Lance Corporal John Patterson
Lance Corporal John Lynton Patterson was born October 2nd, 1897, the sixth of nine children to Richard and Selina (nicknamed Liney and Lina) Patterson of Caledonia. His older siblings were Elder Leroy (Roy), Jennie, Charles, Grace, Claude, and Florence, and younger siblings were Arnold and Ruby. John recorded his occupation as a farmer and religion as Baptist. He had light brown hair and blue eyes, stood five feet 9 ½ inches tall (177 cm), and weighed 135 pounds (61 kg).
John had just turned eighteen when he enlisted on November 4th, 1915, just one month after his older brother Charles. John joined the 85th Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders, often called the “Never Fails”) as an Infantryman and was assigned the rank of Private and Regimental number 223241. He sailed to England on October 12th, 1916, on the SS Olympic, followed by Charles nine months later on the same ship. He went to Boulogne with his unit on February 10th, 1917, and thence to the front lines to take the fight to the Germans.
After sixteen months on the field of battle in France, Private Patterson was awarded the Good Conduct Badge on June 21st, 1918. John’s older brothers Roy and Charles also served in the 85th Battalion, and their younger brother Arnold served in the 112th Battalion. All three of John’s brothers survived the war and returned home to Caledonia, but Roy was severely wounded at Passchendaele, losing an arm.
Private Patterson was promoted to Lance Corporal and perished the same day; on September 2nd, 1918, in Dury, France. He was 20 years old. Lance Corporal Patterson was killed in the fierce battle to break the German defense system known as the Drocourt-Queant Line. The battle was successful and the village and an overlooking hill were captured, but at the cost of many lives.
​
Lance Corporal Patterson’s brother Charles wrote to his father Richard, “John is gone. He and Stanley Annis were in action on the morning of Sept 2nd. Both were killed instantly. He was in charge of our section, and father, he did wonderful work leading the section through a hail of machine gun and rifle fire with men falling all around him, and got almost to their objective when he was killed by a shell. If he had got through, he would have been decorated for good work, but poor boy, now has a wooden cross. What more can a man win for his country. John never wavered, he would go through to the last man. He has done his work and is at rest. I saw him before he was buried. He was given a good burial service by our chaplain”.
​
The Gold Hunter noted “He was made of the stuff that produces good soldiers. No better men went overseas than the Patterson boys. Two others are still on active service, while a third one was severely wounded and is expected home most any day. John was a bright, good natured, whole-hearted boy”.
Lance Corporal Patterson’s father, Richard received the Memorial Plaque and Scroll, and his mother, Liney was awarded the Memorial Cross Medal (also known as the Silver Cross).
The Dury Mill cemetery was begun by Canadian units on September 5th, and is the final resting place of Lance Corporal Patterson (Plot I, Row A, Grave 11) and 334 of his fellow soldiers, twelve of whom are unidentified. One of those fellow soldiers was Corporal Stanley Annis, also from Caledonia, who died on the same day.
Lance Corporal Patterson is commemorated on page 483 of the World War One Book of Remembrance. He is also listed on the Caledonia Cenotaph, although missing the designation “Lance” Corporal.
Online References
War Grave Search – https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/253928/john-lynton-patterson/
Local Grave Search - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24735591/john-lynton-patterson
Canadian Virtual War Memorial - https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/253928?John%20Lynton%20Patterson
Canadian Census https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=census&IdNumber=7946855&ecopy=e001975911
First World War Personnel Records Database (16.1 meg download size) https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=pffww&IdNumber=569589&ecopy=568604a
