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Lt. Will Patton
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At the base in Wormingford, nobody worried much about the return of Lt. Patton. During this era, it was common for pilots to stop in France for minor repairs, before returning to England. On January 18th, a search began for Lt. Patton since nothing had been heard. Without knowing where to look for him, it was a difficult task. Hours passed, but Lt. Patton was not found.
In Granby, Missouri, the Patton family received, on February 7th, 1945, a telegram stating that Lt. Patton was MIA (missing in action). For Rhoda and Robert Patton, this uncertainty raised many doubts: Is he still living? Wounded? Prisoner? Dead? For many years, Rhoda and Robert Patton maintained contact with the U.S. Government to find out what really happened to their son. Gradually, while the chances of seeing their son lessened, the Pattons still remained hopeful. Joyce Montez, a niece of William Patton, says about Lt. Patton's father: "that he had envisioned all the possible scenarios: that William would come one day knocking on the door, or that he had been struck with amnesia, and lived somewhere in England under another name. We have grown old with his memory, and now we finally know that he was successful in life, and we are very proud of him. He died for his country. He is very close to his mother, and he writes her often. Shortly before his disappearance, she told me that he had written a letter saying that he would marry after the war. He never had the chance, and we never knew who his fiancee was."
A statement made by the North Voice (a French newspaper) on January 17th, 1945 briefly spoke of the incident, based on the report of a police officer, Lt. Bernard, made on January 16th:
At 11:30 a.m. on January 15th, an American fighter plane came from the North and crashed at Longueville, just 500 meters from the train station. The aircraft was embedded nearly 9 meters into the ground, and was completely destroyed. The pilot was not found. American authorities are at the sight.
Since the crash was unapproachable, it was left as was, and wasn't heard of again until February 22, 2001, 56 years after Lt. Patton had been declared MIA.
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