One Killed, Another Missing
One Waterloo man was reported killed in action and one reported missing Monday, according to telegrams received from the war department by their respective parents.
Dead was First Lt. Wesley R. Farnum, 23, killed in action with the infantry on Luzon Jan. 17.
Missing in action is Sgt. James G. Patterson, 19.
Missing.
Sergeant Patterson, only son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Patterson, 117 Prospect avenue, was reported missing since Jan. 9, while in action with the infantry in France, according to a telegram received from the war department by his parents.
Sergeant Patterson, an observer for a mortar squad with the infantry, went overseas in October, 1944, and arrived in Marsielle, France, early in December.
A 1943 graduate of East high school, he was inducted July 2, 1943. He took his basic infantry training at Ft. McClellan, Ala., and was later transferred to the army specialized training program at North Dakota agricultural college, Fargo, N. D. Upon discontinuance of this program, he was sent to Camp Gruber, Okla., from where he left for overseas.
His father, a department manager at Black’s Dry Goods Co. was in New York on a buying trip at the time the message was received here, but is expected to return home Wednesday.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Monday, February 12, 1945, Page 1 (photo included)
James Patterson Is Nazi Prisoner
Sgt. James G. Patterson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Patterson, 117 Prospect avenue, who was reported by the war department as missing in action in Germany on Jan 9, is a prisoner of war there according to a card received Friday by his parents.
Sergeant Patterson wrote the card Jan. 25 and stated that he had been taken prisoner on Jan. 9, was not wounded and was “all right.”
At the time he was captured Sergeant Patterson was acting as an observer for a mortar squad with the infantry.
He received army training at Ft. McClellan, Ala., North Dakota Agricultural college, Fargo, and Camp Gruber, Okla. In October, 1944, he went overseas and arrived in France early in December.
His father is a department manager at James Black Dry Goods Co.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Friday, April 06, 1945, Page 3
Sgt. James G. Patterson, liberated German prisoner of war who returned to military control last March had arrived Tuesday at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Patterson, 117 Prospect avenue. Sergeant Patterson was reported missing in action in Germany on Jan. 9, and on Jan. 25 he wrote a card telling his parents that he was a prisoner of war. At the time he was captured, Sergeant Patterson was acting as an observer for a mortar squad with the infantry. He had been serving overseas since December, 1944.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Wednesday, June 27, 1945, Page 12
CITY IN BRIEF
James G. Patterson, 117 Prospect avenue received a certificate of honor from President Charles E. Friley during Honors day ceremonies Thursday at Iowa State college, Ames.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Thursday, May 19, 1949, Page 9
