HEADQUARTERS
                     THIRD UNITED STATES ARMY
                 Office of the Commanding General
                              APO 403


                                                   25 April 1945


My dear General Middleton:


     Again the exigencies of war have separated the VIII Corps
and the Third Army. We are all most regretful.


     None of us will ever forget the stark valor with which you
and your Corps contested every foot of ground during Von Rund-
stedt's attack. Your decision to hold BASTOGNE was a stroke of
genius.


     Subsequently, the relentless advance of the VIII Corps to
the KYLL River, thence to the RHINE, your capture of KOBLENZ and 
subsequent assault crossings of the RHINE at its most difficult
sector, resulting in your victorious and rapid advance to the
MULDE River, are events which will live in history and quicken
the pulse of every soldier.


     Please accept for yourself and transmit to the officers
and men of your command my sincere thanks and admiration for the
outstanding successes achieved.


     May all good fortune attend you.




                                   Very sincerely,






                                        G. S. Patton, JR.
                                   Lieut. General, U. S. Army,
                                          Commanding.


Major General Troy H. Middleton
Headquarters VIII Corps
APO 308, U. S. Army


Reproduced, Hq VIII Corps, 27 April 1945.

Ltr fr Lt General G.S. Patton, Jr. to Maj General Troy H. Middleton,
    25 April 1945, Continued.

AG 330.13 - GNMHG                  1st Ind.
  (25 Apr 45)
HEADQUARTERS VIII CORPS, APO 308, U.S. Army, 27 April 1945.

TO: See Distribution.

     It is with deep appreciation and a sense of humility that I trans-
mit to the officers and to the enlisted men who have served in the VIII
Corps since December 16, 1944 this letter of appreciation from General
Patton.

     As we review the picture since Bastogne, we see performance of
feats by officers and men of the Corps which in normal times one would
have believed to be impossible of execution. It is however doing the 
impossible which marks the leader and returns the winner in war.

     My sincere thanks to those members of the Corps now living and my
humble reverence to those now deceased who by devotion to a cause and a
duty made this letter of appreciation from our Army Commander possible.



                                               TROY H. MIDDLETON
                                           Major General, U. S. Army,
                                                  Commanding.

DISTRIBUTION:
(Copies to all units which
served with VIII Corps since
December 16, 1944)

Reproduced, Hq 87th Infantry Division, 8 May 1945



                      2d Ind                                    FLC: wg
Hq 87th Inf Div. APO 448 U.S. Army 2 May 45

TO: All Members, 87th Infantry Division, 549th AAA Bn, 607th TD Bn and
    735th Tk Bn.

     1. General Patton's letter and General Middleton's indorsement
aptly express the outstanding battle performance of the VIII Corps.
The 87th (Golden Acorn) Division has been privileged to play an impor-
tant part in the achievement of the successes. The place names
marking the record of the 87th Division will forever be illuminated 
with the bright light of consistently successful action. THE ARDENNES - 
THE SIEGFRIED LINE - THE KYLL - THE MOSELLE - KOBLENZ - THE RHINE -
PLAUEN and THE MULDE - these names will be written in bold letters on
the pages of history for all posterity to see.

     2. I pass the commendations of these two outstanding leaders to
you with soldierly pride and pleasure.


                                             FRANK L. CULIN, JR.
                                          Major General, U.S. Army
                                                 Commanding