RETURNS
Charles L. Hall, fireman second class, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph O. Hall of this city has returned to San Pedro, Cal., after a short leave in this city. He is a graduate of the navy sound motion picture technical school at San Diego and is now engaged in the maintenance of motor picture projectors and sound equipment at San Pedro. He is also a projectionist at the station theater there. Prior to entering the service he was employed as a projectionist at a the Isis and Webster theaters in this city. His Address is Charles L. Hall, F 2c, Ajax Detail, U.S.N.R.S., San Pedro, Cal.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Oct. 1, 1943
ABOARD THE USS AJAX, IN THE PACIFIC — (Delayed) —
Charles L. Hall, electrician’s mate second class, of Webster City, Ia., and fellow crew members of this huge repair ship had reason to take pride in the fleet units that took part in the occupation of Japan because some of those ships couldn’t have been in that historic operation if it hadn’t been for the jack-of-all-trades efficiency of the men of the Ajax.
From the Marshalls to the Carolinas, the Philippines and Okinawa, the Ajax sailed with the navy’s men-o’-war, ready to handle any assignment from making false teeth for an uncomfortable sailor to fashioning steel plates for the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.
Repairs at anchorages and points of ship concentrations in the forward areas ranged from changing rudders on small boats to replacing sections of a carrier’s deck. The machine shop could manufacture a small bolt or repair a large turbine. Electrical repairs ranged from “nursing” an ordinary electric fan to rewinding a 900 horsepower generator. The Ajax men also were capable of checking intricate fire control apparatus or repairing a clock. The shipfitter’s shop could shear, roll and form steel plates for the hulls of big ships. The foundry could pour castings up to 1,000 pounds.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Nov. 3, 1945
Charles Lewis Hall was born Feb. 19, 1921 to Ralph Orlando and Mary Elizabeth Shyrock Hall. He died Oct. 8, 1996 in Pendegras, GA.
Petty Officer Hall served with the U.S. Navy in World War II aboard the USS Ajax (AR-6).
Source: ancestry.com
