The Navy’s Largest Family – the Patten Brothers and Their Father  Left to right: Gilbert (Gil), Bruce, the father Clarence Floyd (Floyd) I, Wayne, Ray (Bub), Allen (Al), Myrne (Ted), Marvin (Marv) and Clarence Floyd (Bick) II

Overview 124 Years Before The Navy Mast – The Patten Family fuses history and genealogy in a scholarly manner using meticulous research with engaging storytelling including an account of the Patten ancestors coming to America from Isle Abbott, Somerset Shire (County), England; homesteading in the Dakota Territory; the Patten brothers’ mother (Anna Billotti/Billotte) coming to the Midwest from “Little Italy” in New York City on an orphan train; life on Iowa and Nebraska farms during the Depression; and Navy episodes and escapades. The book intertwines family lore narratives with historical battle accounts to amplify understanding of history and the Patten family. This is great story recounted with authority, insight and scholarship.     Clarence Floyd Patten, III (Col. U.S.M.C., retired) & Dale E. Sporleder collaborate to provide the reader with an intriguing account of their Patten uncles and grandfather. VJ retired from the Marine Corps with the rank of Colonel after serving 30 years. Dale is a corporate attorney and historian with a patriotic soul. Together they bring to life the human emotion and frailties behind great events during the 1920s in the rural Heartland, Depression years of the 1930s, and World War II. Their accounting is saturated with historical detail plus an engaging portrait of America as it was during the first half of the 20th Century.