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Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson

The Christian godfather of the Israeli Army

The godfather of Yonni Netanyahu

By Jerry Klinger

When Patterson died not one newspaper eulogized his passing. Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, who had served in the Jewish Legion, never mentioned Patterson, not even in his autobiography. Ben Gurion was not atypical of politicians interested in the promotion of their own legacy, their own memory. He was not interested in promoting Pattersons role because without Patterson, Ben Gurion would have been at best a footnote of obscure history.

Things were moving very fast after the birth of Israel. There was little time to focus on the dead. It was to the living that attention was paid. It was to the defense of newborn Israel by Jewish defense forces faced with extermination by seven invading Arab armies intent on Jewish death that attention had to be paid.

The Pattersons resting place slipped into forgetfulness for sixty-seven years. His final wishes unfulfilled. The respect, honor and dignity they deserved undelivered.

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How was the Colonels last request fulfilled? The story certainly lacks the breath or color of the Colonels life. Stories behind the events are usually forgotten, at best dull footnotes. The story of the Colonels return is a little window, a very little window, into the changed and changing world of Zionism and Israel. Perhaps, the first question anyone should ask is, why did it take 67 years to do what was right?

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August 31, 2010

Dear Findagrave member,

My name is Jerry Klinger.I was very excited to note that you created a page for Col. John Henry Patterson. At the end of the bio - you noted that his remains were cremated along with his wife and transported to Israel.  I am researching his life.  Can you tell me the source of the information and who Marion Travis of Bel Air was? 

Todd wrote back.

Hello Jerry...nice to meet you. 

Funny you wrote me today, I just happen to be home (under the weather).  Where are you located? (I'm in Toronto, Canada).

What brought the Colonel to your attention?  I get a lot of inquiries about this bio...including some from Israel.

 FYI, I am no historical expert by any means, just somebody who found the Colonel to be an interesting man who I wanted to know more about.  Most people know him from the 1996 movie "The Ghost and the Darkness", which says nothing of his life after 1898 when he completed the bridge at Tsavo. 

You can find reference to the return of Col. Patterson's cremated remains (along with those of his wife) being sent to Palestine (now Israel) on page 174 of the book "Mad for Zion: A Biography of Colonel J.H. Patterson, published in 2004 (in England) by Patrick Streeter

The book lists no location for the remains, and I believe I took the reference of the location being unknown from an internet reference 

As to the reference to Marion Travis - the Travis's were a wealthy Lithuanian Jewish family who resided in Bel Air, California.  They were friends of the Colonel and Marion (one of the family daughters) offered Col. Patterson a room in their home during the final three years of his life, as his wife was now in need of permanent nursing home care and he was 77 years old with health issues. 

Hope this information is helpful to you.  It has been a pleasure to confer with you on this Jerry, and I wish you the all the best in your research.  If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,

Todd Young

I wrote back:

Greetings Todd,
 
Thank you for the quick response.  My interest in Patterson came because I was looking for subjects to write about for the Jerusalem Post Christian Edition.  I write for them.  Patterson's life is one of those that are bigger than life.

Perhaps the thing that brought his life in dramatic moment for me was in Jerusalem when I looked at the King David Tower rampart that General Allenby stood upon when he formally took possession of Jerusalem in Dec. 1917.

Kevin Crombie, wrote about that moment in his book, Anzacs, Empires and Israel's Restoration 1798-1948. (Ironic, it was the story of the British response to the Balfour Declaration over the next thirty years.) "While all these proceedings were taking place, a young New Zealand soldier, Louis Salek (he was Jewish), carrying a Zionist flag given to him by Jewish people in Cairo prior to his departure, ascended to the top of the Tower of David.  There he daringly flew the Jewish flag to be seen by all. It was greeted with enthusiasm by the Jewish observers and with disdain and anger by the Moslem, and was quickly taken down by order of the British Authorities.  It violated the guidelines laid down by the War Office.  This was quite an amazing day to complete the day's proceedings: A New Zealander from the uttermost ends of the earth, wearing an Australian uniform, and flying the Jewish flag from the Citadel of David - the very building left standing by the Romans in 70 CE. to testify to the end of Jewish national life in the Land of Israel. 
 
Patterson was a key part of Allenby's senior leadership as commander of the Jewish Legion.
 
The ins and outs of history are fascinating to me. I am involved with a number of projects in Israel, curiously, because of an interest in final resting places, from the Exodus '47 and Rev. John Stanley Grauel, to Reverend William Hechler, to Captain Stephen T. Norman, to Rev. William E. Blackstone, amongst others.

I did not know of the Mad for Zion book and will try to obtain a copy.  I ordered a copy of a 2008 history of Patterson this morning (The Seven Lives of Colonel Patterson: how an Irish lion hunter led the Jewish Legion to victory by Denis Brian),  as well as Pattersons two books on the Gallipoli experience with the Zion Mule Corps and the later Jewish Legion book.  The issue crossed my thoughts, where was his resting place?  Where did his cremains finally end up?  Who honored him, why did he choose Israel, on and on.  Each question led to another question Imagination gets carried away with a romanticization of the story vs. the reality of present day politics. 
  
Thank you for efforts and responsiveness,
 
Jerry

The Denis Brian book came. I read it and Alans afterword.

My friendship and partnership with Todd began.

Contacting Denis Brian, I asked, how can I reach Alan Patterson? Denis had no idea. Explaining the problem to Todd, he search and located a probable email for Alan. He reached out to Alan first. Then I wrote to Alan explaining that I knew how to help him with his final responsibility to his grandfather and grandmother. We met in Boston, Alans hometown. Alan gave me the go ahead. He only had a vague idea where his grandparents cremains were. He had been to the cemetery only once as a small child.

Todd and I worked closely together over the years ahead, a Jew and a Christian in common purpose. First, we needed to locate the cremains. It was Todds sleuthing that found them in Los Angeles. He thought they might be at the Angeles-Rosedale cemetery in Los Angeles. I called the cemetery director, Karen Washington and asked. She looked up records and confirmed that the Colonel and Mrs. Patterson were indeed there.

I flew to Los Angeles to obtain a copy of the last will of Colonel Patterson from the Los Angeles Department of Records, meet Karen Washington and see the location of the cremains.

The Israeli link needed to be forged.

Beit HaGedudim is located in the Moshav of Avihayil.

Jewish Legion Museum Beit HaGedudim

The museums approach is lined with World War I artillery pieces. The courtyard has two bigger than life busts, one of Vladimir Jabotinsky the second of Joseph Trumpeldor. The first exhibit, upon entering the museum, is of Colonel Patterson. The Colonels dress uniform complete with his sword that Alan Patterson had donated honorably presented. Nearby is a life sized display of the Zion Mule Corps.

Pattersons Uniform Zion Mule Corps exhibit

Rachel Silko is the director of the museum. I spoke with her at length about the effort asking for help.

It took a while. Rachel got back to me with the name of Ezekiel Sivak. Ezekiel was indeed a key contact for the Moshav. He made some preliminary inquiries and said that the Moshav might consider the re-interment of the Colonel. I flew back to Israel to meet with Ezekiel as soon as possible.

Ezekiel lives on the Moshav. They have a lovely single family home graced by huge trees that must have been planted when the Moshav was founded. His wifes grandfather was an officer under Patterson. Sitting on his rooftop veranda with a view of the Judean Hills just seven miles away, we discussed the project. Ezekiel was a kindred spirit. He too recognized the significant opportunity to bring the final respect and fulfill a debt of honor to Colonel Patterson could be.

Ezekiel became the Israeli counterpart for the Patterson project. With unending zeal, focus, sacrifice and determination, he dedicated himself to it. The project never could have been completed without him.

Ezekiel felt very strongly that the reburial of the Colonel should not occur without the Prime Minister being present. I was more circumspect.

Things did not go smoothly or quickly. There were repeated bumps, starts, stops and near disasters over the years. Slowly, painfully slowly, progress was made.

I built coalitions of interest and support for the effort outside of Israel among tribal and non-tribal members. Ezekiel worked inside of Israel.

To ease the problems of communication and operation, Alan gave me his power of attorney in November 2013. It was an important level of trust. It made all the difference.

Ezekiel broke through in Israel. February 2014, the Prime Minister signed on to the project. He assigned Ronen Peretz from his office to the effort.

American Jews and Israeli Jews are all part of the same tribe. It can be frustrating because of cultural differences. Americans are used to immediacy and responsiveness. Israelis can be insular, myopic, and frequently uncommunicative.

I returned in March. Two objectives needed to be clarified. They were not being addressed any other way.

The Patterson project was multidimensional from my perspective. It opened up doors of opportunity internationally that Israelis could not or would not grasp for a number of reasons.

Over the years, I have periodically written about Christian Zionists who have been central to the creation of Israel. The stories I wrote about in the pages of the Jerusalem Post and the Jerusalem Post Christian Edition shared how some Christians played key roles, catalysts, in the creation of the modern state of Israel. Writing for a Christian Zionist magazine was a curious situation for me. I had been a Yeshivah student. My parents were Holocaust survivors. And I had served in the IDF.

My discovery of Christians was exactly that a discovery. Like most Jews, I little knew about Christians. The one and only lesson I had gotten at home and from the Rabbis about Christians was stay away. Perhaps, God decided otherwise for me.

Emek Refaim Street runs through Jerusalems German Colony. There is a Christian Cemetery along the street at a T junction with Rachel Emot. It is the Alliance Cemetery.

Cemeteries are outdoor museums. Understanding how a society remembers its dead is a portal on how that society honors its past and defines its values. The gates to the Alliance were almost always closed. One evening they were open. Not being a Cohen, I went in and discovered the gravesite of Reverend John Stanley Grauel.

John Grauel had been a crew member of the famous Aliyah Bet ship the Exodus. He had been more than a crew member. It was his testimony before the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine that crucially tipped the scales for the United Nations Partition resolution creating Israel. Until his testimony, the committee refused to hear why the Jews were trying to get to Palestine. Golda Meir said about him, he did what no Jew could do. Because he was a Christian, and a minister of God, his testimony carried much more weight than the same testimony by a Jew.

The Hebrew on Grauels tombstone reads Yohanan ha Komer John the Priest. Grauel was not a priest. He was a Methodist Minister. In Hebrew there are no words to distinguish between different Christian religious leaders such as Priest, Minister, Reverend and Pastor.

Israels birth narrative pretty much omits recognizing and honoring non-Jews who did things that no Jew could do. It rubs against the pioneer myth of we did it all by ourselves. It is a failing that rightfully needs to be corrected.

David Parsons is the communications director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. They are not an Embassy of a country but an embassy of millions and millions of Christians who have a strong, religious based tie to support Israel. No country maintains an Embassy in Jerusalem today. No one is willing to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel and the center of the Jewish world. The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem does, and does what no Christian country in the world will do, recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people.

When I told David about the Patterson project four years ago, his face lit up. The Patterson project was going to be the first time that the Jewish State was going to honor a Christian on a State level. It was very important. Immediately I realized it was a major opportunity for Israel.

Fundamentalist Christian Zionist supporters of Israel and Israel itself are under attack in the anti-religious secularizing world of the West. They need friends and we need friends. We need them and they need us for different reasons. Only the navest Israeli or Jew believes that Israel can go it alone against the U.N.. Europe with its resurfaced, anti-Semitism rupturing from historic roots and infected anew by a burgeoning un-assimilated Muslim population nurtured on hate, just cannot be ignored. Israel has considerable prowess and ability. But Israel is tiny. Israel needs monies, political support and military aid. Israel needs non-Jewish support and friendship.

I met Ronen Peretz, the Prime Ministers aide for the Patterson project, at the Crown Plaza in Jerusalem. Ronen did not know me nor had he communicated with me previously. I was just another outsider, another American interfering in their planning. Getting to him took back door maneuvering using friends of the Prime Ministers Chief of Staff. There were two messages to Ronen from an outside Israel view.

The first was that the Patterson story needs to be emphasized, as Patterson himself did to the world. Jews have a right to defend themselves. They have a need and a right to an army.

The second message was more difficult. The Patterson story is very important to Christians. They very much want to be included in the return when it happens. It was important to Israel and them in common because it was a Christian who was the father of the IDF. We have an opportunity to build stronger ties.

Ronen listened. I could tell he had been presented with a concept, a dimension of the Patterson story, an opportunity that had not been understood or considered Christian- Jewish commonality for Israel. It was not that he was against including Christians in the narrative being unfolded. It was that in the insular world of Jewish life and Israeli myopia he did not know how best to handle it. It was an internal political mine field for Israel. He, like most Israelis and Jews, did not know the story of Christian friendship for Israel. When it came to decision time, he made the right decision. The Christians were included.

The meeting ended with promises of being in open communication. I went back to the States and was again placed on a need to know basis only. Passover changed everything. Disaster struck. It was not to be the last disaster before Colonel Patterson could finally come home.

The Angelus Rosedale cemetery had been sold to new owners. The power of attorney and the documents we had submitted were reviewed by the new cemetery attorney. It was his opinion that Alan did not have authority over his grandparents cremains. I had the attorneys opinion reviewed by ours from the Ministry of Defense in New York. Victor sadly agreed. Alan, the way the law read, may not have the authority over the cremains. I got the email from Victor as I sat down with the family for the first nights Passover Seder. I would have to go to court in California to get Alan control of his grandparents cremains. If I failed, it was over.

As soon as Passover ended, I called my contact at the Israeli Consulate in LA. They could do nothing, or would do nothing. They knew no Zionist attorney I could call and had no budget to help. Shortly, they made things even worse. The entire Foreign Ministry, including the Consulate, went out on strike.

The Angelus-Rosedale attorney recommended an attorney I could hire. I called. He wanted a retainer of $10,000. It might be more, depending upon the amount of work.

Stewing on it overnight, I remembered a friend in Los Angeles. I had flown out to attend some of her programs and contributed to her efforts. Doris Wise Montrose is an incredible lady who runs, by virtual force of her being, an organization, Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. They are in the middle of the lunatic leftist, California Jewish liberal world an island of Conservative Jewish thought. They are supporters of Jabotinsky and Likud. I called Doris.

We talked. I told her about the project and the problem, emphasizing that everything must be kept quiet. We were doing everything under my name and my society, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP). I would not attract attention. Israel would. Doris knew Israel has many enemies out there who haunt the courts.

JASHP would pay for an outside attorney if necessary, I told her. Surely there had to be a Zionist attorney in Los Angeles who would help us? Doris said she will get back to me.

Doris set to work making calls to her more ardent supporters, including a member of the California court. She was confident it would not be difficult to find a Zionist to represent us. Days went by. I called her.

She had contacted three solid Zionists. Not one of them got back to me. She was stunned. I was disappointed and prepared to hire the cemetery recommended attorney, time was running. There still was one person she could try she said. She asked me to be patient for one more day.

The next day, I was called by Myrna Strapp. She and her husband are attorneys in L.A. I explained the nature of the problem and shared with her what I needed to do. Myrna, without a moment of hesitation, said she will help. She and her husband are deep admirers of Jabotinsky. She quoted a few lines from Shmuel Katzs biography of Jabotinsky, Lone Wolf. Myrna told me she would represent us pro-bono because it is her privilege, her duty, to help as a Zionist. Her words were music to a heart already straining at how weak the support of American Zionists had become.

In the next few weeks, Myrna jumped in preparing the court papers and a petition to the Superior Court of California seeking a ruling on the meaning of California law. She interacted with Victor in New York. I connected her to Alan. The documents were prepared with my name as the lead. I covered the expenses. Buried in the documents was our plan to bring the cremains to Israel.

I kept Jerusalem apprised. Except for Ezekiel in Avihayil and Victor in New York, there was no response from Israel. We pushed ahead. My number at the Consul Generals office no longer worked. They were on strike.

Mid June we went to court. Myrna had prepared everything as best as she could. This type of law was not her neck of the woods. Myrna presented her petition. The judge considered the evidence, the question of law and the right of custody. He ruled... He ruled against us. We had lost.

Jerusalem was informed. We lost.

Prime Minister Netanyahu received two items of bad news that day. Three teenagers had been kidnapped and brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists. And he was told we lost in court.

Myrna did not stop with the loss. Her redheaded temperament must have been set ablaze. She questioned the judge to the point of antagonism, why did he rule against us. His ruling did leave a small door open to appeal. She knew the next time, at the appeal process, we will have another judge. The next one will not be aware of what we are doing. Every point of objection would have a response.

The next time we could file was mid- July. She would be ready.

July 8, 2014.

Continued rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel, compounded by the murder of the three teens with fresh intelligence that Hamas had built an incredible labyrinth of death tunnels into Israel, made immediate action imperative. Hamas intended to emerge stealth-fully from the tunnels, killing as many Jews as possible. Women, children, old people, it did not matter to Hamas as long as they killed Jews.

Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the Israel Defense Forces into action.

The Gaza war raged ferociously. It was a war of Jewish self-defense against Palestinian determined murderers indiscriminately raining thousands of missiles into Israel with no military objective except terror and death. The purpose that Colonel Patterson had spent his life fighting for was the right of Jews to defend themselves. Israel had an army. Israel was using that army.

A week later we went back to court. We had a new judge who heard the revised petition and weighed the evidence. The judge did not respond with a yes or no. She took her time and wrote out a three page opinion that considered the evidence. The weight of the evidence, the preponderance of the evidence that Myrna prepared, shifted the opinion of the new judge. She ruled in our favor. We had won.

The Prime Minister was informed by Ronen. In the midst of everything, the Prime Minister took a few moments to savor the victory in a faraway Los Angeles courtroom. Colonel Patterson was coming home.

Until Colonel Patterson was in Israel, anything could happen. Los Angeles has a large Muslim population who were celebrating the missiles from Gaza into Israel. They would not celebrate if they knew that the Godfather of the Israeli Army was coming home just at the moment when he was needed to help the Jews again. The strike at the Foreign Ministry had ended. We had help on the ground. We had to keep everything secret.

I informed Karen Washington that we had had a positive ruling from the court. She checked with her boss and we got the go ahead. I asked her to file the documents she needed to with the Los Angeles Health Department. She sent me the papers to sign. The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation paid all the fees. Los Angeles OKd the papers for me to remove the cremains.

Alan was informed that we were transferring the cremains and would have a dignified program of reburial once the problems over there had settled down. He told me he understood.

Mid-August, Ezekiel and Ronen came to Los Angeles. Prime Minister Netanyahu had decided to commit ground troops to destroy the death tunnels into Israel that Hamas had built with so much diverted treasure and resources intended to help the Palestinian people. Netanyahu had no choice. He had to stop the missiles.

August 14

Ronen, Ezekiel, myself, the Consul General of Israel, David Siegel, joined 1,000 mourners at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills. It was a service for Max Steinberg. Max was a Los Angeles Jew who had volunteered to the IDF. He felt it his duty, his responsibility to help defend the Jewish people from those who intended to kill them. Max became an elite member of the Golani 13 brigade. He was killed July 19 in Gaza when his armored vehicle was destroyed by a missile. Max was 24 years old. He was a Hayal Boded, a lone soldier.

Lone soldier are Jewish volunteers from around the world who come to Israel to be part of the IDF. They usually have no family in Israel. Their family in Israel is Israel. At Maxs funeral over 30,000 Israelis came to honor him. Max did his duty for the Jewish people everywhere. He paid with his life.

Columbarium

August 15, 8:30am

The next morning, all of us assembled outside the Columbarium at the Angelus-Rosedale cemetery. A small symbolic service was held to transfer the cremains to the Government of Israel. We all stood together between the flags of Israel and the United States. Ezekiel brought with him the flag of the Jewish Legion. A Consulate photographer took our pictures for the record. No speeches were made. They were not necessary. Emotion and meaning filled the air instead of words. The Diplomats took possession of the cremains and returned to the Consul Generals office on Wilshire Blvd.

The Colonel was under the protection of the Israeli government.

Later that afternoon, we had a small private meeting with David Siegel at the Consuls office. Myrna and I were presented with personal letters from the Prime Minister.

In the morning, Ronen and Ezekiel escorted the Colonel and Mrs. Patterson to Israel on an El-Al Jet. El-Al had the only non-stop flight to Israel. Air travel to Israel was just coming back. A few weeks earlier, the Federal Aviation Administration had banned all American air carriers from flying to Israel. The Europeans hurriedly followed suit. Ironically, Russian Airlines and Egyptian Air ignored the ban and continued flying to Israel.

The Colonel and Mrs. Patterson arrived on the 17^th, Erev Shabbat. The War was still going on. The Ministry of Defense met Ronen and Ezekiel. We were told to wait quietly until instructions come from Jerusalem.

Two months later, to my surprise, the story was released to the media with a photograph taken outside the Columbarium of Israelis receiving the cremains. I had been cropped out. The Israeli media carried the story announcing that the reburial program will be early November. They described the return as entirely a Israeli project. I was irritated, chagrined and satisfied.

December 4, 2014 The Reburial

The return was a combined effort of Americans, Canadians, Israelis, Jews and Christians. Colonel Patterson rested at the head of the men he commanded. His wishes were fulfilled. The reburial, delayed quite a few times, was complete.

There were two ceremonies. The first was a small private one of about 75 special guests at the gravesite. The second ceremony was held at the Beit HaGedudim museum for a short list of 300.

Between the two ceremonies, I had the opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister privately. Ronen had arranged the meeting so I could give the Prime Minister a series of recommendations to improve Israeli-Christian Zionist relations.

The Israeli media pretty much ignored the reburial program and its significance. Remembering the past to shape the future was old news that did not sell papers well. They had told the story, garbled and inaccurately, in October. They did not want to do it again, accurately.

David Parson (ICEJ) Presenting Medallion to PM Netanyahu

There were successes and failures. The Christians were included at the ceremony. The International Christian Embassy presented a specially commissioned art work by the noted Israeli artist and sculptor Sam Phillipe to Prime Minister Netanyahu. It was a replica, in Gold and Silver, of the original Zion Mule Corps Medallion.

More International Christian Zionist organizations attended than International Zionist organizations. The British Zionists were proudly represented with dignity by Andrew Balcombe. The one failure I did have internationally was I could not get a single American Zionist Organization to attend or express any interest.

I sat behind the Prime Minister, the British Ambassador and the Irish Ambassador. The American Ambassador was unable to attend.

The opportunities that were opened, broadening the narrative and building fresh bridges of friendship, were only partially taken. The Prime Minister had to focus on reelection. His government collapsed the day before the program. New elections are called for March. Legitimately, attention to the opportunities opened by the Patterson reburial story will have to wait.

What will be the legacy of the Colonel Patterson return? Greater commonality and understanding with our friends in the non-Jewish worldthat has yet to be determined. The unreserved trumpeted responses to terrorism - we will defend ourselves -was heard loud and clear around the world.

Colonel Patterson must have smiled.

After sixty-seven years in Galut, Colonel and Mrs. Patterson had come home.

Jerry Klinger is the President of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.
www.JASHP.org.

Bibliography:

Netanyahu Speech Hebrew and English - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvmf04uBQoE

The Seven Lives of Colonel Patterson Denis Brian

Mad for Zion Patrick Streeter

Lone Wolf Shmuel Katz

War and Hope, A History of the Jewish Legion, Elias Gilner

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=S&artid=218

The Story of the Jewish Legion, Jabotinsky

6 Officers, 2 Lions, and 750 Mules, Yanky Fachler -->