Sunday, December 9, 2007

Fred Patterson, Man of Action

So I get these e-mails...come on, did your dad really look like Sean Connery? Huh? Reeeaaally? Come on.

Well...no.

But when you're a kid...yeah. Kind of. And it's pretty cool to somehow think, yeah, sure dad's going off to work at the newspaper, but what he's really doing is undercover work, just pretending to work at the newspaper, and....

Anyway, here's my dad in his prime, the photo taken in Beaugency, France, in the Fall of 1944. And, what the hell, he's kind of dashing. And he does carry a gun.


And though I'm sure there's no chance of it, if there's anyone out there who might have known him or have a friend or relative who might have known him back in the day (in the army, he worked as an armorer in Northern Ireland, England, and France, went to the University of Montana in the late Forties, and worked for AP in San Francisco in the Fifties), I would love to chat with them.

'Cause I miss the guy. Every damn day.

Steve

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My Dad was in Beaugency France in October 1944 where 20,000 Germans surrendered to the 83rd infantry division. That was big news in the day, several reporters were there for a small ceremony, etc. Do you know much about your Dad as far as WWII? There are now resources for finding info, the best place to start is Name rank and serial number- Division and company adds better info. Thanks, Ross... acrosstheuniverse@sbcglobal.net

Steve Patterson said...

Thanks for the note, Ross. That's really...interesting. Sounds like both our fathers were there at the same time. I'll shoot you an e-mail.

Cheers,

Steve