Melvin Smith Dalton
submitted by: Braxton Dalton
|
|
My Great Grandpa, Melvin Smith Dalton, was an amazing man. I have the same middle name because I was named after him. He was born in Moab, Utah, on January 31, 1923.
He was a good football player in high school and before the war, he played one year of college football for BYU.
He served in the Marines during World War 2. When he was in basic training he was such a good shooter they didn’t believe his perfect result and made him try again, that is why he got put on a warship as a gunner shooting down enemy planes.
He survived many close calls, once when he was shooting down planes from a ship the guy loading his ammo got hit by a bullet and killed. Another time a suicide plane hit their boat.
He loved hunting, fishing, and the mountains. He was a good hunter and won a bunch of big buck competitions.
He built his own house and even made his own bricks for it out of clay and straw.
He was married and had 9 children.
He later became the Chief of Police for the city of Moab, Utah. As the police chief, he also had some close calls. One time on a drug bust a shot went off. After it was all over he found a bullet hole through his coat. I want to become a police officer like him. He was a nice man, but he was also a big man, and I’ve heard that he didn’t tolerate bad guys. He always tried to avoid giving tickets to his family members, but one time he got a call to come to an accident. He recognized one of the cars involved when he pulled up to the accident. That day he had to give a ticket to his wife for backing into the mayor’s car. The news reported that night that my Great Grandpa would be looking for a meal and a place to sleep.
My Great Grandpa was a great storyteller. I was fortunate enough to get to meet him and hear some of his stories. He didn’t really like to talk about his time in the war, but he was very patriotic. He loved this country and he would remind us that we are fortunate to live in a free country.
Melvin Dalton passed away on January 25, 2019, just six days before his 96th birthday.
I miss my Great Grandpa. I have lots of the same interests as he did, and I am grateful for the legacy that he left for his family and me. I would love to go out hunting with him and ask questions about being a police officer. He survived a war that many men didn’t live through, and he encountered many other dangerous situations. I think he must have been protected by God so many times because he had important things that he was supposed to live for. He lived a full and exciting life and I hope I can be just like him.