From the Jan. 31, 2016, (Chicago) Daily Herald "Suburban Pearl Harbor survivor dies at 92"
Charles May grew up in a small town in Missouri and joined the Navy at age 17. He was on the USS Phoenix when the attack came.
He and a group of other sailors from his ship were waiting on the quarterdeck for a motor launch which was taking them over to the USS Arizona for Protestant services when they saw the Japanese planes. When they saw the red ball on their wings, they scattered for their battle stations. He manned a 50 caliber machine gun as an alternate loader.
It was then that they heard , "All hands man your battle stations. This is no drill."
He was living in Huntley, Illinois at the time of his death. He did not talk much about his war experiences until after he saw the movie "Pearl Harbor."
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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