This is Eugene

Eugene Stapelton wasn’t about to let his youth or the government guidelines for military recruitment stop him from fighting in WWII. At only 16 he was gifted with a larger stature and enough facial hair to fool the draft officers. Before long he found himself rushing front lines and killing the enemy in his Marine Corp uniform just as he had planned. He had envisioned what heroism looked like due to the stories handed down from his own father regarding all things military, yet storming beach after beach to simply save his own skin seemed to display the true reality of what war was really about. That is until he crossed paths with a severely wounded man he found half alive and buried in a shallow grave. He dug out the naked man without knowing if he was friend or foe, and immediately went to work on saving both their lives. He spent a week hiding the man from passing German soldiers while he tended his wounds. The man eventually recovered enough to reveal himself as the very young John Howard, AKA “Howser”. He had been conducting secret reconnaissance for the US government, when he was captured, shot and buried by the Germans. Needless to say John Howard never forgot his debt of gratitude to Eugene for saving  his skin that day.

During the war Eugene met a beautiful Texan named Marlene and took the first opportunity he could to marry her. After the war had ended they settled on a farm in New Mexico to establish themselves. After the tragic unexpected death of their youngest son and daughter-in-law, they took on the responsibility of raising their two grandsons, Sam and Mackey. Eugene is passionate about three things: Family, Farming, and food. Sometimes he gets the order mixed up when Marlene whisks past him with a meat loaf fresh out of the oven and piping hot dinner rolls.