You have all heard of General George Patton, but how many of you have heard of Private Henry “Pat” Patton?

Even though he was about ten years older, I got to know “Pat” while we both were working as spike pitchers with a threshing crew.  At that time, it appeared to me, many of the older people seemed to hold him in quite high regard.  He had gone to the same school as I had, only earlier.  He had lost his father and was finding his way through life, pretty much on his own.

Recently, I decided to research him to see if he turned out to be that person who had been held in such high regard at such a young age.  These are some of the facts that I discovered.

Before World War II started, he had joined the Army Air Corp and requested duty in the far east and was stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines.  It was December 8, 1941, across the International Date Line, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Philippines.  Assigned to the 2nd Observation Squadron as a radio operator, Pat rushed to the airfield and took off in an O-52.  By the next evening, he had had the unique experience of having the planes he was on shot down three times in the first two days of the war.  Each time he parachuted to safety and returned to his airbase to take another plane on its’ final flight.

On Christmas Eve, 1941, his unit was sent across the bay to Bataan where he was assigned as a radioman with the 4th Marines.  Patton, as a radioman went on most behind the lines patrols.  Three times he was one of only three men to return to the front after being sent deep into enemy territory.  Twice he was one of two to return and once, was the only survivor to come back from patrol.  He served with the Marines until April, 1942, when Bataan fell.

On the 5th day of the Bataan Death march, Patton escaped, with the help of Filipinos along the side of the road.  He was nourished and hid by those Filipinos at the risk of their own lives.

Later, he joined a group of 50 who had escaped the march.  This group harassed the Japanese by blowing bridges on the highways, railroads and torching ammunition and fuel depots. In February 1943, Patton with two others were captured and sent to the San Fernando Provincial Prison.  He soon escaped over the wall with the aid of more Filipinos.  In May he was captured again and sent back to the same prison, later to be transferred, with 63 Americans, to Bilibid Prison in Manila.  There they were tortured and interrogated incessantly for several weeks.  At the end of that period only 17 survived and they were given insignias to wear, notifying the guards that these prisoners were dangerous or insane or both!

Eventually, they were shipped to Japan to work in the steel mills and coal mines.  While in route however, American submarines sank the Japanese ship carrying the POWs.  Of some 1200 prisoners, just 53 survived.

As one of the survivors, Patton was forced to work in a coal mine.  On the seventh day there was an explosion cave-in.  After three days, of the 45 men in the mine, 16 survived.  Those survivors were sent to the steel mills.

The prison camp where Patton and others were held was across the bay from Hiroshima.  They witnessed the mushroom cloud of the first atomic bomb, but had no idea what it was.  When told by the Emperor that the war was lost, the guards walked away and disappeared.

No one told the Americans not to go to Hiroshima and Patton with 7 others left their camp and spent 3 days wandering and sightseeing around the Hiroshima ruins.  He and his comrades later developed cancer.

When the prison was liberated by the Americans, the prisoners were identified and processed, put on a train and evacuated out through the devastation of Nagasaki, being exposed the second time to atomic radiation.

Of the 384 men who had been a part of the 2nd Observation Squadron in 1940, only 10 survived.  When Patton entered the service he weighted 180 pounds.  At the wars end his weight was down to 76 pounds.

He returned home as one of the most decorated veterans of the Pacific theater. He was one of a handful of American Airmen to receive a medal for meritorious service in ground action with the Marine Corps.

In 1946 he graduated with honors from Chaffey College at Ontario, Ca..

In 1951 he graduated from the University of Missouri with honors.

While working as farm editor in Freeport, Ill. He received honors for his discovery of the first Dutch Elm disease of the Elm trees in the United States.

After a very successful business career, Henry Patton died at near the age of 90, having survived the HORRORS OF WAR!!!