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Brian Patton, killed in the Middle East, to be honored

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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His buddy said you always knew when Brian Patton walked into the room.

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Brian Patton, seen in Kuwait, died in a vehicle crash last week. He will be honored Friday in Nanticoke.

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Brian Patton, Dave Morgan and Vince McClosky, seen in Kuwait, were good friends in the service.

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“Man, he was loud and full of fun,” recalled Vince McClosky of Wilkes-Barre. “He was outgoing and always wanted to be the center of attention; he was the life of the party. You always knew he was there.”

On Friday, Patton’s casket will be at the Greater Nanticoke Area High School gymnasium so that family and friends can pay respects to the fallen hero. He is expected to be buried on Saturday, according to Jonathon Stegura of Stegura Funeral Home in Nanticoke.

Patton died Thursday morning in an automobile crash in Kuwait. A military police officer with the Naval Security Force from Rochester, N.Y., he was stationed in June in northern Kuwait, where he was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom.

“You won’t ever find a guy like that again,” McClosky said. “He can’t be replaced.”

McClosky worked with Patton at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, along with fellow sailor David Morgan, who was critically injured in the crash.

Patton came home for leave last month and was scheduled to end his tour in late February or early March. McClosky and Morgan lived with Patton in Kuwait and the three became good friends.

“We got to be pretty close,” McClosky said. “We first met in 2007, and we hit it off immediately.”

Stegura said he is awaiting release of Patton’s body from the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. He said funeral arrangements will be finalized once he knows when Patton’s body will be returned home.

McClosky said he, Patton and Morgan were “individual augmentees,” part of the Law and Order Detachment.

“The three of us decided to be deployed together,” McClosky said. “We were part of the same group in Rochester and then we were tagged for mobilization.”

McClosky returned home last week. His first day back he heard the news about his friend.

“I just got home and I was told Brian was killed,” McClosky said.

McClosky, 23, said Patton, 37, was in a vehicle that was struck head-on by another vehicle on a paved road between Camp Buehring and Camp Virginia in Kuwait.

“They were on a police call,” he said. “I was told a car was passing a convoy at a high rate of speed when they came to a hill and there was a blind spot.”

McClosky said he knows Patton’s wife and two children. He said the next few days will be difficult to get through.

“I lost a friend, a co-worker and a father figure,” McClosky said. “Brian knew my dad too; my dad works at SCID too. He told me to make sure I brought Brian back and Brian always had my back, too.”

McClosky said he feels a sense of guilt that he wasn’t there when Patton was killed.

“He took his job and his duty to his country very serious,” McClosky said. “He often gave me advice about life and everything.”

McClosky said he’s still in shock over Patton’s death.

“Everybody tells me not to feel guilty, but I can’t help it,” he said. “Every day it seems to get better, but then I lose it again. I just can’t believe it.”

McClosky said Morgan is still in critical condition at Bethesda Hospital. He said he hopes to get there to visit his friend this week.

“He just turned 35 the other day,” McClosky said of Morgan. “When you train as a soldier, you prepare for losses in war and casualties; but you’re never prepared for friends to go this way.”