Obituary: Ralph K. Patton
Aug. 16, 1920 - Jan. 31, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wilkinsburg native Ralph K. Patton had successfully bombed a German fighter base
on his ninth mission on Jan. 5, 1944, as a B-17 pilot in World War II when he
was shot down over France.
Mr. Patton and surviving members of his crew parachuted
into the Brittany peninsula. They were rescued and sheltered for the next 2 1/2
months by members of the French resistance who helped them evade capture by the
Nazis. The British Military Intelligence Service picked up Mr. Patton and other
downed fliers and took them to England.
Mr. Patton made multiple trips to France to find and thank
the people who had helped him. It became his mission to make sure the world
never forgot their bravery.
In 1964, he became co-founder of Air Forces Escape and
Evasion Society. Members were American and Canadian air forces who "had evaded
capture behind enemy lines for 30 days or more."
The organization recognizes people who helped pilots and
their crew who were shot down in France, Belgium and Holland.
Mr. Patton died Jan. 31 at his home in Bethesda, Md., from
complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 90.
Mr. Patton graduated from Wilkinsburg High School in 1938.
He worked at Pittsburgh Coal Co. while taking accounting classes at night at the
University of Pittsburgh. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942 and
served as a B-17 pilot with the 331st Squadron of the 94th Bomb Group, 8th Air
Force stationed in southern England.
He returned to the United States in April 1944 and traveled
to Memphis, Tenn., where a woman he had dated while in high school, Bette Lou
Hopkins, was serving in the women's naval reserve WAVES (Women Accepted for
Volunteer Emergency Service). On May 1, 1944, the couple married, beginning
their 66 years together. Mr. Patton returned to civilian life in October 1945 as
a manager for Consolidation Coal Co. in Pittsburgh.
The couple had two children and moved with his jobs to
Buffalo and Detroit before moving to Mt. Lebanon in 1976. He retired in April
1983 as vice president of eastern sales for Consolidation Coal, which was then a
subsidiary of the DuPont Co. In 2001, the couple moved to Maryland to be close
to their son and his family.
Mr. Patton was president of AFEES for 27 years until 1991,
when he became chairman of the board.
Larry Grauerholz was a navigator shot down over France in
January 1944 and was helped to safety by the resistance. He joined the Escape
and Evasion Society and edits the group's quarterly newsletter.
"Ralph Patton returned to France many times. I just made
one trip, in 1999" for a commemorative 50-mile hike through the Pyrenees
mountains into Spain, Mr. Grauerholz said. While he and Mr. Patton rode vehicles
that retraced their escape, that same hike was done on foot by three generations
of Pattons -- his wife; their son Geoffrey of Washington, D.C.; daughter and
son-in-law, Beverly and John Wand of Madison, N.J.; and grandchildren
Christopher and Elizabeth Wand, who were 14 and 11 at the time.
Beverly Wand said the family is privately publishing her
father's memoirs, which will be ready by April when the Escape and Evasion
Society has the next reunion meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
The society now has more than 680 members, said membership
secretary Richard Shandor of Cresson.
Besides his wife and children, Mr. Patton is survived by a
sister, Eleanor Oyler of Pittsburgh, and five grandchildren.
Interment will be in Arlington National Cemetery at a
future date. Arrangements are being handled by Thibadeau Mortuary Service,
Gaithersburg, Md.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Mighty Eighth Air
Force Museum, P.O. Box 1992, Savannah, GA 31402; or to the Air Forces Escape and
Evasion Society, in care of Richard Shandor, P.O. Box 254, Cresson, PA 16630.
Linda Wilson Fuoco: lfuoco@post-gazette.com or
412-722-0087.
First published on February 14, 2011 at 12:00 am
