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Contact Info
Home Town Houston, TX
Last Address Houston, TX
MIA Date Jul 27, 1967
Cause Non Hostile- Died while Missing
Reason Lost At Sea-Unrecovered
Location South China Sea
Conflict Vietnam War
Memorial Coordinates 24E 006
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
This Sailor has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in Houston National Cemetery, Houston, Texas.
ENS Bruce M. Patterson and AE2 Charles D. Hardie were part of the crew of a U.S. Navy KA3H. On 27 July 1967, their aircraft was airborne about 200 miles due east from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) when it encountered difficulties requiring the three crewmen to parachute from the crippled aircraft. The crew safely parachuted from the plane, but only the pilot was rescued. Patterson and Hardie were never found. It was assumed they drowned. Both were classified Killed, Body Not Recovered.
A village in central New York state and the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War. During the Saratoga campaign in the summer of 1777, a British force invested Fort Stanwix in central New York, intending to seize control of the Mowhawk Valley and guard the left flank of the British advance on Albany. On 4 August 1777, a relief column of some 800 Tryon County militiamen and 40 Oneida warriors under Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer and Chief Skenandoah set out from Fort Dayton, some forty miles to the east. Two days later, as the Tryon militia entered the marshy ravine of Oriskany Creek, a smaller force of Tories, Mohawks and Senecas under Sir John Johnson, Col. John Butler and Chief Joseph Brant ambushed the patriot militia. Initially thrown into disorder and suffering heavy losses, Herkimers' force regrouped on higher ground and fought a bitter six hour battle against the Loyalists, marked by hand-to-hand combat with bayonets and tomahawks. Losses at Oriskany were severe and both sides withdrew, with American losses amounting to half the original force, including General Herkimer who died of his wounds a week later. Although the patriots did not then relieve Fort Stanwix, a second expedition forced the British force to lift the siege and retreat to Canada, contributing to British General John Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga in October.
