Corporal Charles Ray Patten was born May 28, 1926, to Raymond and Edna (Medley) Patten in Lawson. He had three brothers, Lloyd, Roy, and Jearl.
Shortly after graduating from Lawson High School, Charles moved to Lebanon, where he worked at a family pharmacy.
Charles felt the need to serve his country and enlisted in the military, serving in the Korean War. He was reported missing on July 20, 1950. There was never any evidence that he became a prisoner of war but on December 31, 1953, the Army issued a presumptive finding of death. In July 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns. One of the remains were identified as those of Cpl. Patten. Cpl. Patten is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.
Cpl. Patten will be buried in the Lawson Cemetery this Wednesday, May 15, 2024. He will be buried in the same plot as his grandfather and close to his father.
Survivors include Marion Medley of Excelsior Springs, Donna (Medley/Williams) Kennedy of Lawson, and Carl Leonard Medley of Claremont, N.C.
Arrangements in care of Bross & Spidle Funeral Home Lawson Chapel.
