Charles (Chuck) R. Anderson was born in Shirley, Massachusetts on 20 October 1918. Shirley is just west of Devens and now outside the I-495 beltway around Boston. His father, Charles Burns Anderson (b. 1894, Edinburgh, Scotland; d. 1958, Minneapolis, MN), was a pharmacist from Galva, in northwestern Iowa, of Scot ancestry. His father married Bessie Eva Mahr (b. 1899, Sheldon, IA; d. 1978, Minneapolis, MN) from nearby Spencer, Iowa, whose parents were French and German from Alsace-Lorraine. Chuck was born in Shirley, MA because his father was stationed at Fort Devens nearby. WWI ended a few days later on 11 November 1918.
His dad was quarantined because of the massive influenza epidemic which hit the troops in troop camps particularly hard and he was busy treating the soldiers. This was the most deadly influenza epidemic in mankind's history, killing at least 50 million people, most of them young adults whose strong immune systems over-reacted to the influenza and actually killed them. Some studies indicate the pandemic hit Germany and Austria earlier and harder than the Allies and helped push them to surrender.
His dad was quarantined because of the massive influenza epidemic which hit the troops in troop camps particularly hard and he was busy treating the soldiers. This was the most deadly influenza epidemic in mankind's history, killing at least 50 million people, most of them young adults whose strong immune systems over-reacted to the influenza and actually killed them. Some studies indicate the pandemic hit Germany and Austria earlier and harder than the Allies and helped push them to surrender.
Chuck grew up in Galva and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the small town of Galva, which had a decreasing population of 308 in July 2006, his father owned and operated a drug store with a soda fountain and a sporting goods store. Chuck’s younger sister Beverley was born there. The family left town suddenly for Minneapolis when Chuck was in junior high school. It is said that his father produced a fine alcoholic beverage to relieve the suffering of many due to Prohibition (1919 – 1933) and the Revenue agents were closing in on his operation.
At 13, after moving to Minneapolis, Chuck was a Scout. He took his Scouting very seriously. He and his troop were sleeping on the third floor of a building when a fire broke out. Chuck told the others he was going to jump to safety, because a broken leg was preferable to dying. He jumped out the window and brought rescuers to save the remainder of the troop. This account was written up in the Minneapolis newspaper. The picture of the troop shows Chuck looking underfed, perhaps because this was 1931 and the Great Depression was underway.
Chuck’s father left the family in the midst of the Roosevelt-extended Depression in 1936. His dad and mom divorced in 1938. Chuck worked many jobs to bring added income to his mother and younger sister. He graduated from Washburn High School in 1936. He went to California with his Mom in the summer to visit his dad for a possible reconciliation of their marriage and they stayed for about a year before they returned without his father to Minneapolis.
Chuck’s father left the family in the midst of the Roosevelt-extended Depression in 1936. His dad and mom divorced in 1938. Chuck worked many jobs to bring added income to his mother and younger sister. He graduated from Washburn High School in 1936. He went to California with his Mom in the summer to visit his dad for a possible reconciliation of their marriage and they stayed for about a year before they returned without his father to Minneapolis.
Chuck then attended the University of Minnesota and joined a fraternity. For two years he majored in chemical engineering. When riding home on a streetcar from the university he had a conversation with an acquaintance, who invited Chuck to join him in taking flying lessons. During his first lesson, the flight instructor at Wold-Chamberlain Airport told Chuck he was a natural pilot.
Fig. 1. Chuck Anderson in his pre-Navy flying days. He had over a year of flying experience before he joined the Navy.
Fig. 2. Chuck Anderson's original civilian pilots license for single-engine aircraft with up to 80 horsepower engines over land. He was then living at 3320 Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
While in college, Chuck also took a part-time job at Daniels Pharmacy at the Medical Arts Building, which became a full-time job when he no longer had enough money to continue his college education.
Fig. 1. Chuck Anderson in his pre-Navy flying days. He had over a year of flying experience before he joined the Navy.
Fig. 2. Chuck Anderson's original civilian pilots license for single-engine aircraft with up to 80 horsepower engines over land. He was then living at 3320 Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
While in college, Chuck also took a part-time job at Daniels Pharmacy at the Medical Arts Building, which became a full-time job when he no longer had enough money to continue his college education.
Chuck volunteered for the Navy just before the attack on Pearl Harbor and was called up on 8 December 1941. He was given 15 days to report to New Orleans, where he entered Navy training classes and did some flying. The first entry in his Naval Aviators Flight Log Book was for 27 April 1942. In April and May, he flew an N3N-3 trainer. His Navy solo flight was on 2 May. In June, he flew SNJ-2, SNJ-3, NJ-1, SNJ-1, SNJ-4, SNV-1, and OS2U3 aircraft. In 1942, he received his commission as an Ensign and became a naval aviator on 2 September, earning his wings in Pensacola, Florida.
Fig. 3. The Navy wings worn by naval aviators.
Fig. 4. Ensign Charles Anderson's Naval Aviator Certificate issued on 2 September 1942.
Fig. 4. Ensign Charles Anderson's Naval Aviator Certificate issued on 2 September 1942.
Fig. 5. Chuck and his flight crew at Saufley Field, Pensacola, Florida in 1942. Shown from left to right are Barcus, Chuck Anderson, Ireland, and DeGarmo with an Avenger torpedo-bomber in the rear.
He was then ordered to San Diego where he was further assigned to rocket training at China Lake, CA. He was one of the first Navy pilots to receive training in firing rockets from a plane. The instructors were college professors who knew something about rockets, but not how to deliver them on target from a plane. Chuck learned to do this with such great accuracy that he was assigned to instruct the other pilots in doing this.
He was sent to Seattle by train to join Composite Squadron VC-7 for his first tour of duty in the Pacific Campaign. On the train he met Charlie Mulligan, who was to become a long-time friend. When they stopped in a small town on Christmas Eve, Chuck asked a merchant if they could have the Christmas tree in the window. They took the tree to the train and the officers sang Christmas carols the rest of the journey. While in Seattle for 4 weeks, Charlie Mulligan met and married Madge. Charlie and Madge remained friends of Chuck's (and later Betty's) for many years.
Fig. 6. Navy pilots Chuck Anderson and Charlie Mulligan with an Avenger aircraft in the background.
He was sent to Seattle by train to join Composite Squadron VC-7 for his first tour of duty in the Pacific Campaign. On the train he met Charlie Mulligan, who was to become a long-time friend. When they stopped in a small town on Christmas Eve, Chuck asked a merchant if they could have the Christmas tree in the window. They took the tree to the train and the officers sang Christmas carols the rest of the journey. While in Seattle for 4 weeks, Charlie Mulligan met and married Madge. Charlie and Madge remained friends of Chuck's (and later Betty's) for many years.
On his first war tour, Chuck was deployed on the USS Manila Bay (CVE 61) with VC-7 from January to July 1944. It is amazing that a pilot called up the day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was not sent into the fight until January 1944, but the Navy insisted that its pilots were going to enter the war well-trained. Navy pilots had more than 2000 hours of flight training before being sent to war, which gave them a very serious advantage over the under-trained Japanese replacement pilots. The longer the war went on the greater the flying and fighting skill advantage of the American aviators over the Japanese aviators.
The USS Manila Bay was the 7th Casablanca class escort carrier and was built by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company in Vancouver, Washington. She was commissioned on 5 October 1943. The USS Manila Bay was 512.5 feet long and displaced approximately 10,400 tons fully loaded. She had one catapult and carried 28 planes. She had a crew of 860 and was armed with one 5-inch L/38 gun, 16 40mm guns, and 20 20 mm guns. Capt. Boynton L. Braun was in command and her first voyage was to Pearl Harbor to pick up a load of damaged planes and return them to San Diego. VC-7 and Chuck Anderson embarked in San Diego and after brief training exercises, USS Manila Bay was underway out of Pearl Harbor on 3 January 1944. Rear Admiral Ralph Davidson came aboard a week later and the USS Manila Bay became the flagship for Carrier Division 24. She joined Task Force 52 and on 22 January she sortied for the invasion of the Marshal Islands.
Fig. 7. The USS Manila Bay (CVE-61), the 7th Casablanca class escort carrier, was built in 1943. Composite squadron VC-7 served with it from January 1944 to July 1944.
Fig. 8. Area designations in the Pacific Ocean during WWII and principal island groups are shown in the map.
VC-7 consisted of 16 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighters (actually FM-2s built by General Motors) and 12 Grumman TBF Avenger attack planes. Lt. W. R. Lipscomb was the commanding officer from October 1943 until July 1944. The F4F was fast and powerful, but not nearly as maneuverable as the Japanese Zero. Special slash and run tactics were developed for it to have success against the Zero. It was not competitive in a dogfight, but, as was characteristic of Grumman aircraft, it was rugged. Given the training advantage of American pilots, they almost always prevailed over the Japanese.
Chuck Anderson flew the TBF Avenger, the chief torpedo-bomber of the Pacific War from 1942-1945. The TBF replaced the very slow Douglas TBD Devastator, which in fights with the Japanese had proved most capable of devastating itself and its pilots. The TBF was powered by the Wright R-2600-8 Cyclone 14-cylinder, air-cooled radial piston engine producing 1700 hp. A two-stage supercharger was installed in most. The new Grumman Plant 2 had an open house on Sunday, 7 December 1941 with an Avenger prototype on display, which was then called the XTBF-1. A call was received by a Grumman Vice President that Pearl Harbor had just been attacked, which he did not announce until the last visitors were escorted out of the new Plant 2 in Bethpage, NY. The Avenger name was then fittingly given to the plane.
Production of the TBF Avenger was already underway in December 1941 and very few engineering changes were needed in the plane. Six of them were involved in the critical battle of Midway in the Pacific, but all six were shot down in the battle.
In the TBF, the pilot sat high up and along the leading edge of the wing with a great view. A navigator/radio operator and a bombardier were carried in the rear fuselage. The bombardier was lower down and toward the rear, where he either manned a Browning 0.3 inch caliber machine gun or he faced forward to aim the plane during medium-altitude level bombing. The navigator also manned a rear 0.3 inch gun on the upper level of the plane. The pilot had a forward-facing 0.3 inch machine gun firing through the propeller in the earliest version, but this was quickly modified to place two 0.5 inch calibre guns in the outer wings. He also controlled the launch of torpedoes and the release of bombs when dive-bombing. The TBF’s bomb bay could carry 12 100-lb. bombs, four 500-lb. bombs, or two 1000-lb. bombs. It could carry a Mark XIII-2 torpedo instead of bombs. It could also launch 5-inch diameter rockets.
Most of Chuck's missions were to scout for enemy submarines, some were to bomb targets, and some were ground troop close-in air support. When fully armed, the Avenger could attack targets 260 miles away. 2,291 TBFs were produced in total by Grumman. General Motors became the second producer of Avengers and produced 7,546 TBMs.
Chuck Anderson flew the TBF Avenger, the chief torpedo-bomber of the Pacific War from 1942-1945. The TBF replaced the very slow Douglas TBD Devastator, which in fights with the Japanese had proved most capable of devastating itself and its pilots. The TBF was powered by the Wright R-2600-8 Cyclone 14-cylinder, air-cooled radial piston engine producing 1700 hp. A two-stage supercharger was installed in most. The new Grumman Plant 2 had an open house on Sunday, 7 December 1941 with an Avenger prototype on display, which was then called the XTBF-1. A call was received by a Grumman Vice President that Pearl Harbor had just been attacked, which he did not announce until the last visitors were escorted out of the new Plant 2 in Bethpage, NY. The Avenger name was then fittingly given to the plane.
Production of the TBF Avenger was already underway in December 1941 and very few engineering changes were needed in the plane. Six of them were involved in the critical battle of Midway in the Pacific, but all six were shot down in the battle.
In the TBF, the pilot sat high up and along the leading edge of the wing with a great view. A navigator/radio operator and a bombardier were carried in the rear fuselage. The bombardier was lower down and toward the rear, where he either manned a Browning 0.3 inch caliber machine gun or he faced forward to aim the plane during medium-altitude level bombing. The navigator also manned a rear 0.3 inch gun on the upper level of the plane. The pilot had a forward-facing 0.3 inch machine gun firing through the propeller in the earliest version, but this was quickly modified to place two 0.5 inch calibre guns in the outer wings. He also controlled the launch of torpedoes and the release of bombs when dive-bombing. The TBF’s bomb bay could carry 12 100-lb. bombs, four 500-lb. bombs, or two 1000-lb. bombs. It could carry a Mark XIII-2 torpedo instead of bombs. It could also launch 5-inch diameter rockets.
Most of Chuck's missions were to scout for enemy submarines, some were to bomb targets, and some were ground troop close-in air support. When fully armed, the Avenger could attack targets 260 miles away. 2,291 TBFs were produced in total by Grumman. General Motors became the second producer of Avengers and produced 7,546 TBMs.
Fig. 9. The wide wings of a Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo-bomber on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown leave little room even on this fleet carrier.
Fig. 10. The VC-7 or Composite Squadron 7 insignia patch of Chuck's first WWII tour of duty.
From 31 January to 6 February 1944, the USS Manila Bay launched dozens of combat missions and air and antisubmarine patrols. Her planes bombed and strafed enemy positions from Kwajalein Island to Bigej Island in the Kwajalein Atoll (see map in Fig. 12.), destroying enemy bunkers, ground installations, and ammunition dumps. After an air patrol at this time, Chuck and his wingman had to release their unused bombs before they could land on the carrier deck. They chose an island held by the Japanese, but not known to have any significant force on it, and Chuck’s wingman dropped his bombs with Chuck coming in behind him. A bomb hit an ammunition dump and blew up massively in Chuck’s face as he came in to release his bombs. Chuck had a minor wound on his cheek, but his plane was riddled with shrapnel. Hundreds of shrapnel impacts were counted and the plane was destroyed beyond repair, but as a testament to Chuck’s flying skills and the rugged build of the Avengers, Chuck landed his plane on the USS Manila Bay safely. In late February, the USS Manila Bay operated around Eniwetok and then around Majuro, also in the Marshall Islands.
Fig. 11. Lt. Chuck Anderson stands between members of his flight crew and in front of his TBM Avenger. The man to the right of Chuck (as seen by an observer) was his enlisted gunner. He only wanted to fly with Chuck and the two of them were always together on flights. He was a Mexican American of whom Chuck thought highly, according to his wife Betty. [If anyone knows his name, please let me know.] Note how the wings fold for storage on deck. The Avenger had a very heavy wing and the radial piston engine was massive. They took a beating and kept on flying as Chuck proved when a Japanese ammunition dump blew up under him during a low altitude bombing run to get rid of ordnance before returning to the carrier. Nothing had been expected on the island. He brought his Avenger and his gunner back to his carrier despite more than 200 holes caused by shrapnel. Chuck had not thought it likely he could get back to the carrier and had suggested his gunner bailout. His gunner said he was sticking with Chuck. Chuck's only wound was a cut on the cheek and it had stopped bleeding by the time he got back to his carrier, so Chuck never applied for a Purple Heart.
It is seldom appreciated today how dangerous flying was in the 1940s. Add to this the dangers of taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier deck, while the carrier pitches to and fro with the waves, especially on the very small carriers such as the Manila Bay. The air patrols took pilots hundreds of miles from their carriers and then they had to turn around and find the carrier, which was a moving object. It was a navigational feat to find the spot where the carrier used to be over the vast and trackless Pacific Ocean. It was harder still to anticipate where it had gone in the meantime. Generally, the carrier had to maintain radio silence, so the radio operator could not just call the carrier and ask where it was now. The amount of fuel left after many missions might give a pilot very little time to find his or any other carrier. Then there were the problems of mechanical breakdown and there was no nearby farmer’s field to set the plane down in. Sometimes planes were shot down or damaged by the Japanese. A damaged plane might not be able to fly the distance back to the carrier. If the pilot and crew had to bail out, then the Japanese might well kill them if they got their hands on them. If not, and they landed on land in New Guinea, New Britain, or the Bougainville Islands, they might very well die in the jungle or die later from diseases caught while in the jungle. In New Guinea, the cannibals might eat them, though snakes and other nefarious animals and poisonous fruits were also threats.
Fig. 12. A map of the Kwajalein Atoll is shown identifying the islands with WWII code names and the real names in parentheses. The code names were generally used in the pilots logbook. There are several references to Burton Island in Chuck's logbook, for instance.
Leaving Majuro on 7 March 1944, the USS Manila Bay reached Espiritu Santo Island on 12 March. On 10 March, she joined Task Force 37 for airstrikes on Kavieng, New Ireland Island, which occurred on 19 and 20 March. The Japanese had a very strong fortress at Rabaul on the north end of New Britain Island (see Fig. 13.) and the Americans began operations to isolate it and make it impotent, without having to invade it. Manila Bay operated in April between the Solomon Islands and the Bismarck Archipelago in support of the isolation of Rabaul. Desperate fighting had occurred in 1943 in the Solomon Islands, especially on and around Guadalcanal Island.
On 19 April, USS Manila Bay headed to New Guinea to participate in the invasion of Northern New Guinea. On 22 April strikes at Aitape, Hollandia, and Tanahmerah Bay were made. VC-7 provided attacks on Japanese positions in the Aitape area and provided air patrol protection against Japanese submarines and surface ship attacks. This continued until 4 May when Manila Bay returned to Manus Island and then on 7 May sailed to Pearl Harbor for overhaul. She arrived there on 18 May 1944.
On 19 April, USS Manila Bay headed to New Guinea to participate in the invasion of Northern New Guinea. On 22 April strikes at Aitape, Hollandia, and Tanahmerah Bay were made. VC-7 provided attacks on Japanese positions in the Aitape area and provided air patrol protection against Japanese submarines and surface ship attacks. This continued until 4 May when Manila Bay returned to Manus Island and then on 7 May sailed to Pearl Harbor for overhaul. She arrived there on 18 May 1944.
Fig. 13. The map of New Guinea and New Britain Island using 1940s names is shown. Hollandia and Aitape are shown on the northern coast. Rabaul is at the northeast end of New Britain Island. New Ireland is the long, thin, straight island just north of Rabaul, shown in part here. Kavieng is at its northwest terminus.
She loaded 37 Army P-47 fighters there and sailed back to the Marianas. She went by Eniwetok to the eastern approaches to Saipan Island on 19 June. In the next four days, the Fast Carrier Task Force defeated the Japanese in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, inflicting huge aircraft and pilot losses upon the Japanese. The Manila Bay could not launch her planes during this fight because she still carried the 37 Army fighters and had no deck space for operations. Consequently, she had to stay to the east out of the fight. The Japanese never recovered from the serious loss of experienced pilots and proved unable to train more pilots adequately. They were reduced to rushing pilots into combat who had fewer than 200 hours of training.
On 23 June, the USS Manila Bay was attacked by two fighter-bombers while refueling east of Saipan. This is an especially vulnerable time for any ship, since fuel is exposed to fires easily and since ship maneuverability is reduced. With its deck full of Army planes, she also could not defend herself with the planes of VC-7. Fortunately, the four bombs dropped fell wide to her port side. Intense antiaircraft fire discouraged further attacks. As a further precaution, she catapulted 4 of the Army P-47s into the air to provide some protective air patrol warning and then had them fly on to Saipan to land. Saipan was their destination anyway. The next day, she launched the remaining Army planes and they flew into Saipan. Finally, VC-7 could undertake air patrol operations again, making the ship less vulnerable. She then returned to Eniwetok, arriving on 27 June. She picked up 207 wounded troops there and departed on 1 July. She reached Pearl Harbor on 8 July and San Diego on 16 July 1944.
The USS Manila Bay took on a new commander in Capt. Fitzhugh Lee and he took it back out to the Philippines area without Chuck Anderson and VC-7. It participated in the invasions of Leyte, Mindoro, and Lingayen Gulf. When Fast Carrier Task Group 57 commander Admiral Mitscher went after the decoy Japanese fleet north of the Philippines during the Leyte Gulf invasion, the USS Manila Bay was in the southernmost of the three groups of small escort carriers which were exposed to one of the main striking arms of the Japanese which was meant to crush the invasion force. It was a close run event, with the pilots of the small "jeep" carriers performing miracles without the proper armor-piercing bombs against heavy cruisers and battleships which were splashing huge shells all around the fleeing escort carriers. The Manila Bay survived this attack which the Japanese aborted when they were on the edge of success. Soon after, the Manila Bay became the target of many kamikaze attacks. One of these made a direct hit on the flight deck, but the Manila Bay managed to continue in the fight to free the Philippines anyway.
On 23 June, the USS Manila Bay was attacked by two fighter-bombers while refueling east of Saipan. This is an especially vulnerable time for any ship, since fuel is exposed to fires easily and since ship maneuverability is reduced. With its deck full of Army planes, she also could not defend herself with the planes of VC-7. Fortunately, the four bombs dropped fell wide to her port side. Intense antiaircraft fire discouraged further attacks. As a further precaution, she catapulted 4 of the Army P-47s into the air to provide some protective air patrol warning and then had them fly on to Saipan to land. Saipan was their destination anyway. The next day, she launched the remaining Army planes and they flew into Saipan. Finally, VC-7 could undertake air patrol operations again, making the ship less vulnerable. She then returned to Eniwetok, arriving on 27 June. She picked up 207 wounded troops there and departed on 1 July. She reached Pearl Harbor on 8 July and San Diego on 16 July 1944.
The USS Manila Bay took on a new commander in Capt. Fitzhugh Lee and he took it back out to the Philippines area without Chuck Anderson and VC-7. It participated in the invasions of Leyte, Mindoro, and Lingayen Gulf. When Fast Carrier Task Group 57 commander Admiral Mitscher went after the decoy Japanese fleet north of the Philippines during the Leyte Gulf invasion, the USS Manila Bay was in the southernmost of the three groups of small escort carriers which were exposed to one of the main striking arms of the Japanese which was meant to crush the invasion force. It was a close run event, with the pilots of the small "jeep" carriers performing miracles without the proper armor-piercing bombs against heavy cruisers and battleships which were splashing huge shells all around the fleeing escort carriers. The Manila Bay survived this attack which the Japanese aborted when they were on the edge of success. Soon after, the Manila Bay became the target of many kamikaze attacks. One of these made a direct hit on the flight deck, but the Manila Bay managed to continue in the fight to free the Philippines anyway.
Fig. 14. Lt. Chuck Anderson is shown in his cold-weather flight gear, which he wore only once. This picture has a history of making women weak-kneed, however. Chuck always laughed about this.
Near the end of the war Chuck was on his second seven and a half month tour and he stood ready on Saipan for the Invasion of Japan, Operation Downfall. During the last 7 months of the war, the conventional bombing of Japan killed as many as 500,000 Japanese. The use of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed an additional 220,000 people in 1945, made the invasion of Japan unnecessary. It was estimated that 500,000 Americans might die in the invasion and that well over 1,000,000 Japanese would die. Some estimates were much higher yet, with predictions of over a million Allied deaths and tens of millions of Japanese deaths, but these do not appear to have been realistic.
Between his Pacific campaigns, Chuck married Betty Lou Christianson of his hometown, Minneapolis, on 26 September 1944 in a military chapel wedding in Carmel, California. Betty had traveled on troop trains to San Francisco to meet Chuck for the wedding. Betty’s father was the physician Harry Walter Christianson (b. 1893, MN; d. 1953, MN), whose Norwegian father had been a missionary to the Indians near Belgrade, Minnesota. Harry Christianson was a famous gastroenterologist who practiced at the Mayo Clinic and performed surgery at all of the Minneapolis and St. Paul hospitals. He also invented calamine lotion to prevent itching. Her mother was Bessie Isabell Dowson (b. 1896, Springfield, IL; d. 1953, Minneapolis, MN), whose parents were of English ancestry. Bessie was a registered nurse who laid out Harry’s clothes every morning because he was color-blind. Dr. Christianson knew Chuck’s Dad well and admired him as a very good pharmacist, with whom he consulted frequently. Harry Christianson had been a pharmacist before becoming a physician and like Chuck's father, had served in the Army in WWI. Dr. Christianson thought all doctors should become pharmacists before becoming doctors since they needed to know more about drugs than most of them did.
While in college and working at Daniels Pharmacy, Chuck met Harry (Buddy) Christianson, Jr. and then George Christianson and his younger sister Betty Lou. The Christiansons lived at 2016 South Fremont, Minneapolis. He and George became good friends. Chuck taught Betty to drive when she was 15. When she was 16, she had a date with a nice football player from Washington High School and got home 10 minutes late. Bud was going to beat Betty’s date up for being late and Chuck came to her rescue. Then later that year in a snowball fight, Chuck blackened Betty’s eye and gave her her first cologne, a bottle of Tweed cologne, in apology.
While in college and working at Daniels Pharmacy, Chuck met Harry (Buddy) Christianson, Jr. and then George Christianson and his younger sister Betty Lou. The Christiansons lived at 2016 South Fremont, Minneapolis. He and George became good friends. Chuck taught Betty to drive when she was 15. When she was 16, she had a date with a nice football player from Washington High School and got home 10 minutes late. Bud was going to beat Betty’s date up for being late and Chuck came to her rescue. Then later that year in a snowball fight, Chuck blackened Betty’s eye and gave her her first cologne, a bottle of Tweed cologne, in apology.
Fig. 15. Betty Lou Christianson the summer before she married Chuck. Chuck took this picture just after the two of them had swam the length and back of Cedar Lake together. Cedar Lake is 0.8 miles long. Chuck carried this photograph in his wallet from that time on.
During the depression, Dr. Christianson had provided medical services and operations on many people who could not afford to pay him. But, many of them thereafter brought food to Dr. Christianson’s family. One farmer would frequently stop by and give them a bag of potatoes and another would stop by with a chicken. In fact, so much food was delivered to them, that Betty and her mom put packages of food together and gave them to families who were suffering during the Great Depression and later during the war rationing.
Betty was known as a very conscientious studier in school. She brought home a pile of books every day. She was an excellent swimmer and was offered a position in the Water Follies when she was 14. The other girls were about 18, so her Dad would not let her join the Water Follies. She took in ironing and washing from some of the neighbors and she modeled for a Minneapolis department store. She also worked in a hospital and assisted her dad in his medical practice. Betty graduated from West High School, the long-time rival school to Chuck's Washburn High School. She was about to start her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin where she intended to pursue a pre-med curriculum when Chuck asked her to marry him. She was barely 18 at the time.
Betty was known as a very conscientious studier in school. She brought home a pile of books every day. She was an excellent swimmer and was offered a position in the Water Follies when she was 14. The other girls were about 18, so her Dad would not let her join the Water Follies. She took in ironing and washing from some of the neighbors and she modeled for a Minneapolis department store. She also worked in a hospital and assisted her dad in his medical practice. Betty graduated from West High School, the long-time rival school to Chuck's Washburn High School. She was about to start her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin where she intended to pursue a pre-med curriculum when Chuck asked her to marry him. She was barely 18 at the time.
At the end of the long war, there was an initial rush to disband the military forces and send as many men and women home as possible. The armed forces wound up with far too few men to meet the challenges of the intensifying Cold War that followed WWII. Navy ships at sea were often short of hands and many ships could not leave harbor because they were badly undermanned. Navy air squadrons were also short of aviators and ground crew. Most men were eager to leave the military and return home. Chuck wanted to get home to be with Betty. Their first apartment was at 905 West Franklin.
Chuck took business courses at St. Thomas College when he returned to Minneapolis. Chuck and Betty also started a cosmetics company, Andee Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics in Minneapolis. They had offices at 307 Kresge Building and had their non-allergenic products made in Chicago according to formulations developed by Chuck’s dad, who was a good formulations pharmacist. They made many products, such as Cream 88, Face Powder, Powder Base, Skin Freshener, Liquid Lipstick, Rouge, Lipstick, Liquid Powder Base, Happy Hands, A&D Ointment #263, Cleansing Cream, Superfatted Cream, Foundation Cream #263, Sulfathiozole 5% Cream, Yeph Camphor Cream, Emulsified Skin Cream, Basic Formula Leg Cosmetic 157, Isolyte, Judge’s Isolyte, Kover Mark & Leg Cosmetic, and Trenavin Cream. This was perhaps a few years before the economy, struggling to shift from war production to peacetime production, was ready for women to spend much money on cosmetics. Washing machines and cars were worn out and needed to be replaced. All sorts of items had been rationed and had long been unavailable due to the Great Depression and then due to the war. Young couples needed homes and many families were begun. Meanwhile, Grandpa Christianson often tried to persuade Chuck to go to medical school.
Chuck soon heard the call of his beloved Navy and rejoined it. Charles Robert Anderson, Jr. was born in Minneapolis on 27 April 1947. Two days later, Chuck was able to rejoin Betty and Charles from Memphis, Tennessee, where he was undergoing training. This was the only birth of his children that Chuck missed. Betty and Charles remained at 905 Franklin Avenue only briefly, since Bud did not want a baby around. So Betty moved briefly to 2016 South Fremont Avenue, Minneapolis, before Betty and son went to Memphis when Charles was 3 weeks old to join Chuck for the remainder of his training. Charles slept in a dresser drawer at 1325 Harbert Avenue, Memphis. They soon moved to Pensacola, Florida, living first at the Chandler Courts and then at 302 Payne Road, Navy Point, Warrington, Florida.
Karen Lynne Anderson was born on 28 August 1948 in Pensacola and Charles began pushing a chair up to her bed so he could pet his sister. Chuck and Charles loved to go for walks. While there, homes across the street were destroyed by a tornado. Grandpa Christianson loved to visit and would challenge Chuck to spell words, which Chuck could always spell. When Grandpa Christianson was in Minneapolis, he would sometimes call Chuck late at night and challenge him with the spelling of a word.
Karen Lynne Anderson was born on 28 August 1948 in Pensacola and Charles began pushing a chair up to her bed so he could pet his sister. Chuck and Charles loved to go for walks. While there, homes across the street were destroyed by a tornado. Grandpa Christianson loved to visit and would challenge Chuck to spell words, which Chuck could always spell. When Grandpa Christianson was in Minneapolis, he would sometimes call Chuck late at night and challenge him with the spelling of a word.
The family moved to Carmel, California and lived in a small house at the top of Carmel Hill, the highest hill above Carmel. Chuck graduated with distinction from Line School at the Navy Post-Graduate School in Monterey in 1949. The 10-month course of study had been so intensive that three men committed suicide in his class. Chuck finished tenth out of 500, despite having his family with him, which students were advised against because it was too great a distraction for such an all-consuming course.
Chuck next served as navigator on the USS Timbalier (AVP-54), a 1,766 ton Barnegat class small seaplane tender built in Houghton, Washington and commissioned in May 1946. In December 1946 she departed for Norfolk, VA and for the next 8 years tended the seaplanes of Fleet Air Wing 11 operating out of Norfolk. The pattern was commonly 6 weeks at sea training and 2 weeks in port, though some cruises were longer. The Timbalier made many training cruises down to the Caribbean and visited Cuba, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Algeria, while the Korean War was underway. The Korean War began on 25 June 1950 and became an armistice on 27 July 1953, which lasts to this day.
The captain of the Timbalier had been an enlisted man who was selected to attend the U. S. Naval Academy. He was wonderful in allowing his men to take on responsibilities and to acquire training in many skills beyond their assignments. He frequently gave the helm to Chuck Anderson, of whom he thought highly. On a trip to Bermuda in a bad storm, Chuck Anderson had the helm when a fishing vessel with 12 men on board sent out a distress call. Chuck guided the Timbalier to the fishing vessel and brought it along side so the men could be rescued. The rescue story was written up in the Norfolk newspaper.
The captain of the Timbalier had been an enlisted man who was selected to attend the U. S. Naval Academy. He was wonderful in allowing his men to take on responsibilities and to acquire training in many skills beyond their assignments. He frequently gave the helm to Chuck Anderson, of whom he thought highly. On a trip to Bermuda in a bad storm, Chuck Anderson had the helm when a fishing vessel with 12 men on board sent out a distress call. Chuck guided the Timbalier to the fishing vessel and brought it along side so the men could be rescued. The rescue story was written up in the Norfolk newspaper.
Fig. 16. The USS Timbalier (AVP-54) was a small airplane tender of 1,766 tons displacement operating out of Norfolk, Virginia. Chuck flew the PBM Mariner seaplanes to keep up his flight qualification while assigned to the USS Timbalier. During his Navy career, Chuck flew every Navy plane in operation except the Chance Vought F4U Corsair fighter-bomber used in WWII and the Korean War.
The
family lived into a duplex at 7212 Atlantic Avenue, Virginia Beach
and then bought a home at 154 Forman Drive, Norfolk. They lived there for one year. The family
sometimes ate great dinners on board the Timbalier on Sundays when it
was in port. The ship’s cook was very good and delighted in serving
Chuck and his family with Sunday dinners. Virginia (Ginna) Baker helped
take care of the children and some house cleaning during this time.
Ginna was a phenomenal black woman who helped Betty immensely through
the difficult times of Chuck’s absence at sea and traveling. She had 11
children herself and she demanded that they all become well-educated
and that they set themselves high goals, despite growing up in the awful
public housing projects. Her children became doctors, lawyers, and
teachers. Charles and Karen loved her. Charles began going to school at
the Carolton Oaks School and loved it.
In 1952, Lt. Chuck Anderson started serving on the staff of the 5th
Naval District at Norfolk, VA and the family bought a home at 9424
Sturgis Street, Norfolk. Betsy Lou Anderson was born in Norfolk on 16
August 1952, the same year the family bought their first TV. They
watched the 1952 Democrat and Republican conventions on that TV.
Charles watched both and said that the main difference was that
Republicans acted more like adults and Democrats more like children.
President Eisenhower negotiated an Armistice to the Korean War soon
after becoming President. While in the Norfolk area, the family had one
Christmas at each of the three addresses at which they lived while
there.
In 1953, Chuck attended All-Weather Flight School at the Corpus Christi, TX Naval Air Station and then was chosen to be an instructor at the school as a result of his excellent performance. He was given the problem pilots and managed to turn some of them into good pilots. One problem pilot had been a gang member in California and threatened to kill Chuck. Chuck took him up on a training flight and performed such acrobatic maneuvers that the ex-gang-member became sick and terrified. Chuck told him that it was not wise to threaten him. He also told him that with work, he could become a good pilot and this pilot did just that.
The Andersons lived in the officers’ quarters inland at Quarters 34-1, Rodd Field, near the small town of Flour Bluff. Rodd Field was an auxiliary Naval Air Field built in 1943 to support training flights out of the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. It was abandoned, other than the officers’ family quarters and the smaller of two swimming pools. Charles and Karen went on many very long bike rides there and played in the pools, barracks, and hangars, where local farmers stored cotton bales. Charles and his friend Rusty, with Karen often tagging along, searched for the plentiful water moccasins, horned toads, scorpions, and tarantulas. They built dirt clod forts in the cotton fields after the initial plowing. Charles and Karen each attended the Corpus Christi Day School for two years, with Karen starting one year after Charles. Charles and Karen then went to the Flour Bluff Elementary School. Chuck and Betty went to formal dinners every Saturday evening at the Officer’s Club and after eating danced to bands for many hours. While the family was in Corpus Christi, Grandpa Harry W. Christianson died on 8 June 1953 due to coronary sclerosis and diabetes and a few months later, Bessie Christianson died of leukemia.
Lt. Cdr. Anderson took command of Detachment 30 of VA(AW)-33, The Nighthawks, based in Pleasantville, NJ at Pomona Naval Air Station, in 1955. They flew the Douglas AD-5N Skyraider, an attack plane known for its load capability and toughness. It could carry more weapons than its own weight, had armor to protect the pilot, and unusually strong wings. The 5N version was a night attack version fitted with search radar and searchlights in pods under its wings. A primary mission of this aircraft was anti-submarine warfare, though it was one of the most versatile aircraft in the Navy’s arsenal. This aircraft was rugged and carried heavy loads the Navy jets of the time could not manage. It was a good ground troop close-in air support plane because it could stay with the ground troops longer than other planes and deliver heavy firepower accurately. It was the first aircraft from which the Sidewinder missile and the ASROC anti-submarine rocket were fired. Four 20-mm cannon were mounted in the wings. The aircraft had two side-by-side seats for the pilot and the navigator and a seat behind them for a radar bombardier. Nonetheless, it was often flown with only the pilot. It was powered by one Wright R-3350-26WA Duplex Cyclone 18-cylinder air-cooled radial engine. Its top airspeed was 303 mph at sea level and it had a range of 547 miles when carrying a 2700 pound bomb load, unless equipped with an additional external fuel tank or refueled in air. The wingspan was 50 feet, it was 40 feet long, and it stood 13.75 feet tall.
Chuck took Det 30 with four planes, five pilots, and 33 other personnel on a Far East Cruise on the USS Bennington CVA-20. The Bennington was a WWII Essex class carrier rebuilt in 1954-1955 after a terrible accident in May 1954 in Narragansett Bay resulted in the death of 103 men and injuries to 201 others. Besides Cdr. Anderson, the pilots of Det 30 were Lt. Caetano, Ltjg. Ed Belinski, Ltjg. Al Surratt, who later flew for Northwest Airlines, and Ltjg. Dan Rice. Charles Bishop tells of how he and pilot Dan Rice had a brush with death when they ran into a cloud bank over the mountains of Japan and nearly crashed into a snow bank on a mountainside. Combat training, even in peacetime, is often very dangerous.
The Bennington joined the Seventh Fleet from 3 October 1956 to 23 May 1957 and visited Japan, Okinawa, the Philippine Islands, Hong Kong, and Sidney. This was then the only air attack force ready to go at all times and in all weather. Between 16 October 1956 and 21 May 1957, Chuck had 220.8 hours of pilot time, almost all of which was off the Bennington. Tensions with the Soviet Union ran particularly high at the start of this cruise due to the Hungarian Uprising in October and November 1956. The Soviets crushed it with brutal force.
Fig. 17. Det 30 of VA(AW)-33. First row: Ropel AEC, Ltjg Daniel Rice, Lt. Manuel (Mike) Caetano, Cdr. Chuck Anderson, Ltjg. James Surratt, Ltjg. Edward Belinski, AMC Adrain Price, Second Row: AN Richard Sheldon, AN William Brodt, AT1 John Broglio, AN John Earl Doddridge, AN James Bremner, AO2 Walter Hubiak, AO1 John Szafran, AD1 Richard, Third Row: AN Corbett G. Elam, AD2 Kimrey, AN Dale Brownlow, AN James Farnik, PR3 Eduardo Dejesus, AD1 Taylor, AN Larry Grant, AM1 Robert Link, AT1 Hoover, ADAN Nenni, ADAN Brown, Fourth Row: AD3 James Harbecke, AD2 Earl Wagner, SD3 Billups, AN Harlan Seck, AM3 Charles Bishop, AN Merle Volschow, AK3 Mars, AD3 Leads, AE1 Douglas Story, AN Rudolph Martin, AN Gross, and AN James Schaffer [Photo provided by Charles Bishop]
While flying out of Pomona Naval Air Station, the Navy picked up the call of a distressed private pilot over the Atlantic Ocean who was lost. Chuck volunteered to fly out and search for him. The search took hours. Betty, unaware of this, was sick with worry when Chuck did not return home at his usual time. She and Charles stayed up together awaiting news. Chuck found the pilot and brought him home on his wing. He finally got home at 1:30 AM to Betty's great relief.
Chuck took Det 30 with four planes, five pilots, and 33 other personnel on a Far East Cruise on the USS Bennington CVA-20. The Bennington was a WWII Essex class carrier rebuilt in 1954-1955 after a terrible accident in May 1954 in Narragansett Bay resulted in the death of 103 men and injuries to 201 others. Besides Cdr. Anderson, the pilots of Det 30 were Lt. Caetano, Ltjg. Ed Belinski, Ltjg. Al Surratt, who later flew for Northwest Airlines, and Ltjg. Dan Rice. Charles Bishop tells of how he and pilot Dan Rice had a brush with death when they ran into a cloud bank over the mountains of Japan and nearly crashed into a snow bank on a mountainside. Combat training, even in peacetime, is often very dangerous.
The Bennington joined the Seventh Fleet from 3 October 1956 to 23 May 1957 and visited Japan, Okinawa, the Philippine Islands, Hong Kong, and Sidney. This was then the only air attack force ready to go at all times and in all weather. Between 16 October 1956 and 21 May 1957, Chuck had 220.8 hours of pilot time, almost all of which was off the Bennington. Tensions with the Soviet Union ran particularly high at the start of this cruise due to the Hungarian Uprising in October and November 1956. The Soviets crushed it with brutal force.
Fig. 17. Det 30 of VA(AW)-33. First row: Ropel AEC, Ltjg Daniel Rice, Lt. Manuel (Mike) Caetano, Cdr. Chuck Anderson, Ltjg. James Surratt, Ltjg. Edward Belinski, AMC Adrain Price, Second Row: AN Richard Sheldon, AN William Brodt, AT1 John Broglio, AN John Earl Doddridge, AN James Bremner, AO2 Walter Hubiak, AO1 John Szafran, AD1 Richard, Third Row: AN Corbett G. Elam, AD2 Kimrey, AN Dale Brownlow, AN James Farnik, PR3 Eduardo Dejesus, AD1 Taylor, AN Larry Grant, AM1 Robert Link, AT1 Hoover, ADAN Nenni, ADAN Brown, Fourth Row: AD3 James Harbecke, AD2 Earl Wagner, SD3 Billups, AN Harlan Seck, AM3 Charles Bishop, AN Merle Volschow, AK3 Mars, AD3 Leads, AE1 Douglas Story, AN Rudolph Martin, AN Gross, and AN James Schaffer [Photo provided by Charles Bishop]
While flying out of Pomona Naval Air Station, the Navy picked up the call of a distressed private pilot over the Atlantic Ocean who was lost. Chuck volunteered to fly out and search for him. The search took hours. Betty, unaware of this, was sick with worry when Chuck did not return home at his usual time. She and Charles stayed up together awaiting news. Chuck found the pilot and brought him home on his wing. He finally got home at 1:30 AM to Betty's great relief.
Fig. 19. A VA(AW)-33 AD5N Skyraider over the New Jersey coast.
Lt. Ed Belinski served in Det 30 and he was dating his future wife Marion from Philadelphia. Aunt Marion, as the Anderson children called her, often stayed in the Anderson home over weekends. Ed and Marion became life-long friends of Chuck and Betty. Ed soon after left active duty in the Navy, though he served in the Naval Reserves and rose to the rank of Captain. He went to Temple University in Philadelphia for his degree in dentistry. Afterwards, he set up his dental practice in Skaneateles, New York. Ed participated in the Doctor Abroad program for many years after retiring and made many trips to such places as Africa and Haiti. Betty Anderson lost a good friend in Ed when he died in early 2011. Ed had called her often after Chuck's death. Marion died a few months later after having suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for several years.
Fig. 20. The USS Bennington is shown leaving Pearl Harbor in 1956 on its cruise to the Far East. Men and planes crowd the flight deck.
Fig. 21. Cdr. Anderson and the good men of Det 30 enjoying a swim and picnic in the Philippines on the 1956/1957 cruise. Also called a Beer Bust, such events were meant to bring the men together in informal circumstances both to show respect for a job well-done and so that the officers might become better informed of any complaints or unnecessary hardships so they could address them. Cruises often brought great difficulties to families, for instance, and these could sometimes be eased by a caring commander or by a network of wives in the unit. Chuck has his trusty Bell and Howell 8mm movie camera in hand. [Photo provided by Charles Bishop.]
Fig. 21. Cdr. Anderson and the good men of Det 30 enjoying a swim and picnic in the Philippines on the 1956/1957 cruise. Also called a Beer Bust, such events were meant to bring the men together in informal circumstances both to show respect for a job well-done and so that the officers might become better informed of any complaints or unnecessary hardships so they could address them. Cruises often brought great difficulties to families, for instance, and these could sometimes be eased by a caring commander or by a network of wives in the unit. Chuck has his trusty Bell and Howell 8mm movie camera in hand. [Photo provided by Charles Bishop.]
In NJ, the family lived on Brigantine Island, near its south end, just north of Atlantic City and across the saltwater marshes from Pleasantville on the mainland. The split level house at 3030 Revere Blvd. had an intercom system over which Crazy Otto’s wild ragtime piano would broadcast loudly on Saturday mornings to get everyone up to do the chores when Chuck was not away on cruise. Gershwin, Mozart, Sibelius’ Finlandia, and Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite would sometimes follow. Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey were big band favorites. Karen and Betsy would often wake Charles up in his large fourth floor bedroom when they watched cartoons there. Karen and Charles attended Brigantine Elementary School. A crash reading program by his Mom kept Charles from flunking third grade after it was discovered that he badly needed glasses and had not been able to read the board for a long time. The summer swimming was great on Brigantine, as were the fields filled with poison sumac. Charles took over cutting the grass when he was eight. He played outfield positions, shortstop, and second base on a baseball team. Only five days before leaving NJ, Scott Christian was born in Atlantic City on 18 February 1958.
Fig. 22. The house at 3030 Revere Blvd. in 2012. The building on the right side was only the small brick portion now at the front of a hugely enlarged building. The vacant lot behind our house is now occupied by a commercial building. The vacant lot across the side street is now the site of a home. The home across Revere where the Anderson children played with the Jensen children is now a restaurant. This is the first yard that Charles Jr. mowed.
Fig. 22. The house at 3030 Revere Blvd. in 2012. The building on the right side was only the small brick portion now at the front of a hugely enlarged building. The vacant lot behind our house is now occupied by a commercial building. The vacant lot across the side street is now the site of a home. The home across Revere where the Anderson children played with the Jensen children is now a restaurant. This is the first yard that Charles Jr. mowed.
Chuck’s first assignment at the Oceania Naval Air Station was 6 weeks of coursework. Then Commander Chuck Anderson became the commanding officer of Attack Squadron VA-75, The Sunday Punchers, from 2 July 1958 to 10 July 1959. They flew Douglas AD-6 Skyraiders, operating out of the Oceania Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, VA. President Eisenhower sent the Mediterranean Sixth Fleet to the shores of Lebanon in mid-July 1958 to keep forces supported by Egyptian President Nasser with his Soviet support from overthrowing the pro-West Lebanese government. Had that conflict expanded, Cdr. Anderson's squadron may well have been thrown into the fight.
Two months after Chuck took command, the squadron went to sea on the USS Randolph CVA-15, a WWII Essex class aircraft carrier modernized in 1955 with an angled deck and an enclosed hurricane bow. Chuck flew off of the Randolph from 16 July 1958 until 28 February 1959, flying a total of 246.4 hours during this time. Chuck discovered at this time that his squadron was very poorly trained and was not all-weather flight competent. The previous commanding officer, Cdr. Chris Brown, had not done his job and had rarely flown himself.
Two months after Chuck took command, the squadron went to sea on the USS Randolph CVA-15, a WWII Essex class aircraft carrier modernized in 1955 with an angled deck and an enclosed hurricane bow. Chuck flew off of the Randolph from 16 July 1958 until 28 February 1959, flying a total of 246.4 hours during this time. Chuck discovered at this time that his squadron was very poorly trained and was not all-weather flight competent. The previous commanding officer, Cdr. Chris Brown, had not done his job and had rarely flown himself.
The Randolph joined the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea during her fifth Mediterranean deployment from 2 September 1958 to 12 March 1959. VA-75 worked to develop long-range wave-top and tree-top flying techniques to escape radar detection while delivering nuclear weapons to targets deep into the USSR. This required flying 10 to 12 hours at a time at wave-top altitude, a very dangerous task. Chuck’s inherited Executive Officer, the second in command in the squadron, rarely flew, so Chuck took his wings away from him. Lt. JG Peterson flew into a mountain in Greece and Lt. Bishop was killed in an accident buzzing the tower, which he hoped would get him sent home. Lt. Cdr. Wally Arbuckle, a highly respected pilot, husband of a beautiful Creole wife, and a father of four daughters, was killed in a collision when a jet ran into him when he had the right-of-way. The jet pilot lived. This was the second collision accident he had caused that resulted in loss of life and he had had a further on-deck accident as well. The jet pilot killed three men. Chuck Anderson called for him to be court-martialed, which angered the wing commander, who was the incompetent pilot’s drinking buddy. The pilot was not court-martialed.
Fig. 23. The Sunday Punchers patch of attack squadron VA-75, which was commanded by Cdr. Charles R. Anderson from 2 July 1958 to 10 July 1959.
Fig. 24. A Douglas AD-6 Skyraider is shown landing on the USS Forrestal. This was the version of the AD Skyraider flown by VA-75. A hook on the tail of the plane will catch one of the heavy wires stretched across the deck to arrest the plane before it plows into planes parked a short distance forward of this landing area. Navy planes are built much stronger than land-based planes in order to hold up to the rigors of carrier flight deck landings during which the carrier may rise up on a swell to slam into a landing plane. The forces on the plane are immense during the sudden deceleration as the tail hook snags a landing cable as a heavy plane with considerable momentum is brought to a stop in a short distance.
Fig. 25. The patch of the USS Randolph (CVA-15) is shown.
Fig. 26. The USS Randolph is shown with the angled-deck upgrade.
Next, Chuck led a detachment assigned to the USS Independence CV-62, a Forrestal-class aircraft carrier, on its shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay as part of the Air Group CVW-7. She was launched on 6 June 1958 and arrived at her home port in Norfolk, VA on 30 June 1959. A shakedown cruise requires experienced sailors and airmen to cope with the many problems of a new ship. At the time, this was considered a supercarrier. VA-75 continued to fly from the USS Independence until 1967 as part of CVW-7. This was Chuck’s last cruise. He had spent 9.5 years of his time in the Navy at sea.
Fig. 27. The patch of the USS Independence (CV-62) features the Liberty Bell.
Fig. 28. A photo of the USS Independence (CV-62) is shown above. This carrier was huge compared to the USS Manila Bay on which Chuck served in WWII.
While in Virginia on this tour, the family lived in Thoroughgood, near Bayside, VA. Bayside is now incorporated into Virginia Beach. The brick ranch house at 4712 Hermitage Road had a large yard filled with more than 50 dogwood trees and many pecan trees. There were banks of azaleas in the front of the house. Across the street, a large flock of snowy egrets lived in the trees.
Fig. 29. The house at 4712 Hermitage Road is shown in 2007. The many dogwood trees were killed many years prior by a blight. The empty cul-de-sac across the road was long ago filled with homes and homes filled the empty lots between Capt. Cole's home on the left and the Pauley's home further to the left where Charles Jr.'s best friend Doug lived. The Walkers lived across the street with their children Dick and Cheryl.
When Chuck was at sea, the house next door had just been completed and bought by Capt. Cole. He had moved a freezer filled with food into his garage prior to moving in. Betty heard a noise one night and looked out the window to see a black man looking around. She called her friend Vi Whitney, the wife of Chuck’s executive officer and a little bitty woman, but quite an indomitable character. Vi rushed over. Vi confronted the man, who was then unloading food from Capt. Cole’s freezer. She told him he should know better than to steal and to put the food back and asked why he was taking it. He said he had no job and his wife and two children were hungry. So Vi told him to come with her to the Anderson house and gave him a load of food. A week later he came by and asked if he could rake the lawn in payment. Betty said yes. When he was done, he told her that she could sell the hundreds of pounds of pecans he had raked up for several hundred dollars. Betty said she did not want the pecans, but he was very welcome to have them. He was delighted and came by periodically to help with caring for the yard and he continued to carry off the pecans.
Fig. 29. The house at 4712 Hermitage Road is shown in 2007. The many dogwood trees were killed many years prior by a blight. The empty cul-de-sac across the road was long ago filled with homes and homes filled the empty lots between Capt. Cole's home on the left and the Pauley's home further to the left where Charles Jr.'s best friend Doug lived. The Walkers lived across the street with their children Dick and Cheryl.
When Chuck was at sea, the house next door had just been completed and bought by Capt. Cole. He had moved a freezer filled with food into his garage prior to moving in. Betty heard a noise one night and looked out the window to see a black man looking around. She called her friend Vi Whitney, the wife of Chuck’s executive officer and a little bitty woman, but quite an indomitable character. Vi rushed over. Vi confronted the man, who was then unloading food from Capt. Cole’s freezer. She told him he should know better than to steal and to put the food back and asked why he was taking it. He said he had no job and his wife and two children were hungry. So Vi told him to come with her to the Anderson house and gave him a load of food. A week later he came by and asked if he could rake the lawn in payment. Betty said yes. When he was done, he told her that she could sell the hundreds of pounds of pecans he had raked up for several hundred dollars. Betty said she did not want the pecans, but he was very welcome to have them. He was delighted and came by periodically to help with caring for the yard and he continued to carry off the pecans.
Charles, Karen, and Betsy attended the very over-crowded Bayside Elementary School. Charles had two wonderfully good teachers there, the incomparable Mrs. Sochek and then Mr. Duggan. Charles played many hours of baseball in the summers with his friend Doug Pauley. Karen played with Cheryl Walker. Sometimes Karen and Charles rode their bikes down to the ruins of the Thoroughgood House, which has since been restored and is a tourist stop in Virginia Beach indicated on many maps. We went to the Little Creek Amphibious Base or to Virginia Beach to the beaches in the summers.
In the summer of 1959, the Andersons moved to Middletown, Rhode Island and bought a house at 7 Longmeadow Avenue. Chuck attended the Senior Naval War College in Newport, RI. He graduated with distinction and his thesis was published by the Naval Academy, the Japanese Navy, and the Argentine Navy. Once again his excellent work as a student earned him an assignment to the faculty. He taught for two years at the Junior Naval War College and introduced new teaching methods, while also studying International Law at the University of Rhode Island. He kept up his flying skills by flying a SNB5 aircraft.
Fig. 30. The house at 7 Longmeadow Ave. in Middletown, RI is shown here as of 2012. The basketball backboard was mounted on the roof of the garage when the Andersons leaved here from 1959 to 1962. To the left the hill on which the house was built steepens.
Peggy Mahr Anderson was born in Newport on 19 September 1960, giving new meaning to “Peg O’ My Heart,” a song played often when Chuck was on cruises both at home and at sea. The children played in the woods uphill from home and crossed Valley Road to a sledding hill beyond a tree farm in the winter. Betsy, sometimes with Scott on her back, would often go down the hill on Charles’s back and roll off before Charles went under the barbed wire fence just before the creek at the bottom of the hill. Karen had her own sled. Charles often read books perched in one of a pair of particularly large trees up the hill. The nearby Green End Pond provided ice skating for part of each winter. Charles played a lot of one-on-one basketball. He played chess, took up debating, and honors math and history classes. For more than two years, he delivered newspapers from his bicycle on a mixed rural and residential paper route and he mowed nearby lawns. Chuck took Charles sailing a number of times on the Narragansett Bay in the 19-foot long wooden Lightning class sailboats kept at the Naval War College. They greatly enjoyed learning to sail together.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was in October 1962. Cdr. Anderson was involved in a number of war-gaming sessions related to that event.
Fig. 30. The house at 7 Longmeadow Ave. in Middletown, RI is shown here as of 2012. The basketball backboard was mounted on the roof of the garage when the Andersons leaved here from 1959 to 1962. To the left the hill on which the house was built steepens.
Peggy Mahr Anderson was born in Newport on 19 September 1960, giving new meaning to “Peg O’ My Heart,” a song played often when Chuck was on cruises both at home and at sea. The children played in the woods uphill from home and crossed Valley Road to a sledding hill beyond a tree farm in the winter. Betsy, sometimes with Scott on her back, would often go down the hill on Charles’s back and roll off before Charles went under the barbed wire fence just before the creek at the bottom of the hill. Karen had her own sled. Charles often read books perched in one of a pair of particularly large trees up the hill. The nearby Green End Pond provided ice skating for part of each winter. Charles played a lot of one-on-one basketball. He played chess, took up debating, and honors math and history classes. For more than two years, he delivered newspapers from his bicycle on a mixed rural and residential paper route and he mowed nearby lawns. Chuck took Charles sailing a number of times on the Narragansett Bay in the 19-foot long wooden Lightning class sailboats kept at the Naval War College. They greatly enjoyed learning to sail together.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was in October 1962. Cdr. Anderson was involved in a number of war-gaming sessions related to that event.
Fig. 31. The Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island is shown.
After teaching one year on the faculty of the Naval War College, Chuck received orders to move the family again and put the house at 7 Longmeadow Avenue in Middletown up for sale. He found a buyer and shook hands on the purchase. Though no paperwork had been done for the sale, when the orders were changed the next day and he was told to stay at the Naval War College, Chuck honored his sale and the family moved out.
The family had nowhere to live, so they went on a vacation trip through northern New England into Canada to Quebec and Montreal and on to Niagara Falls. They camped out most nights in a large canvas tent. In Quebec, the older children took the coldest showers of their lives. During an incredible thunderstorm, Scott was walloped in the head when the gas-mantle lantern was shaken from the peak of the tent. In the ensuing darkness, Peggy disappeared. After much desperate searching, she was found in the bottom of a sleeping bag, curled up in a small ball. The family had temporary quarters at Fort Adams in Newport for much of the remaining summer. Charles took the younger children fishing off the rocks on the bay several times while there. He read William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich that summer and realized that fascism was a form of socialism, which even Shirer seemed to miss.
The family had nowhere to live, so they went on a vacation trip through northern New England into Canada to Quebec and Montreal and on to Niagara Falls. They camped out most nights in a large canvas tent. In Quebec, the older children took the coldest showers of their lives. During an incredible thunderstorm, Scott was walloped in the head when the gas-mantle lantern was shaken from the peak of the tent. In the ensuing darkness, Peggy disappeared. After much desperate searching, she was found in the bottom of a sleeping bag, curled up in a small ball. The family had temporary quarters at Fort Adams in Newport for much of the remaining summer. Charles took the younger children fishing off the rocks on the bay several times while there. He read William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich that summer and realized that fascism was a form of socialism, which even Shirer seemed to miss.
Just before the school year started, the family moved into a newly built and very small officers’ quarters house at 16 Chase’s Lane in Middletown. Chuck often studied for his University of Rhode Island courses in the noisy house in his very small office, the bathroom. He was working for an International Law degree. Charles spent a couple of weeks picking up all the stones in the yard, giving rocky New England a graphic meaning. Karen’s bedroom was a hall storage closet, which she liked because she had it to herself. Charles and Scott shared a small room and Betsy and Peggy shared another. Chase’s Lane put the family in a more densely populated area, where there were more children to play with. Charles frequented the Marine Gym to play basketball. Charles loved honors geometry and Mr. Anthony’s Honors U.S. History class, which came with benefits: three skiing trips to New Hampshire and a role as a U.S. Senator in mock debates. Leslie Leigh Anderson was born in Newport on 16 February 1963. Chuck and Betty now had their full complement of children with four daughters and two sons, though the children's cousin Todd Christianson was later to join the family in Tulsa when he was three years old.
While assigned to the Naval War College, most of Chuck's flying time was in a SNB5, a WWII Navy transport plane. Chuck's last Navy flying time was on 6 November 1962 when he flew an SNB5 for 5.3 hours. His total Navy flight pilot hours were 4,527.0. In June 1963, Chuck retired from the Navy after 22 years of protecting the freedom of Americans from threats abroad.
While assigned to the Naval War College, most of Chuck's flying time was in a SNB5, a WWII Navy transport plane. Chuck's last Navy flying time was on 6 November 1962 when he flew an SNB5 for 5.3 hours. His total Navy flight pilot hours were 4,527.0. In June 1963, Chuck retired from the Navy after 22 years of protecting the freedom of Americans from threats abroad.
Chuck Anderson had three job offers. One with a consulting firm in New York City, one with GE Aviation in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania doing contract work with the Navy, and one with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He decided the people offering the job in Pennsylvania had ethical deficiencies and that the commute from New York City to Stamford, Connecticut would not allow him the time he wanted with his family, so he turned those offers down. Meanwhile, the manager who had offered him a job with American Airlines at their Maintenance Base in Tulsa was fired, so that job offer was withdrawn. Cdr. Anderson had decided Tulsa would be a good place for family life and figured he would be able to find a job there. American Airlines had invited him to visit them for further consideration.
So the Anderson family moved to Tulsa. They arrived on Friday and Chuck took Charles with him to scout out the homes for sale on Saturday. They identified three possibilities, but both really liked a gray stone Tudor style house in a cul-de-sac in Southeast Tulsa. Betty joined them on Sunday to see the three houses they picked and fortunately chose the gray stone home. The sale price was $34,500. Charles contributed his lawn mowing and paper route savings which had been multiplied by his investments in stocks to make the $1500 down payment. Mr. Simpson, the builder, allowed the Anderson's to move into the new home on Monday in a time when a handshake was a bond of honor. Meanwhile, none of the children were aware that their Dad did not have a job yet in Tulsa. The Anderson's did own three houses at this time. The Thoroughgood home in Bayside, VA and the Brigantine Island home in New Jersey had been rented and made up their considerable real estate portfolio! Both homes were sold successfully in the remainder of 1963.
Fig. 32. The Anderson family home at 5930 East 53rd St., Tulsa, Oklahoma pictured in February 2015.
This was Charles’s 13th move in his 16 years and was Karen’s 11th move in 14 years. Charles had lived in nine different states and Karen in seven. Each move had been an adventure, which Charles appreciated as such and Karen would have preferred doing without. Charles had always viewed any hardships due to his Dad being at sea or to moving as a chance to support his Dad and the effort to keep America free.
In his second career, Chuck worked for American Airlines and retired after 18 years as Manager of Quality Control on 1 September 1981, at what was then the principal maintenance base for American Airlines. Concurrently and subsequently, he helped manage his wife’s business, The Knit Box. The gray stone house on East 53rd Street was a bit small for six children, but it was well-built. The children’s cousin Todd came to live with the family in 1963 when he was three years old. His father George Christianson, the younger of Betty’s two older brothers, also came to live with the family in 1964 due to a brain injury suffered in a car accident, which severely limited his short-term memory, and alcoholism. George died in 1976. Chuck’s mother Bessie Poole moved to Tulsa in September 1963 and lived there in her trailer home until 1976. Chuck stopped on his way home from work at American Airlines almost every day to see her. Grandma Poole died in August 1976 after going to Minneapolis to be with relatives there.
Charles and Karen went to the very new Memorial Senior High School. Charles played lots of sandlot football and contract bridge. Charles was selected for a summer engineering and mathematics program for high school students about to become seniors at Brown University in Providence, RI. In the second year in Tulsa, the Andersons hosted Benicio De Sousa, an AFS student from a small town near Vitoria, Brazil. Ben became a medical doctor, but while in Tulsa he was better known as a playboy. Charles graduated in the 2nd graduating class of Memorial. Betsy went to Byrd Middle School and then to Memorial. Scott, Peggy, and Leslie went to Key Elementary School, Byrd Middle School, and graduated from Memorial Senior High School. Scott early developed a fascination for working on cars and trucks. All of the Anderson children did very well in school. Peggy graduated early. Chuck and Betty sent all six of their children to college. Charles went to Brown University majoring in physics, Karen to Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, majoring in English, Betsy, Scott (in engineering), and Peggy to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Leslie to Oklahoma University in Norman, Oklahoma majoring in business.
Chuck had a swimming pool built in 1970 and family summers thereafter involved children and grandchildren swimming, diving, and playing games such as Marco Polo and Sharks and minnows in the pool. Chuck enjoyed working on the yard and working in the gardens. He also took painstakingly good care of the swimming pool. He enjoyed the song “The Green Berets” and listened to it over and over. He also enjoyed Peter, Paul, and Mary. He and Betty often danced in the Green Room to the Lawrence Welk program when it was on TV. Chuck and Betty took trips to Spain, Italy, and Vancouver, British Columbia. They had a number of time-share condominiums at lakes in Arkansas and went to them with family or friends several weeks each year for many years. Chuck and Betty often took care of their grandchildren when their children needed to work or to go out for some adult entertainment. Peggy's oldest son, Jonathon Knapp, especially spent a lot of time with his grandfather and grandmother.
Chuck Anderson had radiation treatments for prostate cancer. Errant and excessive radiation damaged his kidneys in an obvious case of medical malpractice. As a result, Chuck had to begin dialysis treatments when he was 85 in 2003. The life-expectancy for a man on dialysis at that age is 1.5 years. Chuck, with his usual good cheer and indomitable courage, endured dialysis for 4 years before his organs gave up the battle. He was a great inspiration to his family through this ordeal, as he had been throughout his life. Two days before Christmas 2007, the family was told to come home to see their Dad or Grandfather for the last time. Karen drove down from Lenexa, Kansas, Leslie drove straight through from Greensboro, North Carolina with her two daughters Addy (Adriene) and Kat (Katherine), and Charles flew in from Silver Spring, Maryland. Betsy, Scott, and Peggy had been in Tulsa all along, offering constant help to Dad and Mom through these last difficult years. We all joined our Dad on Christmas Eve and told him we loved him and told him he had always been a great father. Dad was very clear-minded most of the afternoon and evening. Chuck went to sleep that evening after saying goodbye to all of us and about 0130 hours on Christmas morning he died in his sleep with his whole family with him.
Charles Robert Anderson, Cdr. Chuck Anderson, Dad, and Grandpa is very much in our memories still. He made the life of everyone who knew him richer and happier. He helped each of us to develop better character and more wisdom than we could have without having him in our lives.
This biography was written by Charles Robert Anderson, Jr., Ph.D., the proud oldest son of Charles Robert Anderson. Charles loves history and grew up very much enjoying talking with his Dad about politics, economics, international affairs, and the military. It was natural that he write extensively about his father's years in the Navy. However, he has always hoped that other family members would write about their experiences with their Dad or Grandpa and fill out the Tulsa years of his Dad's rich life. Charles went to Brown University in the Fall of 1965, then to Case Western Reserve University to get his Ph.D. in Physics in 1969, with an interruption to serve as a draftee in the Army and a tour in Vietnam. He then worked for a decade at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, six years at Martin Marietta Laboratories - Baltimore, and then founded his own materials analysis laboratory (Anderson Materials Evaluation) while living in Maryland. Consequently, other family members are better suited to write about Dad's life in the Tulsa years. If you write up any rememberances, Charles will be happy to see they are posted here.
If you served with Cdr. Anderson in the Navy, worked with him at American Airlines, or knew him in some other capacity, your memories of him and the story of your activities with him will be very much appreciated. Please send them to his son, Charles R. Anderson, Jr. at charles.r.anderson@gmail.com. I will incorporate what I can in this biography. I will also appreciate any corrections that may be needed. If you are willing to have your comments entered as a separate post, I will be happy to post them. In some cases this may make it possible for old friends to find one another again. For those who served with Cdr. Chuck Anderson in the Navy, your service is appreciated. I know my Dad had a very great respect for most of the men with whom he served. As you know, he had high standards and he applied them fairly. He respected others enough to expect them to have high standards also.
Last additions or edits made on 17 December 2020.
If you served with Cdr. Anderson in the Navy, worked with him at American Airlines, or knew him in some other capacity, your memories of him and the story of your activities with him will be very much appreciated. Please send them to his son, Charles R. Anderson, Jr. at charles.r.anderson@gmail.com. I will incorporate what I can in this biography. I will also appreciate any corrections that may be needed. If you are willing to have your comments entered as a separate post, I will be happy to post them. In some cases this may make it possible for old friends to find one another again. For those who served with Cdr. Chuck Anderson in the Navy, your service is appreciated. I know my Dad had a very great respect for most of the men with whom he served. As you know, he had high standards and he applied them fairly. He respected others enough to expect them to have high standards also.
Last additions or edits made on 17 December 2020.
