Dewey “Dude” Compton was one of 12 children born to Virgil & Julie Compton on January 13, 1920. He married Lois Huffman on November 1, 1940 and they had one son, Kenneth Terry Compton. Pvt. Compton went through basic training in early 1943 at Camp Croft, South Carolina. In letters to his family he related his experiences in basic training relating to gas masks and having to go through the gas chamber. He also stated that he had just survived an 18 mile march with pack, rifle & gas mask. The hike began on Friday evening at 5 PM and lasted until 4 AM on Saturday morning. A lot of his fellow soldiers weren’t able to finish the march and fell out. He also wrote that the Army wasn’t half as bad as he had expected, and that he was getting to like it better every day.

Dewey enlisted in December, 1942, and was sent overseas in April, 1943. He died at age 23 in France on June 13, 1944, a few days after D-Day when his unit hit Omaha Beach. He was buried in France, but his body was returned from the Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer Cemetery near Bayeau, France, for reburial in Greenwood Cemetery in West Point.