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Those Who Died That Others Might Be Free

Jack Patterson

 

Date and Place of Birth: Zanesville, Ohio
Date and Place of Death: November 2, 1944 Pacific
Baseball Experience: Minor League
Position: Pitcher
Rank: Private First Class
Military Unit: United States Marine Corps
Area Served: Pacific Theater of Operations

 

An athletic field on Guadalcanal has been named in memory of PFC Jack Patterson of this city who was killed in action with the marine corps there on November 2, according to word received by his wife.

Zanesville Signal December 18, 1944

 

Jack H Patterson was born in Zanesville, Ohio. Patterson pitched for a number of Zanesville sandlot teams including Hazel-Atlas. He signed a professional contract in 1936 and played for the Zanesville Grays. In 1937 he was 4-7 with Zanesville and also played for Troy and Owensboro. His best season in the minors was 1939 when he played for Huntington of the Mountain States League and had an 18-10 record. His last season in the minor leagues was with Erie in the Mid-Atlantic League where he was 4-5 with a 4.60 ERA.

 

Patterson entered the armed forces in October 1942 and took basic training with the Marine Corps at Parris Island, South Carolina. He was later at Quantico, Virginia and went overseas in the fall of 1943.

 

Private First Class Patterson took part in eight major engagements with the United States Marine Corps. He was killed in action on November 2, 1944.

 

Jack Patterson was survived by his wife, Dorothy, and their son, Jimmy, who was three at the time.

 

In December 1944, an athletic field on Guadalcanal was named in his honor. It consisted of one baseball field and two softball diamonds.

 

Added August 27, 2006.

 

Copyright © 2007 Gary Bedingfield (Baseball in Wartime). All Rights Reserved.