PATTON, WARD KARL

Name: Ward Karl Patton
Rank/Branch: E6/US Navy
Unit: Commander Naval Support Activity SGN Detachment YRBM-18
Date of Birth: 18 January 1934 (Louisburg KS)
Home City of Record: Fontana KS
Date of Loss: 27 July 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 101648N 1060823E (XS248365)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: YRBM-18
Refno: 1239
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 May 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 2020.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Petty Officer Ware E. Patton was assigned to Commander Naval
Support Activity SGN Detachment, YRBM-18. On July 27, 1968, while his boat
was anchored in the upper My Tho River near the Cho Lach District Town,
South Vietnam, Petty Officer Patton and another crew member were returning
from another craft at about 10:30 p.m. The other crew member was holding a
flashlight to light the way when suddenly Petty Officer Patton missed his
footing and disappeared from sight. The current in this river was very
swift.

The crew member went to the spot where Patton had disappeared, but found
nothing. He then notified the ship and an alarm sounded immediately. All
forces in the area were alerted to assist in the search. An extensive search
was conducted along the My Tho and Ham Luong Rivers as well as along the
river banks. No evidence of Petty Officer Patton was found.

Patton is listed with honor among the Americans still prisoner, missing or
unaccounted for in Southeast Asia because his body was never recovered.
Others who are missing do not have such clear cut cases. Some were known
captives; some were photographed as they were led by their guards. Some were
in radio contact with search teams, while others simply disappeared.

Since the war ended, over 250,000 interviews have been conducted with those
who claim to know about Americans still alive in Southeast Asia, and several
million documents have been studied. U.S. Government experts cannot seem to
agree whether Americans are there alive or not. Distracters say it would be
far too politically difficult to bring the men they believe to be alive
home, and the U.S. is content to negotiate for remains.

Over 1000 eye-witness reports of living American prisoners were received by
1989.  Most of them are still classified. If, as the U.S. seems to believe,
the men are all dead, why the secrecy after so many years? If the men are
alive, why are they not home?

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KZozEAG

CS1 WARD KARL PATTON

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Commissaryman First Class Ward Karl Patton entered the U.S. Navy from Kansas and served aboard yard repair berthing and messing barge YRBM 18 in South Vietnam. On July 27, 1968, he was crossing from another barge onto the deck of YRBM 18 when he lost his footing and fell into the My Tho River in the vicinity of grid coordinates XS 248 365. The current was very strong and he was several hundred yards from shore when he fell. Extensive searches were made by boats and helicopters as well as ground searches downstream from the site, but all were unsuccessful. Commissaryman First Class Patton was not seen again and his remains were not recovered. Today, Commissaryman First Class Patton is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. 

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

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