Maj. Gen. George S. Patton, the son and namesake of the World War II armored commander and a veteran of combat in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, died on Sunday at his home in Hamilton, Mass. He was 80.

General Patton, who retired from the Army in 1980, had been in poor health for years because of complications from hip surgery and other ailments, his wife, Joanne, said.

The younger General Patton was occasionally asked whether he felt overshadowed by his father, who gained fame for his exploits in North Africa, Sicily and France and who was introduced to new generations of Americans through George C. Scott's movie portrayal. ''I've never worried about it,'' the son said in an interview in 1977. ''I've been too busy.''

The younger officer was wounded in one of his three Vietnam tours and was awarded a Purple Heart. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest decoration for bravery in combat.

George Smith Patton was in his last year at West Point when his father, George S. Patton Jr., was killed in a traffic accident in Germany in December 1945. For a time, the younger man was known as George S. Patton III, but he eventually dropped the Roman numeral, his wife said.

General Patton acknowledged that, just as his father had, he demanded a spit-and-polish look from his soldiers. And like his father, he loved history and spoke French, Joanne Patton said. He received a master's in international affairs from George Washington University.

As a colonel, he commanded the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam. As a major general in 1975, he took command of the Second Armored Division at Fort Hood, Tex. His father had led the division in North Africa.

In 1964, the younger George Patton and other relatives objected to a new biography of the World War II commander, ''Ordeal and Triumph,'' saying it used unauthorized material from the general's wartime diaries. Some material was deleted, and the book was published.

In retirement, the general ran Green Meadows Farm in Hamilton, north of Boston.

Also surviving are three sons, George, of Hamilton; Robert, of Darien, Conn.; and Benjamin, of New York; two daughters, Mother Margaret Patton, a nun in Bethlehem, Conn., and Helen Plusczyk of Saarbrücken, Germany; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

George S Patton