Hay River (June 30/03) - Eugene Patterson doesn't consider himself a war hero. But his box full of medals suggests otherwise.

Eugene Patterson shows the medals he won as a soldier with the U.S. Army during the Second World War. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

When talking about his service with the U.S. Army in the Second World War, the 83-year-old Hay River resident pulls out a wooden box from beneath a table. Inside, there are nine medals, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, which is awarded to American soldiers wounded in action.

The citation for the Silver Star, says it was awarded to Patterson for "gallantry in action" in the vicinity of Ottendorf, Germany, on April 15, 1945.

Patterson was attached to the 6th Armored Division, which he says did quite a bit of "marauding" - breaking through German lines, wreaking havoc and then withdrawing.

In was for actions during one of those raids that Patterson believes he won the Silver Star, although he was never told exactly why he received the medal.

A member of his squad got hit by a percussion grenade. As his comrade lay stunned in the road, Patterson kept firing on nearby foxholes and pulled the soldier back to safety.

When the Germans left their foxholes to take up another position, Patterson continued firing. "There were about 15, and I killed every one of them."

The following day, Patterson says he and his commander were targeted by an enemy soldier who had risen up from a foxhole. "I got him with the first shot before he could get off a shot."

Patterson still has the gun the German soldier was going to shoot him with.

Another German soldier then appeared with a hand grenade and Patterson shot him, too.

"When somebody is shooting at you, you don't have no problem," he says of having to kill during a battle. "I never shot anybody for the pleasure of it."

The Oregon-born Patterson was a 23-year-old sheep shearer in Montana when the army drafted him in January 1944. He was sent to Europe in July of that year, assigned to a pontoon company, and landed at Utah Beach in Normandy, about a month after D-Day.

The pontoon company's job was to replace bridges destroyed by the retreating enemy. It was the focus of attacks and the casualty rate was high.

In November 1944 in Luxembourg, he remembers being sent to check out a potential bridge site in a canyon. The Germans opened up with small arms fire and eventually an artillery exchange began.

"That was probably the worst night I ever spent," Patterson says, recalling the screaming sound made by German shells flying over his head.

"We never did build the bridge."

During Christmas 1944, he was in the German town of Merzig, close to the French border, when the Battle of the Bulge began."

The sudden counterattack trapped the American 101st Airborne Division in the Belgian town of Bastogne, and the 6th Armored Division fought to open an escape corridor.

After fighting through Bastogne, Patterson was wounded just outside the town on Jan. 2, 1945.

"I received in shrapnel in the back, arms, you name it. I was doing the brave thing at the time. I was trying to hide behind a tree, and a mortar shell hit the tree above me."

In Frankfurt several months later after recovering from his first wounds, he was hit by a ricochet, but didn't seek medical help. He didn't even realize he'd been hit until an hour later, when he took off his boot and picked the spent bullet out of his shin.

Among his medals, Patterson received a Bronze Star, which he says is awarded for being an overall good soldier.

"Some guys in the army are scared to death when they're there," he says. "Some guys are not. Anybody who isn't scared is an idiot."

Patterson says he wouldn't have missed his war experience for anything. After two years in the army, Patterson was back shearing sheep.

Patterson and his wife, Betty Ann, emigrated to Canada in 1962, and settled in Hay River and started a sawmill business. They became Canadian citizens in 1972.