Ethel Dillon

“Mary Switch was a widow when her six sons served in WWII. Her husband was killed in a coal mine accident before the war started. One of her four daughters, Ethel (my mother-in-law), married Harold Dillon, who was serving in Germany when the war ended and worked during the famous Nuremberg trials.”

– Shelia Dillon ’75

Ethel Dillon’s brothers, remembered by her daughter-in-law, Shelia Dillon

Ethel Dillon’s six brothers served in WWII; two came home in coffins.

Frank Perfin, one of Ethel Dillon’s brothers, served in the infantry, and his half-brother, Steve Switch, was with a Ranger unit in France. Both brothers enlisted straight from school. The two came home in coffins, arriving in a black hearse on the same day in Elbert, West Virginia.

Switch’s twin brother, Harry, is 92 and still resides in Welch, West Virginia. Harry Switch was injured in battle by machine gun fire, with wounds to the knee, arm and hand. Other brothers, Wash, Paul and John, served in 19th Bombardment Group and a chemical warfare unit in England.