HomeNaval HistoryUSS Patterson Reunion Photo Project “Completed”

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USS Patterson Reunion Photo Project “Completed” — 6 Comments

  1. There are quite a few pictures of the Patterson DD392 on navsource.org.
    I believe they are official Navy pictures from back in the day.. Also, there is a resin model 1/350th scale of the Patterson DD392 at ironshipwrights.com… It’s challenging to assembly but is a pretty accurate model of the Patterson from 1944 til the end of the war.

    • Greetings, Steve!

      I have several pictures that I sent to Navsource that they posted. One is the Patterson decommissioning party in NYC and 3 from the Philadelphia reunion taken on the Patterson (FF1061) that appear on that Patterson’s Navource page. I would love to have additional pictures from the reunions. I would be happy to credit you and your father. Was your father Eugene Figgins? I’ve seen the name on Muster Rolls. It looks like he arrived on the Pattterson about 3 months after my father-in-law. You could send photos to web@socpsy.com. I would love to have them.

      Dave Johnson

  2. I’ve got some pictures of past reunions that my dad took. Let me know if you would like me to scan them and send them in.

    • Yes, my Dad was Eugene Figgins. He joined the Patterson in San Francisco I think in the fall of 1943. Maybe you could confirm that for me? He was a radioman by trade. His battle station was the #1 5 inch gun or so he told me. He told me a few things about the war but like so many others, kept quiet about a lot of what he saw. He suffered from PTSD his whole life. He told me that he “lost it” during the kamikaze attack during the Okinawa campaign.

      • Given what I know about Okinawa, I can certainly see why sailors feared the kamikazes. I’ve read many pages from war patrol reports that described hits and near misses in very clinical terms, but anyone I’ve ever read about or talked to who experienced that situation described in in harrowing terms.

        I found that your father was received on the Patterson on December 22, 1943 as a Seaman 2nd class (S2c). According to Henry Swyers’ diary, the Patterson pulled into Mare Island Naval Shipyard on the 21st, so that is where your father boarded the Pat for the first time. In October 1944, he was promoted in rate to S1sc. I found that his rating change to Radioman occurred in June of ’45 (at least that’s what I think I can decipher from a very poorly scanned “Report of Changes”. After the Pat was decommissioned in November ’45, you father was transferred to USS LSM-446 where he stayed until April ’46. That ship has a Navsource page if you’re interested. I can make copies of any of this documentation available to you if you would like.

        Dave

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