Jimmy Patterson

Lt. James "Jimmy" Steven Patterson is the main character of the award-winning Medal of Honor franchise beginning with the original Medal of Honor in 1999 and later in a sequel Medal of Honor: Frontline in 2001. He has also appeared as a main character in Medal of Honor: Heroes.

Early life
James Steven Patterson was born on Armistice Day, November 11, 1919 in Carthage, Missouri.

College
James Patterson attended the University of Michigan where he excelled in most of his classes. The following transcript states the subjects he took, his professors, and his grades.

Dean: Hirschmen

Student Advisor: Dr. McDevitt

Student ID: TE 64-46

Patterson was an honor student and expected to go to Harvard, but instead shocked his family by going to West Point. He graduated third in his class and volunteered for the Army Air Corp.

Officer Candidate School
Upon entering the United States Army Air Corps, James Patterson applied and was accepted to Officer Candidate Training. The following is his official OCS Summary dated on May 20, 1942.

FIELD RATINGS:

SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS:

The end of the summary was pressed as RECOMMENDED, indicating a recommendation to whichever assignment James would choose. James had subsequently chosen the Army Air Corps.

First Encounter with the OSS
James Patterson's first encounter with the Office of Strategic Services occurred in November 1942. James was randomly chosen from a select few of officers from the Air Transport Command. His mission was to pilot a specially modified Northrop Alpha to an undisclosed German-controlled airfield in occupied North Africa. Upon his arrival his orders were to pick up an OSS operative who had just destroyed a fuel depot in anticipation of the upcoming invasion of North Africa known ironically as Operation Torch. His strict orders stated that he was not even allowed to look at the operative, as to keep the operative's identity secure. In fact, the operative was none other than Manon Batiste, whom he would later be working with upon his entrance into the OSS.

Assignment to the 101st Airborne
Lt. Patterson was assigned as pilot for the 101st "Screaming Eagles" and soon became a well respected pilot by the men of 4th Platoon. He was widely considered the best .45 shot on the base.

D-Day minus One
On the night of June 5th, 1944 Lt. James Patterson, now twenty four years old, flew his over-laden C-47 transport plane over the Contentin Peninsula in order to drop the 4th Platoon over it's drop zone.

Once the last paratrooper left the C-47, Patterson turned around and made his way home. Unfortunately his plane was attacked by German fighters. With one engine burning and a hole in the tail of plane, James crash-landed his plane into an open field bound by the hedgerows of Normandy. James and four of his crewmen survived. However C-47 planes only carry a crew of three so the number is a goof.

Battle through the Night
Immediately after crashing, a group of German soldiers arrived investigating the crash, James killed six of them with his Colt .45 as he and his fellow crewmen retreated into the darkness. Armed with his pistol, an M1 Garand and a few grenades, James and his men continued towards the coast, taking out a few Wehrmacht checkpoints along the way.

Encounter with the Resistance
Running low on ammunition and determination, Patterson and his men were finally found by the French Resistance group the Maquis, led by none other than Manon Batiste herself. The Maquis had then agreed to help Patterson and his men reach their lines. The resistance group escorted them to a small port city just north of Quinéville on the Eastern Edge of the Peninsula where they boarded a fishing trawler.

Arrival onboard the USS Thomas Jefferson
After navigating through miles of German mine-studded waters they final reached the Allied Armada. James and his men were taken aboard the USS Thomas Jefferson,a transport ship carrying members of 116th Infantry Division. Despite his harrowing ordeal which would earn him a foreclaimed Medal of Honor, James came to terms with the fact that the invasion would require the efforts of every able bodied man on the vessel, James decided to return to France with the 116th.

D-Day
In the morning of June 6, 1944 James and the men of the 116th Infantry Division were loaded off of the USS Thomas Jefferson and on to a Higgins boat for the pending invasion. As the landing craft made its way to the beach James looked around at his comrades-in-arms and prepared for his finest hour.

His Finest Hour
Upon approaching the beach, Jimmy's Higgins Boat is blown from the water. After nearly drowning to death he moves onto the bloodied beachfront of Omaha beach. There he encounters one of the 116th's captain, instructs him to complete several tasks including rescuing fellow soldiers, cross a minefield, and assaulting the front infantry positions fo the Atlantic Wall in front of the them.

Into the Breach
Soon after capturing the front infantry positions, Jimmy and his squad secure them. However they are pinned down and are badly outnumbered. The captain, knowing full well Jimmy's capabilities sends him alone int the massive German bunker complex dug deep into the beach. Inside Jimmy must fight through the bunker and finally mark them with smoke grenades to signal Allied planes where to aim their shells. Outside of the bunker, as the shelling begins, the captain tells him that his Division is moving on, but command is assigning him a special mission.

Rescue the G3 Officer
A few days after D-Day, Jimmy receives word from the OSS. He meets Colonel Hargrove who informs him of the OSS's interest in him. He is then given orders to locate a G3 officer who has been shot down. The officer is carrying crucial documents that must not fall into enemy hands. Jimmy is forced to fight through the fields of France until finding the G3 officer's plane. With no officer in sight, Jimmy decides to check out the nearby town of Dubuisson, a small French burgh that also houses a Maquis hideout. After arriving at the hideout, he finds it empty with the exception of the dead G3 officer. After taking the officer's attache case, Jimmy then heads down to the sewers to escape. However the sewers are crawling with Germans soldiers who quickly pursue him. Jimmy just barely manages to exit the sewers and returns with the documents to Allied lines.

Destroy the Mighty Railgun Greta
In July the German Army finishes construction on Greta, a huge railway cannon. Greta begins firing shells onto the English Channel. Well hidden and mobile, the cannon escapes several RAF bombing raids. With time slipping away, the OSS quickly dispatches Jimmy to destroy the cannon. Donning a German officer's uniform, Jimmy infiltrates a train station and follows it's rails towards Greta. After arriving at a small canyon Jimmy finds Greta. After dispatching the guards around it he quickly mounts several explosive charges and flees as Greta explodes.

Scuttle Das Boot
In late July, the OSS uncovers the designs for a new German U-boat. This U-Boat, far more silent, reliable and with longer range poses a deep threat to the Allies. Jimmy is soon dispatched to destroy the submarine and all materials attaining to it. Jimmy, disguised this time as a Kriegsmarine sailor, travels aboard the merchant ship Wolfram, one of the largest ships in the German Merchant fleet. While onboard the ship Wolfram Jimmy sabotages the ships engines and makes his escape. Making his way through the shipyard Jimmy also manages to steal the engine specs and the hull blueprints for the submarine. He then infiltrates the submarine and awaits as it heads out to see. Some miles away from the coast, He radios the HMS Belfast and forces the submarine to surface, then heads to the deck to signal the HMS Belfast.

Storm in the Port
In late August, The "special mission" turns out to be an assault on the German shipyards at Lorient, France. He is airdropped into Saint-Mathieu, where he must sneak onto a U-Boat docked for supplies. As he moves through the city, he comes across some fellow paratroopers of the 101st Airborne as they fight among the ruins of the city. Once he has made it across the town, he then infiltrates a docked U-boat and rides the submarine all the way to Lorient. Upon his arrival at Lorient, Jimmy then infiltrates the yard, destroying all of the subs docked and under repair, as well as destroying the yard's fuel station. However, along the way, he has an encounter with a German Commander named Rudolf Von Sturmgeist, who would prove to be more than a little important before this tale is done...

Attack on the Impenetrable Fort Schmerzen
In early September, 1944 the Allies have broke through Normandy and have liberated most of France. With the pending invasion of Germany coming, one thing still remains a threat: the impenetrable Fort Schmerzen. To make the situation worse, the Germans have an obsolete Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber outside of the fort. Unable to determine what is going on inside of the base and seeing that it has to be taken out anyway, Colonel Hargrove assigns Jimmy to infiltrate the base and find out what is going on, and to do a little sabotage. Jimmy manages to successfully destroy the Stuka and infiltrate the base, only to find to his horror that the Germans are producing Mustard gas to dispense when the Allies attack the fort. Horrified by the thought, Jimmy quickly sabotages the two main valves, causing the gas to fill the fort killing all but Jimmy who is donning a gas mask.

Needle in a Haystack
A distress call comes into the OSS: one of their undercover agents, a man named Gerrit, is urgently requesting extraction, claiming to have important information. Unfortunately, he was captured, and is being held at a German manorhouse. Colonel Hargrove, his superior, orders Jimmy to take advantage of the undergoing Operation Market Garden, and parachute into the Netherlands to extract the informant. The mission begins in the grassy countryside, and Jimmy and fellow soldier Corporal Barnes must fight their way among the famous Dutch windmills that adorn the landscape. They find a soldier who got separated from his squad. The scene then shifts to the adjacent town. Jimmy must sabotage the enemy's motorpool and sneak into the local pub, the Golden Lion, where a member of the Dutch resistance will smuggle him into the manorhouse. A furious gunbattle erupts as Jimmy struggles to get Gerrit out alive. Ultimately, he is successful, and Gerrit discloses to the OSS that Germany is working on a revolutionary new type of fighter plane called the HO-IX that could turn the tide of the war.

Several Bridges Too Far
In mid September 1944, Jimmy is oreder to put a stop to Sturmgeist's plot. The good news is, the OSS arranges for him to meet an informant who can get him close to Sturmgeist. The bad news is, the informant is in the middle of Arnhem, a city right on the frontlines of Market Garden. He must fight his way across the titular Nijmegen Bridge after which the American forces quickly capture it. He then arrives and fights through the relatively calm suburbs of Arnhem and hooks up with a group of British paratroopers stuck in the war-torn heart of the city. Through infantry, tanks, and the dreaded Panzerschreck squads, Jimmy makes his way to a local customshouse to meet his informant.

Rolling Thunder
The story picks up again in late September 1944, in Emmerich, a German city near the border, close to Düsseldorf. The informant he rendezvoused with in Arnhem is able to get him close to Sturmgeist's personal armored train, which should take him directly to the Ho IX production base. Since the location of the Ho IX fighter facility is heavily classified, Jimmy has to sneak into the local train station and board Sturmgeist's personal train, and ride it out of the city to the production base. Jimmy ocne again dons the uniform of a German officer and approaches the train station, only to have his cover blown by the uniforms' half naked previous owner. With his cover gone, Jimmy is forced to fight his way through the train station in the midst of an Allied bombing raid and board Sturmgeist's train. From there, the action shifts to an all out assault on Sturmgeist's private ranks, including his "escort" trains. However, Sturmgeist manages to escape by decoupling the train from the engine, which he then rides out on. The bulk of the train comes to a rest near the industrial town of Friedrichsroda. Jimmy must battle through the trainyards until he finally finds the Ho IX production facility located in a disused mine shaft adjacent to the town of Gotha.

The Horten's Nest
Jimmy manages to sneak into the production plant via the ventilation system, fighting through bleak concrete corridors and destroying whatever sensitive German construction materials he can get his hands on. He gets the opportunity to ride a mine cart out of the facility, in one of the most thrilling rail shooter sequences seen in an FPS, and onto the runway proper. Through forests, fields, trenches, and bunkers, Jimmy finally gets to his goal: the brand new Ho IX fighter. After a final shootout with Rudolf Von Sturmgeist and his bodyguards, Jimmy hops into the Ho IX and rides it out of the facility as Allied bombing reduces the complex to rubble. He then goes on a long deserved vacation, but Colonel Hargrove tells that he'll be calling on him again shortly.

The Rjukan Hydro Plant
In December 1944, Jimmy is sent to Norway to stop the German's heavy water production. After infiltrating the Rjukan Hydro Plant, Jimmy has to destroy several key components of the German's heavy water production including the destruction of the power station, various valves, the motor pool, the ferry, the flowing switches and even the water itself.

Capture the Secret German Treasure
In January, 1945 the OSS receives word of where the Germans have been holding their stolen treasures from all across Europe. Once again Jimmy is sent into Austria to prevent the Germans from destroying the salt mine near the town of Altaussee and the stolen art located inside the mine, recapturing some of the greatest arts in history.

Destroy the V-2 Rocket
In February, 1945 Jimmy is sent to Germany for one last time to destroy a German V-2 rocket & destroying the whole rocket facility in the process. In addition, Jimmy also destroys various controls, and capturing V-1 target lists, scientist rosters and schematics for the V-2.

Trivia
All of the listed "Professors" Patterson had in college in fact are members of the Medal of Honor crew. For example Kraber, Patterson's German Professor, is named after Eric Kraber, the chief sound engineer for Frontline.

Jimmy never talks in the games he has appeared in. One of the soldiers he encounters in Medal of Honor: Frontline asks him a question and when Jimmy doesn't answer, he says "Good, I'll take your silence for a yes. Go, get him sport."

In Medal of Honor: Frontline at the Emmerich train station, the Germans have put up wanted posters of Patterson. Apparently the Allied agent is worth 5,000 marks. Ironically, one of the posters is behind a soldier and when Jimmy (while undercover) meets the soldier, he does not recognize Jimmy.

Medal of Honor: Heroes reveals that Manon and Jimmy eventually start dating towards the end of the war and that he proposed to her. It does not reveal whether she accepted.