Comrades will honor fallen Marine Sgt. Daniel J. Patron

Comrades will honor fallen Perry Marine
By Matthew Rink
IndeOnline.com staff writer
Posted Jan 16, 2012

There’s a young man that Kathy and Frank Patron have never met or spoken with, and yet he was standing 20 feet away from their son when he died.

His name is Sgt. Jason R. Slattery and he was Sgt. Daniel J. Patron’s partner on an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit when Patron was killed Aug. 6, 2011, in Sangin, Afghanistan. Though Patron’s family, friends and community formally honored Patron more than five months ago, there is a group of men and women who have not yet had the chance.

Slattery is among them.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Marine Corps will hold a special memorial service at Camp LeJeune, N.C., so Marines like Slattery, who returned home for the first time in November, finally have the chance to say goodbye to their fallen comrade.

“None of them were home when this happened,” mother Kathy Patron said. “This is it. None of the EOD guys have had any recognition for Danny. This one, of all of the services and memorials we’ve been invited to, this is the one I’m most nervous about because we will meet Jason Slattery.

“He was there,” she said. “He was 20 feet from the blast. He saw it. I’m really, really nervous about this one.”

Patron, 26, was killed while trying to defuse a roadside bomb. He was a member of the 2nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Co.
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