WT1c Charles Nicholas Charlton

Charles Nicholas Charlton was born April 27, 1911 in Sitka, Alaska, to John Charlton, a miner, and Pelegria “Polly” Simanoff Charlton, a homemaker.

The boy was about four when his father died in 1915. Charles moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lived at the Bethany Home for Boys. At some point after 1920 he moved to Arden, North Carolina, to attend Christ School, a private, Episcopal boarding school.

Mr. Charlton enlisted in the Navy on Feb. 5, 1930 in Seattle. He was a watertender and petty officer 1st class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on  Dec. 7, 1941.

He was survived by his widow, Lillian, who lived in San Pedro, California, home base for the Arizona.

It appears that his father also served in the Navy, though his military record could not be located. When he was admitted to a Navy hospital in Sitka in 1900 for a fever, the register said he was a civilian but had previously served 10 years in the Navy.

At least one brother, William, served in the Army from 1950 to 1952.

Sources: The Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer; the San Pedro (California) News-Pilot; the Sitka (Alaska) Daily Sentinel; Census; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death file. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.