When the commander of the Army cyber branch\u2019s schoolhouse prepared his dress uniform on Thursday night ahead of his promotion to major general, he was clueless of the history lesson awaiting him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now-Maj. Gen. Paul Stanton\u2019s promotion after a year leading the Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon, Georgia, was long-coming, too. He previously commanded the service\u2019s Cyber Protection Brigade and completed tours as Cyber Command\u2019s current operations director and the schoolhouse\u2019s deputy commander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stanton was at his kitchen table on the evening ahead of his promotion <\/b>when his father, retired Army three-star and former budget director Edgar Stanton III, pulled out a letter with a sterling silver major general rank insignia pinned to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter, which Stanton shared online<\/a>, explained the origin of the insignia: the stars had first belonged to the legendary, if controversial, Gen. George Patton, who received them when he took command of the 2nd Armored Division in 1942.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Patton\u2019s widow, Beatrice Ayer, passed the stars to the general\u2019s WWII-era operations officer \u2014 Gen. Paul Harkins \u2014 when he received his second star and took command of the 45th Infantry Division during the Korean War. Harkins went on to become the first commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam in 1962.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harkins in turn gave Patton\u2019s insignia to Maj. Gen. William Mundie<\/a>, a former aide, when he took command of Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, in 1975.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stanton\u2019s father, who was Mundie\u2019s aide during his tour at the helm of Army Recruiting Command, received the stars from his mentor in 2006, with instructions to pass them on to his son \u2014 should he reach the two-star rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n