Shane E. Patton

Specialty:

Navy SEAL

BUD/S Class:

239

SEAL Service:

(TBD) years

Rank:

Petty Officer Second Class

Age:

22

Home:

Boulder City, NV

Assigned:

SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Died:

June 28, 2005

Operation:

Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)

Details:

Died while conducting combat operations, when the MH-47 helicopter he was aboard on a rescue operation was shot down and crashed in Kunar Province.

Awards:

Other Awards:

Contributions:

Shane Patton was part of a dedicated team fighting the Taliban, a fundamentalist regime that a U.S.-led coalition knocked from power in Afghanistan in 2001, but which has continued to conduct guerilla operations, particularly along the Pakistan border.Patton worked to help ensure that al-Qaeda terrorists could not train in, nor launch strikes from Afghanistan since their lethal attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. Patton graduated in 2000 from Boulder City Highschool, Nevada, where he was an avid baseball player. He then followed in the footsteps of his father, retired Navy SEAL James Patton, and graduated with BUD/S class 239.Shane Patton was one of 16 troops killed when a MH- 47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan on June 28, on a daring daylight mission to reinforce a four-man SEAL reconnaissance squad in 8,000-foot mountainous terrain.Patton, seven other SEALs, and eight Army commandos died in their heroic attempt to rescue their fellow SEALs. LT Michael Murphy, Matthew Axelson, and Danny Dietz fought on courageously and were killed in the firefight against overwhelming Taliban forces.A total of 11 SEALs died that day in the War against Terror, in the biggest single loss of life for Naval Special Warfare forces since World War II. To a man, they embodied the Navy’s core Honor, Courage and Commitment, and took care of their teammates to the end.

Shane Patton is remembered with the greatest respect and gratitude by his fellow SEALs, the Navy, and our nation.