While his father worked as a farm hand tending to the horses and eventually became manager, Patten enjoyed the simple pleasures of childhood, swimming in the river with friends and making canoes from sheets of corrugated iron.
Before catching the bus to school in the morning he earned his pocket money by working in the dairy separating the milk.
On 6 August 1931 Patten was on the school bus when it collided with a wheat train at the town railway crossing in Clinton Street.
At 16 years Patten was too young to enlist so he served in the Volunteer Defence Corps as an ambulance and staff driver.
The war ended with the unconditional surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States.
The platoon was transferred back to Wewak where they witnessed the formal surrender of Hatazō Adachi, the commander-in-chief of Japanese forces in the region, to Australian General Horace Robertson.
[4] Following the surrender, Patten and his Transport Unit were sent to Rabaul as part of the occupation force, where their job was to supply food and essentials to Japanese prisoners.
During the 15 years he spent with the Light Horse he rose to the rank of major and became an officer in charge of a full squadron.
[7] He continued his interest and attendance at the Toodyay Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service meetings until about six months before he died.