Fred Jones

Ensign Peter Pruden Patterson (serial number 156742) was a crewman on a US Navy PV-1 Ventura patrol bomber taking off from Amchitka Naval Facility on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians on 23 May, 1943. He was a member of squadron VP-135. A strong wind called a williwaw caused the aircraft to veer off the runway and crash. The plane caught fire and one of the bombs exploded. Patterson and crewman AMM3 Alvin Don Shaver were killed. The others in the crew were badly burned but survived. Patterson and Shaver were buried in the Amchitka Post Cemetery for the duration of the war. Several years after WW2 the cemetery was disestablished and the remains relocated according to the wishes of next of kin. Shaver's remains was returned to Portland Oregon where he was buried at Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery. Patterson was buried at Sitka National Cemetery in Sitka, AK. His parents were Arthur P. Patterson (a civil engineer) and Bess Patterson of 750 MIAMI Pass, Madison, Wisconsin. He also had a sister Patricia.