World War II & Old Butler, TN
During World War II, young adults from Butler, Tennessee, joined countless others in serving overseas in defense of the nation. While they were stationed across Europe, the Pacific, and beyond, profound change was unfolding in their mountain community. The Tennessee Valley Authority, as part of its regional hydroelectric development, undertook the construction of Watauga Dam. This massive engineering project required the intentional flooding of Butler, forcing the relocation of its residents and the dismantling of the town itself. As Butler’s sons and daughters served on foreign soil, their hometown was methodically disassembled—its homes, businesses, schools, and churches moved or destroyed—making way for the rising waters that would become Watauga Lake. The war overseas and the transformation at home became forever intertwined in the history of Butler, a community shaped by both sacrifice and displacement.
Visit our updated World War II Exhibit and American Veterans Memorial Walk at the Museum of Butler, TN.
World War II & Education
World War II began in earnest for the United States with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the declaration of war on the United States by the Axis powers: Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy.
When the United States very shortly thereafter declared war on these Axis Powers, nearly every able-bodied single man in East Tennessee, Johnson County and Butler joined the United States Army, Navy or Army Air Force. The gigantic and well – trained force of Nazy Germany and Japan challenged as never before our Armed Forces.
Pictured:
PFD Joseph Glenn Lipford
August 15, 1921 — August 29, 2024
Many young men, and some young women also, felt it was their duty to “join up”. Of course, many of these individuals were students in high schools throughout the country. Watauga Academy as well as other area schools had their classrooms depleted of students by this war.
Some of these students returned after the war and received their high school diploma in their twenties. Most never did until a special law gave school boards the authority to award high school diplomas to World War II veterans who had left under these circumstances.
Unfortunately, most of these men and women were already in their eighties and had retired from their chosen life’s work.
Pictured:
Pvt. Haynes Monroe Dugger
June 24, 1921 - August 14, 2023
