From: CAPT Neil O'Connor, USN RET
Subject: The Charlie House Letter
Date: Thu 01/17/13 03:33 PM
While a student at the Naval War College (1974-1975) I
wrote to him [Charlie House] asking if he would write about his career experiences. In July 1975
I graduated with orders to Seventh Fleet Staff embarked on the USS Oklahoma
City, CG-5, and had not received a response by the time I departed Newport. I
can only speculate that his letter was probably written sometime in 1975. It was
not until a librarian at the War College sent me a copy in 2010 of the original
letter which I believe to be a working copy.
I should add that as an
ensign in 1956 I had the pleasure of serving with him at NSA Fort Mead.
Date: Thu 01/17/13 04:20 PM
Not relevant to the letter of his wartime situation but certainly about the experiences of the man himself: He was a member of the ground crew scheduled to tether the airship Hindenburg that crashed at Lakehurst Naval Air Station on May 6 1937. As the immense airship was being secured to portable mast it abruptly exploded as it lurched upward, many of the line handling ground crew were carried aloft as they held onto their securing lines. Charlie estimated that he was 15 to 20 feet above ground before he painfully slid down the line he was holding. As soon as he dropped onto the tarmac he scrambled from beneath the rain of fiery debris. Although bruised and aching he escaped serious injury. However, as if a daily reminder of that disaster, Charlie carried a lifetime of scarred hands that undoubtedly saved his life.
Unfortunately I am not aware that he ever documented the event other conversationally. (He was a graduate of class 3713 (May 1937) at the Aerographers Mate School. I graduated in Class 71 in Mar. 1946, I don't know when the change was made in numbering graduating classes.
