MM2c Charles Bruce Chadwick

Charles Bruce Chadwick was the son of farmers from Rena Lara, Mississippi, in the northwest corner of the state near the Mississippi River.

Rena Lara was a Farm Security Administration community, a federal Depression-era program to help poor rural residents. In the South, those were mostly sharecroppers and tenant farmers.

Mr. Chadwick was born Nov. 21, 1916, and joined the Navy on July 13, 1938. His parents, Charles Wright Chadwick and Estelle Chadwick, were also born in Mississippi. Census records do not show Charles Bruce’s level of schooling, but both parents finished the 8th grade.

Mr. Chadwick was a machinist’s mate and petty officer 2nd class when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

A memorial service was held in June 1942 at Merigold, Mississippi, to honor Mr. Chadwick and other men from nearby FSA communities killed or serving in the war.

Sources: The Delta Democrat-Times of Greenville, Mississippi; Census records; The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune of Chillicothe, Missouri; Navy muster rolls; WWI draft registration card; Veterans Administration. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.