Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane Eric Patton

Remember Our Heroes

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane Eric Patton, 22, of Boulder City, Nevada.

Petty Officer Patton died while conducting combat operations when the MH-47 helicopter that he was aboard crashed in the vicinity of Asadabad, Afghanistan in Kumar Province. He was assigned to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Eric S. Patton, of Boulder City, Nev., was following in his father's steps when he joined the military and became a Navy SEAL.

The 2000 graduate of Boulder City High School had been serving in Afghanistan when military officials notified his father of the helicopter crash this week, said Keith Gronquist, a court administrator who works with James Patton, a city marshal and retired Navy SEAL.

Gronquist and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., who also said he had been told Shane Patton was aboard the helicopter, did not know his rank or where he had been based.

"Boulder City and the state of Nevada lost a true hero," Gronquist said. "His sacrifice and love of country will not be forgotten."

A small-town boy from Nevada, Eric Shane Patton, 22, looked up to his father, James, who had served as a Navy SEAL, a member of an elite special operations unit.

Three years ago, Petty Officer 2nd Class Patton enthusiastically took on the rigorous training to become a SEAL, said friends. He was the only one of his three brothers to follow his father. Stationed at Pearl Harbor, Patton shipped out for Afghanistan in April.

Yesterday, Brandon Tretton remembered Patton, his best friend since ninth or 10th grade: "He wanted to be a SEAL, and he wanted to be the best. His father was a SEAL, and he figured if he joined the armed forces, he would go all the way and be the best."

Patton, of Boulder City, Nev., was one of three Hawaii-based Navy SEALs among 16 troops who were killed during combat operations last Tuesday when their MH-47 helicopter crashed under enemy fire in the area of Asadabad, Afghanistan, in Kunar province. The military said the crash was the deadliest single blow to American forces in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane Eric Patton was killed in action on 06/28/05.