4 Aug 1934 – 7 May 1998
My father enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1952. He served as a Drill Instructor at Paris Island just before attending OCS in Quantico. He served two tours in Vietnam with Infantry units. The first was in 1968 as a Captain with G-2/26. The second tour, I think, was 1970 as an advisor. He retired in 1972.
His site in Arlington is section 54, Row 0, Site 4679.
He passed away on his sail boat in Fajardo Puerto Ricco on May 7, 1998. After flying down there, I learned that his body was donated to the medical school. I was also told that there would be no remains to claim. I just found out this past May, almost four years to the day that there were in fact some remains and the school had buried them that week in a public cemetery. I flew down immediately, had him exhumed, cremated and took him to Arlington. He was interned there with Honors on June 27, 2002.
Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard