Dickson County WWII veteran turns 98, remembers South Pacific service
Dallas Hudson, a resident of the Yellow Creek area in Dickson County for decades, started a business. He and wife Doris made a close-knit family together. He’s grown watermelons on the family’s nearly 50-acre farm and was known for “selling” them using the honor system.
Hudson has lived a good life, which was celebrated Thursday on his 98th birthday.
He is also among the roughly 200,000 World War II veterans still alive in the United States from the estimated 16 million people served.
Though a little hard of hearing, Hudson was able to communicate his memories and thoughts on nearing the century mark.
“I don’t know how to explain it. It’s good to be alive, I reckon,” Hudson said.
Hudson, who was born and raised in Humphreys County, moved to Dickson County after meeting his wife Doris, whose family also lived in the Yellow Creek area. She died in 2019 from lung cancer.
After working for a Clarksville construction company following the war, Hudson started his own Hudson Municipal Contractors business in 1981. The business, which his son Gary also joined, was a construction company for water and sewer treatment plants that lasted 35 years.
But before those years – when Gary and wife Christal and their four children would come along, settling on the family land – Dallas’ craftsman skills were recognized when he was drafted shortly after graduating from McEwen High School.
When asked about the Army or Navy, Hudson said “I didn’t know much about either one of them.”
“They said, ‘I am going to put you in the Navy.’ I said, ‘OK.,’” Hudson added.
He was stationed aboard the USS Manning, a DE-199 Destroyer escort ship.
“I was a carpenter mate on a steel ship,” Hudson said.
The ship was stationed in the South Pacific, “fighting Japanese,” he said.
Hudson became friends with his fellow sailors. He also fondly remembers the ship’s leader.
“We had a good captain. He told us if we got along together, and we kept a clean ship, he would give us every advantage he could,” Hudson said.
If possible, the sailors would be informed of an impending invasion so they could clean the ship and also clean themselves for a better chance of survival if woudn
Hudson recalls multiple ships being nearby at various times, sometimes “real close.” At his level, he said “you couldn’t tell which one was hit” during the fighting.
The USS Manning sailed from 1943 to 1945 when the Japanese surrendered.
Years later, Dallas and Doris would annually for more than 30 years attend reunions for the USS Manning, though Hudson said he doesn’t know of any surviving shipmates now.
Hudson’s mentality about his Dickson County community, and life overall, is represented in his decision to leave a cash jar unattended beside watermelons for sale.
“He told me one time that ‘People, for the most part, are good and honest,'” said his daughter-in-law, Christal Hudson, who was by his side.
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