The newspaper reports Duncan Paterson as the youngest of five Paterson brothers from Milton, all of whom enlisted. Other newspaper reports indicate he was killed (by a large shell suffering no pain) during the shove on Lens, as his unit was on Hill 70. The report goes on to indicate the difficulty they had in extracting the body, however they did accomplish that feat and buried him in a small cemetery nearby. Duncan's brother John Paterson Jr. survived the war with the loss of a leg.

It appears that Corporal Paterson first received a slight gun shot wound to his leg in February 1916.  He received a second severe gun shot wound  in the right leg and thigh on October 1916 at Courcelette.  He was hospitalized until the end of January 1917. He was finally mortally wounded on August 17, 1917, just a month after his promotion.