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My dad, Woodrow Wilson Dawson, grew up in Iager, West Virginia in 1923, he passed away in 2005. I guess he was born at Sandy Huff, West Virginia. He joined the army when he was 17 years old, underaged to join, but needed to get away from West Virginia to avoid working in the coal mines. He only went to grade 4 in school, then had to help out the family, Father was James Dawson, Mother was Hattie Waldron Dawson. He was the oldest of the children (Brothers were Ernest, Wilburn, Carl, Douglas, Roy, Clinton, Eugene; the Sisters were Elsie, Lorraine, and Lucielle), no wonder why he had to work with 11 children in the family. He sent all of his Army (Tank Battalion) pay home to his parents to buy a house and land in Iager, West Virginia (up the hollow). He married my mom (Beverly LaPlante) when he was 30 and she was 21 years old. They had 2 daughters, Rosemary and Deborah Dawson. He met my mom up in Chicopee, Massachusetts, so that is where I now live. Most of the Dawson brothers came to Massachusetts because they didn't want to work in the coal mines. My grandfather, my dad's father, died of black lung disease. He was the sweetest guy you ever met. He had some sad stories, once when he was in a fox hole, one his army friends got shot and he held him in his arms until he died, he would cry when he told the story. He served during World War II in the 752nd Tank Battalion in Germany, England, France, Italy, and Africa.

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