Orrin carried the Civil War tradition of his grandfather with him into World War II.

Orrin Henry Eaton, a native of Watsonville, California, was born on April 20, 1918, to Orrin O. and Cecilia Eaton who lived on the San Juan Road in the Pajaro Valley. Orrin and his sisters, Muriel and Katherine, attended local grammar schools. Later he transferred to the Montezuma School for Boys near Los Gatos and graduated about 1936. He then entered the University of California Davis agricultural school.

On December 20, 1940, Orrin joined the National Guard and in February, transferred into Company C of the 194th Tank Battalion in Salinas. He trained with that unit at Fort Lewis, Washington, and accompanied them to Fort Stotsenberg in the Philippine Islands the following September.

In late December, 1941, when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, the tank battalion attempted to defend Manila; however, they were forced to retreat to the Bataan penin- sula. During this period, Corporal Eaton served as a tank driver until forced to surrender in April 1942.

Orrin Eaton participated in the Bataan Death March; however, the name of the prison camp in which he was housed is not available. Soon after arrival in that camp, his health gave out and on May 28, 1942, he died. His remains were later recovered and buried in the Manila American Cemetery.

(CBR; NARA2; ABMC; 194TB; WRP June 5, 1945 1:4)