Richard H. Patterson (November 6, 1931 – April 12, 2010) was a

chief petty officer A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards, usually above petty officer. By country Australia "Chief Petty Officer" is the second highest non-commissioned rank in the Royal Australian Navy ...

in the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

, decorated for saving the crew of his vessel, after the skipper and executive officer became casualties during a 1966

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy or hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while ...

attack, in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. Patterson was born in 1931 and grew up in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He enlisted in the Coast Guard as a young man, and by the mid-1960s he was a chief boatswain's mate.

Attack on ''Point Welcome''

U.S. Coast Guard cutter ''Point Welcome'' was on a three-day patrol, near Vietnam's

demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...

when, in the early morning of August 11, 1966, she was attacked by a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Martin B-57 Canberra The Martin B-57 Canberra is an American-built, twin-engined tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 is a license-built version of the British English Electric ...

, in a case of friendly fire. Standard procedure for small vessels, like ''Point Welcome'', was to run without lights, in areas where enemy vessels might be encountered. The first strafing run ignited a fuel can on the vessel's

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...

, which Patterson extinguished. The second run hit the bridge, killing the ship's captain,

Lieutenant Junior Grade Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...

(LTJG) David Brostrom, and Engineman Second Class Jerry Phillips,Vietnam Veterans Memorial Virtual Wall – Brostrom
/ref>Vietnam Veterans Memorial Virtual Wall – Phillips
/ref>Larzelere, p 25 two of seven Coast Guardsmen killed in action during the Vietnam War. The ship's

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

, LTJG Ross Bell was severely wounded and several of the crew injured. Patterson proceeded to the bridge and took control of the cutter, executing a series of evasive maneuvers that prevented the B-57 from hitting her again. As the rudder was damaged he steered by controlling the cutter's two

propellers A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

. When the B-57 abandoned its attack, after running out of ammunition, he proceeded to the nearest base, until more USAF aircraft arrived to continue the attack. Patterson grounded the vessel and ordered the crew to abandon ship, ensuring the wounded had life jackets and were with someone able-bodied. Patterson was awarded a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

for his actions.

Legacy

*In 2002 the Coast Guard named the recreation center at

Training Center Petaluma Training Center Petaluma is a United States Coast Guard, Coast Guard training facility in the northern California counties of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma and Marin County, California, Marin. Formerly the installation was the United States ...

near

Petaluma, California Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

after Patterson. *In 2007 he was inducted in the Surface Navy Hall of Fame. In 2010, Charles "Skip" W. Bowen, then the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

's senior

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

, proposed that all 58 Sentinel class cutters should be named after enlisted sailors in the Coast Guard, or its precursors, who were recognised for heroism. Patterson was to have been the namesake of the seventeenth cutter but it was named after Master Chief Donald H Horsely, who retired with eleven service stripes and was commissioned in May 2016.

References

External links

Interview with Chief Richard "Pat" Patterson - Point Welcome Incident - at YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Richard H. 1931 births 2010 deaths United States Coast Guard chiefs United States Coast Guard personnel of the Vietnam War