Patrick O'Keefe is a former paratrooper and replacement, who served with Easy Company.
Bibliography[]
Background[]
Patrick was born April 3, 1926 in Northampton, Massachusetts. When the war was underway, O'Keefe enlisted but was only shipped out for service by 1945.
He served with Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. As a replacement, he arrived in Germany, eager to see action. He was present when the 506th liberated Landsberg Concentration Camp, this scene is documented in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. He was portrayed by Matt Hickey.
In Band of Brothers[]
O'Keefe is first seen alongside Sergeant Frank Perconte. They are going to take over duty of a machine gun position surveying a possible German controlled site, albeit with little but movement.
O'Keefe quickly busies himself tidying the area up and prepares the machine gun while Perconte keeps getting his name wrong as he orders the private to stop bothering him. O'Keefe begins to sing while looking down the sight on the machine gun, causing Perconte to tell him off. O'Keefe corrects him yet again about his last name, infuriating Perconte who proceeds to explain why no one remembers his name--because he's a replacement who, like the rest of them, wants to see action but they all end up being wounded and beg for their mother. This unsettles O'Keefe who goes quiet and leaves the machine gun still. Perconte sits next to him, confessing he hasn't seen home in over two years.
When the company is moving out to another town, O'Keefe joins in the singing but is mocked by the others for his high voice. Perconte also gets his name wrong again while mocking him. While they are driving, O'Keefe sees a Belgian officer execute three Nazis mercilessly, making O'Keefe uneasy despite how calm the other soldiers are.
O'Keefe is present when the company find a concentration camp that the Nazis kept Jews, Poles, and Gypsies in. He is greatly saddened and cries, realizing the horrors of war. (Why We Fight)
After the war[]
O'Keefe died in his hometown of Rockville on February 8, 2003