Private Patterson was a member of Company D, 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regimental Combat Team. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy near Hadong, South Korea on 27 July 1950. He was reportedly murdered in a tunnel near Sunch'on, North Korea on 20 October 1950. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Patterson was awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.