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| Aviation Machinist Mate Charles Lawrence was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. A destroyer escort was named for him. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74797311/charles-lawrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Charles_Lawrence_(DE-53) |
Charles Lawrence never had a chance to reach 100 years old. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
I began this project on January 1, 2017. It will conclude on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War 2. During the intervening time, a different fallen serviceman was profiled every day on his 100th birthday. I have decided to round out the project by profiling one of the fallen born between December 7, 1916 and December 31, 1916. This will result in one of the fallen being profiled for every day America was engaged in World War 2. The total will be 1,366 men and women. That's enough for only 13 stars out of the 4,048 on the Freedom Wall of the World War II Memorial.
Charles was born on December 29, 1916 in Portland, Oregon. I was not able to find census information on Charles' family. He had one sister.
He first tried to enlist in the navy, but he couldn't pass the physical. He was accepted into the army in August 1937. He was trained as an aviation machinist and served in Hawaii servicing B-18 bombers. He was discharged in October 1939.
The next year he signed up for the navy in March 1940. He was still an aviation machinist. This time he was assigned to work on PBYs.
On December 7, 1941 the PBYs at Kaneohe Naval Air Station were destroyed by the Japanese attack. Due to the Japanese line of flight, this was the first American unit attacked that morning, before the Japanese bombed the ships in the harbor. During the attack, AMM 2/c Lawrence was put in charge of an anti-aircraft battery. Though wounded twice, he refused to leave his post until he was struck down. It is very possible that AMM Lawrence was the first American killed in the Pearl Harbor attack, and hence the first killed by the enemy in WW2 (excluding the USS Reuben James sunk by a German U-boat a few weeks earlier).
His headstone application says Charles earned the Navy Cross. However, I was not able to find a citation.
A destroyer escort was named in his honor.
His grave is at River View Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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