Eugene Trowbridge was born on October 12, 1918, in Havre, Montana. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as conductor of the Naval Reserve Band from February 1938 to February 1941, and during this time he graduated from the McPhail School of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree. He joined the Aviation Cadet program of the U.S. Navy in February 1941, and was designated a Naval Aviator at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, on February 7, 1942. Trowbridge was commissioned a 2d Lt in the U.S. Marine Corps on March 20, 1942, and he attended fighter tactics school at Corpus Christi in February and March 1942. His next assignment was to NAS San Diego, California, as an F2A Buffalo pilot from April to May 1942, and then deployed to NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, as an F4F Wildcat pilot with VMF-223 from May to August 1942. Lt Trowbridge was officially credited with 6 enemy aircraft destroyed in aerial combat with VMF-223 flying out of Guadalcanal from August to September 1942, and he claimed 7 additional aerial victories during this time. He was evacuated after being wounded in action on September 14, 1942, and recuperated from his injuries in San Diego and Great Lakes, Illinois, from October 1942 to January 1943. His next assignment was as a flight instructor at NAS Pensacola, Florida, from March 1943 to October 1944, followed by service as a fighter tactics instructor at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, from October 1944 to April 1945. Major Trowbridge served as Operations Officer at Headquarters Provisional Air Support Command in San Francisco, California, from April to October 1945, and then as Commanding Officer of VMF-218 in China from October 1945 to April 1946. He then served as Executive Officer for First Marine Air Wing in Tsingtao, China, from April to May 1946, and after returning to the United States he resigned his commission on October 26, 1946. After the war he became a high school band director, received his Masters of Music degree from Michigan State University, received his Masters degree in School Administration from Northwestern University, and taught music and directed school bands until his retirement from teaching in 1980. Eugene Trowbridge Flew West on May 12, 1994, and was buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His widow, Virginia A. Trowbridge (1918-2000) is buried with him.

His Navy Cross Citation reads:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Second Lieutenant Eugene Arthur Trowbridge, United States Marine Corps Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession while serving as a Pilot in Marine Fighting Squadron TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE (VMF-223), Marine Air Group TWENTY-THREE (MAG-23), FIRST Marine Aircraft Wing, in aerial combat with enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands from 20 August 1942 to 13 September 1942. Throughout that strenuous period when the Guadalcanal airfield was under constant bombardment and our shore establishments in the area were menaced by the desperate counter thrusts of a fanatical foe, Second Lieutenant Trowbridge repeatedly intercepted persistent bombing flights. With bold determination and courageous disregard of personal safety, he pressed home numerous attacks against heavily escorted waves of invading bombers and, in five vigorous fights against tremendous odds, shot down a total of six Japanese planes. His superb flying skill and dauntless initiative were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.