Pap's War — Eugene Dutton and the SeaBees
By Dutton Family
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Eugene "Pap" Dutton was born in 1915, the son of Leonard and Lelia Hash Dutton, farmers in Southwest Virginia. When World War II came, he joined the Navy SeaBees and served in the South Pacific.
He was among the thousands of servicemen scheduled to invade Japan — an operation with expected massive casualties. He wrote a farewell letter to his wife Mary Elizabeth in case he didn't make it home.
President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs ended the war before the invasion, saving Pap's life. He always supported Truman's decision.
Without it, his son Michael Leonard would never have been born — and neither would any of us.