Charles Carlson Lt. j.g.

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Biography

David was born in 1920 in Ironwood, MI to Charles/ Carl Johan Carlson Fratt, an iron miner and lumberjack from western Finland, who immigrated via Boston in 1907 and Ester Anderson, a young Swede-Finn born in Noyes Township, Pennsylvania, but who returned to Finland with her parents. She returned back to the United States after their deaths in 1914. At about age seven or eight, he was sent to live with his childless paternal aunt, Selma Carlsdotter Fratt/ Carlson and her half-Swedish/ half-Norwegian husband Arthur Anderson. He attended school in Burke, Shoshone County, and in Coeur d'Aleine Idaho as "David Charles Anderson." He was salutatorian of his graduating high-school class in Idaho. He obtained a pilot's license about 1940. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy, intending to become an aviator. After flight training at Sand Point Naval Station, Washington, he went to Corpus Christi, Texas. He was removed from flight training due to inability to hold formation, a requirement that was waived after Pearl Harbor and U.S. entry in WWII. He attended mid-shipman's school at Columbia University in New York City, and thence entered active service in the Pacific Theater as an anti-aircraft gunnery control officer aboard the Fletcher class destroyer, USS Porterfield (DD682). The ship was heavily involved in shore bombardment and anti-aircraft picket duty during the Battle of Okinawa. He married Margaret L. Briggs of Twin Falls Idaho 3 Aug. 1945 while on leave. Postwar, he worked for the AEC in Idaho, and obtained a position at a lead mine in Idaho. Later, he and Margaret became school teachers. He died in 1961, apparently from a self-inflicted gun shot, leaving Margaret widowed--she never remarried--and three children, two sons and a little daughter. ^[1]

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Sources

<US Census, 1930, NARA and Ancestry.com online. Burke, Shoshone County, Idaho, USA; pg. 1A, family 1, dwelling 1, lines 1-3; April 2, 1930; Enumeration Dist 40-3; National Archives Microfilm Roll 2340138. >

See also:

• Add [[1940 U.S. Fed. Census, NARA and Ancestry.com online. Coeur d'Aleine City, Ward 3, Enumeration district 28-16 Lewis Precinct, Block Nos. 500-600-700-800; Kootenai County, Idaho, USA; pg. 1A, Lincoln Way 632 Family 1, lines 1-3; April 2, 1940; National Archives Microfilm Roll T627-748 .

U.S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949; NARA and Ancestry.com Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 198-2007, Series ARC ID; Charles Carlson, USS Porterfield, DD-682; 21 Mar 1945. U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Pines Cemetery, Spokane, Spokane Co., WA, USA. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963. U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. Web: Washington, Find a Grave Index, 1821-2012 Pine Cemetery, Spokane Wa.]] here.