By Alabama Public Radio
Rainsville, AL – A Rainsville woman now knows how her brother died 60 years ago during WWII. Rae Bryant says, for years, her family was only told that her brother, Melvin Patterson, died in combat in the Philippines. But Bryant says she recently received a letter from Brother Raphael Ruffolo, who lives in Illinois. Ruffolo was a Franciscan friar and was Patterson's platoon sergeant during the war. Bryant says, in the letter, Ruffolo explained that Patterson died several days after being shot in the stomach when he was ambushed by Japanese machine gun fire.