Chuck Westermann enlisted in the Navy in 1943. "Since I was 17 and wasn't drafted I could pick the Navy. I only weighed 120 pounds and I figured if I get in the Army I couldn't march with a pack that weighed more than me.

Originally he was from Roseville, Michigan. His tool and die-maker father died at 47 and Chuck went to work in a machine shop for 35 cents an hour.

In October of 1943 he was sent to the Salt Lake City to be a passenger to Pearl Harbor where he was to be stationed. By the time the ship got there he had been drafted as a member of the crew and was in the "A" Division where his machine shop experience could be used on the evaporators, in the machine shop and boiler room.

Chuck remembers the invasion of Tarawa. He had been taking a shower when the Japanese planes came over the Salt Lake City firing. He grabbed his clothes and ran naked to his general quarters control station. When he got there he put his clothes on.

A less fun incident happened when the ship was being refueled during the Philippine actions. In the fire room a 15,000 gallon oil tank burst. Chuck had been standing next to it and he would have been in serious trouble if a Chief hadn't immediately raised the air pressure that took the fumes into the boiler so it wouldn't back flash. It was a close call.

He almost had another serious problem when, after the war, the SLC rolled 47 degrees just before going up the Columbia River. Luckily Chuck managed to grab on to some machinery.

He was offered first class to take the SLC to Bikini, but he decided he wanted to go home. He tried college for a year but gave it up to start a refuse business. He married a local 17 year old girl when he was 25. "I had to marry a young girl, the older ones knew me," he jokes. They had three daughters and three sons. One son was killed in an auto accident.

Recently Chuck and wife, Marian, went to the American Legion Hall to discover they were being thrown a big surprise 50th wedding anniversary party by their children with all their friends and relatives present. They have eight grandchildren.

Chuck sold his refuse business and now does a lot of volunteer work. Mostly he drives Veterans to the Veterans Hospital 40 miles away.

He has been to every reunion and since the one in Philadelphia, he has been an important part of each one. He is in charge of the "Memorabilia Room" and has to pack, unpack and display the thousands of items at each reunion. If you want to thank Chuck for his hard work, just look for a short guy with bright suspenders.