Charles E. Lishman US Navy USS Perry |
Charles "Chuck" was born on September 17, 1920 and grew up in Long Beach, CA. At age 17, and while still in high school, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve. He graduated from high school in February 1939 and then attended Junior College for a time before deciding to get work on an oil tanker in the Merchant Marines. As world conditions worsened, he was called up for active duty in the Navy in April 1941 and was sent to San Diego Naval Air Station. In June he was assigned to the USS Perry (DMS17), a Destroyer Minesweeper which would be escorting the Battleships USS Arizona, Nevada and Oklahoma in a convoy. This brought him to Pearl Harbor where he was on December 7, 1941. He married his childhood sweetheart, Dorothy, on June 28, 1941. It was 11 months and 11 days before they saw each other again. His enlistment was up on December 3, 1941, and he was scheduled to "ship out" for home on December 8. He figured he would soon be out of the Navy. The Perry was not large enough to have a "ships store", so he had done his Christmas shopping earlier while visiting a friend on the USS Oklahoma. Early on December 7th, he was ready to go on liberty and pick up the gifts and say goodbye to his friends. At that moment, he heard the planes over Hickam Field. One plane flew so close he could easily identify the "rising sun" on its side. The bombs began falling close enough to lift the stern out of the water. General Quarters was sounded and then men went quickly to their Battle Stations and started firing what guns they had at the planes, as well as at a small two man submarine which was starting to surface nearby. It was sunk, with at least partial credit going to the Perry for putting a bullet through the conning tower. The Perry also received possible credit for two Japanese planes shot down nearby. After making its way out of the Harbor past the sunken and burning ships, the Perry then did hours of patrol duty outside the entrance. For many days, the "harbor sweep (called Juicy Lucie), worked to clear the bodies and debrisit was more than six weeks later that Dorothy received a "form" postcard assuring her that Chuck was alive and well. From 1941 through August of 1944, the Perry, with Lishman aboard, performed duties in the Bering Sea and the South Pacific. For this and more, the USS Perry earned six battle stars during World War II. In August 1944, Chick was sent "stateside" to fire school. On September 13, 1944, the USS Perry was sunk after hitting a mine, which demolished the forward fire room, his former station. Eight of he former shipmates were killed and 17 wounded. After completing fire school, his last assignment was aboard the USS Fergus, an attack personnel auxiliary ship, which ferried Marines from San Diego to Okinawa for that invasion. He was honorably discharged in October 1945. His wife Dorothy and their 5-month-old son welcomed him. They had seen each other only four times in the four years and four months since their marriage. They celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary, on June 28, 2001. |
Information provided by Lawrence McNabb, Historian of Chapter 8 Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. |
