BYRON, IL, USA U.S. Marines LCPL, F CO, 2D BN, 7TH MAR, (RCT-8, 2D MAR DIV), 1ST MAR DIV, TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA FALLUJAH, IRAQ 12/01/2005
Andrew G. Patten was an outstanding athlete who played football and wrestled in high school. He also had an ear for music, his latest passion was the guitar, but he played piano, viola, and the trumpet.
I had to draw the line at the saxophone, said his father, Alan, laughing at the memory. He had an ear for music, he was a natural.
Patten, 19, of Byron, Ill., was killed Dec. 1 by an explosive in Fallujah. He graduated high school in 2004 and was assigned to Twentynine Palms.
Patten chose to go into the Marines after high school because he was unsure of how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Alan Patten said he encouraged his son to go into a branch like the Navy or the Air Force so he could learn to work on machines.
He told me, ‘I want to be a Marine, Pop,’ and that was that, said his father.
His fellow Marines called Andrew Patten the Rev, a testament to how seriously he took his faith. He was a dynamic kid who gave everything he had to everything he did, said Larry Seagren, who was Patten’s youth pastor.
He also is survived by his mother, Gayle Nachansky.