Dale Towers

We lost one of the greatest members of the greatest generation of all time. Our dad, Dale Elliott Towers passed away on February 2, 2021. He was born on August 8, 1923 in Aurora Missouri to Fred and Eula Towers. His early life was completely different to what we and our children experienced. His home had no running water, indoor plumbing, or electricity. He attended a one room school that covered first grade through 8th grade. His high school was the first time he attended a school with more than one room. After graduating from High School, he entered Springfield State College majoring in Business Administration. As an example of his work ethic, he went to school during the day while working for the Frisco Railroad Monday through Friday from 10PM to 6AM. After taking a full load of 5 classes he would go home, sleep for 4 hours, wake to do homework, then walk to work.

Dad entered the service in support of World War II on March 11, 1943 at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He requested to be in the air corps, but was initially assigned to the Tank Destroyers Corp at Camp Hood Texas. Shortly after, Dad was assigned to headquarters which allowed him to apply for and be transferred to Air Corps. However, based on the situation of the war in Europe, General “Hap” Arnold, head of the Air Force, needed to transfer 100,000 men to the infantry. Consequently, in April of 1944, he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the 291st Regiment of the 75th Division. Dad was pulled into the communication aspect of the war trained in Morris Code and the operations of a portable radio. His journey to Europe started with a 5-day train ride to New York, a long ship ride to England, eventually entering France on November 2, 1944 near Omaha Beach. In response to the last major German offensive on the Western Front “Battle of the Bulge” the 75th Division was assigned to relieve the 82nd Airborne. On January 19, 1945 in the town of St. Vith, Belgium dad was wounded by shrapnel in the back of his head from German 88 artillery. He maintained position and radio operations for several hours for which he was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After a brief recovery, he returned to his division on February 8, 1945 in time for the final battle to completely push the German army out of France. As a result, he was awarded the French Liberation Medal and eventually (in 2015) the French Legion of Honor. The 75th Division had its first battle on German soil on March 26, 1945 with the successful capture of the German town of Datteln, on April 2, 1945. After this and till Germany’s formal surrender on May 8th, 1945 his division mainly managed the German prisoners of war. Dad’s formal service ended with an Honorable Discharge on January 1st, 1946 where he returned to St Louis Missouri. He had completed 14 months in the European Theatre. Overall, he received 3 Bronze Stars for his service in 3 major European Campaigns, a Purple Heart, and the Good Conduct Medal.

In pursuit of advancement within the Frisco Railroad company, dad and his best friend moved to Huntington Park California in 1947. Since Dad was and has always been a devout Christian and avid singer, he soon attended the Huntington Park United Methodist Church and joined the church choir. This is where our dad met the most wonderful and beautiful woman he had ever seen (Our Mom Florence Towers). They dated for a for a couple years and married on August 17, 1951. They purchased their first home in the city of Downey in 1953 and lived there for 43 years attending the Downey United Methodist Church. They later moved to the City of Orange and attended the First United Methodist Church of Orange from 1996 to present. They were always full church supporters serving in the choir and as board members of several church committee’s

Dad was a natural salesman reaching the executive level within Frisco and Burlington Northern Railroad, and later senior Vice President at Itofca retiring at the age of 65. He loved working with the public and always wanted to own an ice-cream shop, “He really just loved desert”. This culminated in the purchased of a TCBY franchise in the city of La Habra and operated it for approximately 10 years. He finally decided to fully retire and focus on family and his church commitments.

He was always known for cracking a joke with whomever he met and he had hundreds of them. He also loved playing cards and was a fierce competitor. He enjoyed, playing the guitar, entertaining, doing yardwork and spending time traveling, but most of all being with his family. Dale was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers. He is survived by his wife of over 69 years, four children, and large extended family of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Dad, we love you and will miss you very much