Visited my friend Robert “Pat” Patterson before I flew to Ohio in April. Pat is family to me. I met him about 4 years ago when I showed up at the Yountville Veterans Home fresh out the Marines and excited about my first photo class. Pat, 83, is a former Marine that enlisted at age 16 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He went on to fight in the Battle of Guadalcanal.
I’ve spent a lot of time with Pat, absorbed a lot of his stories and his past. He grew up near the train tracks in Duncan, Oklahoma and despite living a very modest life of hard work, he is one of the richest men I know. It’s difficult to describe the force of this man but his strength of character and his resilience is unmatched. I know that if there is any kind of afterlife, Pat will be there to welcome me with his bear voice, “Hot Damn!! I told you this shit was real, oh baby, let’s dance.” I could write a lot about Pat and the conversations we have had, but I’ll save it for now. I look forward to eating more oranges with you dear friend, hope you’re hanging in there.
This entry was written by , posted on May 27, 2009 at 2:03 pm, filed under Americans, Personal, Portrait and tagged B&W, california, Marine, Pat, Patterson, Portrait, USMC, Veterans, War, WWII, Yountville. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.