Page 98 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2018- Online Magazine

Charles Starnes Remembering the

Candy Bomber

by Jody Boudreaux Wilson

‘You‘re joining the Navy Reserves.’ looted, and countless windows and
They swore me in in the living room chandeliers were broken by the
of our home.” That was sort of Nazis.) Suddenly, the Cold War
what Charles wanted to do anyway. was won. Charles’ world shifted,
He was nineteen and in his second too; he retired in 1996.
year of college. College protected
students from the draft, and many He earned his master’s degree at
took advantage of the shelter as long West Texas A&M. A professor told
as they could. Charles joined. him, “Go to Texas Tech and get your
PhD.” Charles said, “I’m too old for
The military didn’t know what that,” but the younger pofessor was
to do with a guy who graduated convincing. When he got the final
college in three years, so Charles got signatures on his dissertation, he
into Officers Candidate School. “A stopped by Wayland University. He
recruiting officer told me, ‘Starnes, had never been there before. In July,
you are a physics and math major; the campus was mostly empty. He
you need to be a nuclear-powered asked about openings, was given an
submarine officer.’ I nodded and application and was hired. “There
said, ‘OK.’” was no anxiety; the professors were
wonderful. And there was just a
“How did you manage the immense feeling that this is the way it needs to
underwater stress?” I ventured. be.” That was August 2003.
Charles shook his head. “There
really is no stress. Everybody is During his early college days in
e was laughing as he walked intensely trained to react to fire, Georgetown, Charles had met his
into The Brew on Friday flooding, or enemy attack - trained wife Susie at The Intrepid, where
Hmorning. He had forgotten over and over to build confidence. they served pizza, soft drinks and
our interview. He was late, his golf Whatever happens, you know “near-beer.” She was a “cute little
game cut short. But Charles Starnes exactly what to do.” blonde” who worked in the kitchen
was neither frustrated nor defensive. and waited tables. He was a pizza
He sat down with a cup of coffee, A submarine crew realizes that cook. “It was . . . boom!” They
sporting a boyish grin. even though their ship is 5,000 tons, now have four children and three
more or less, it is a tiny thing in a grandchildren.
I asked my first question: “Why big ocean. In the early 1970s in the
the Navy?” He smiled. “Both my Pacific, Charles and his crew ended There was a massive event called the
parents were in the Navy in WW up in a typhoon. There were no Departure of the Allied Troops held
II. Dad continued in the Navy weather satellites. At 400 feet deep, in Berlin in 1994. Charles was the
Reserve another twenty something the sub was rocking 15 degrees off Naval Attaché assigned to a 4-Star
years. Mom was a WAVE training vertical. Every six hours, they had General. At that event, he interacted
instructor.” He explained in to come up, stick an antenna up and with “a bald rotund fellow”, Helmut
addition, “Dad, also a Methodist copy the radio teletype broadcast to Kohl, Chancellor of Germany,
pastor, served as Associate Pastor find out if the world was okay. Then as well as the Prime Minister of
for J. L. Haynes in Pampa, Texas and they took 50 degree rolls off vertical, England, John Major. At the snack
was the founding pastor of Wesley or 100-degree swings. On the same table, he spoke with Henry Kissinger
UMC in Borger, Texas.” Charles cruise, the submarine began to and with François Mitterand, once
sipped his coffee. “When WWII shake. What? Had they been caught he had concluded his speech. “All
broke out, Dad said, ‘I’ve got to go’, in a fishing net? Radio teletype gave these VIPs, so what?” Charles got a
so he became a chaplain.” Off to them the updates telling them that faraway look in his eyes and tears
the Pacific he went on a troop ship, they had experienced an undersea began to gather. “Meeting Gail
where they carried Marines back and earthquake. Halvorsen overshadowed it all.”
forth to places like Guadalcanal.
Other parts of the world were also Charles was approached with,
In the Vietnam War, every young shaking. On November 9, 1989, “You need to track down retired
man was subject to the draft, and the Berlin Wall fell. (Strangely, Col. Gail Halvorsen and give him
Charles had a very low number. it happened on the same date this message.” He found him at
“Dad and one of his friends, without as Kristallnacht, 51 years earlier, TGIFridays in Berlin, sitting with
much consultation with me, said when the synagogues in eastern friends. Halvorsen said, “Let’s chat.”
Europe were vandalized, businesses

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