the Honor Guard for General Patton at . . . Keyminster, at the indoctrination (activation) of the Third Army (in England).  I remember that I was the first man, in the first file, in the first rank, and General Patton came up to me and said,  'You're a big son-of-a-bitch, aren't you!"'  To that, the tall lanky Sergeant replied, "Yes, Sir!"  The General asked, "How long have you been in the Army, Sergeant?"  Sgt. Riley quickly answered, "I've been in eighteen months and three days" (or something like that).  General Patton exclaimed, "Jesus Christ, how can you remember that?  I can't remember how long I've been in this . . . Army".

Sgt. Riley continues, "From then on, he went to inspect the rest of the guys.  Now, there were only two platoons, but I think it was a combination of guys from all the platoons.  I remember that Sgt. Gross was standing right next to me and of course Sgt. Gross was standing outside of the rank and file and he (Patton) talked to Sgt. Gross and knew Sgt. Gross from the 5th Armored Division."  Originally, it was planned that the 702nd Tank Battalion would be part of the Allied invasion of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944.  But fate would step in, in a round-about way. 

According to the scuttlebutt at the time, it seems that a German U-boat had sank a ship, bringing a supply of equipment for another tank battalion.  Since it was considered imperative (by the powers that be) for this other battalion to be in the D-Day invasion, they were given the tanks destined for the 702nd, and the 702nd  would have to wait for new tanks to arrive.