Friday's Photo: Charles William Giddens - 1962

Charles William Giddens and his homemade Christmas decorations
Hollywood, Florida - 1962

Charles William Giddens was my Great-Uncle Charlie and the son of Charles Allen Giddens and Mary Lucy Glynn. My grandmother's brother, Charles was born in Crew, Virginia where his father had a clothing store for a short period. By 1900 the Giddens family was living in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Charles served in the U.S. Army in WWI and left for Florida during WWII to serve in the U.S. Navy. Charles and his wife, Louise Uhde were living in Hollywood, Florida by 1948. They remained in Hollywood until their deaths, Charles in 1972 and Louise in 1975. 

I've posted about Charles and Louise Giddens several times in this blog. To learn more, click on the following links. 

Friday's Photo: Cannons in Phillipsburg, New Jersey

Friday's Photo: A New Photo of Charles William Giddens 

Thanksgiving at the Aviation Free Gunnery School - 1942 

Friday's Photo: Charles Giddens Had a House on Irvington Avenue in South Orange, New Jersey 

Friday's Photo: Another Giddens Family Photograph

Friday's Photo: Charles William Giddens

Friday's Photo: Charles Giddens - Four Years Old

Friday's Photo: Louise Uhde


If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2019

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn. 

Thanksgiving at the Aviation Free Gunnery School - 1942

Both the names Aviation Free Gunnery School and Naval Air Gunners School were
 found in his scrapbook. The Aviation Free Gunnery School
may have been a part of the Naval Air Gunners School. 

All items seen in this post were found in Uncle Charlie's scrapbook - "Snaps and Scraps, My Life in the Navy"

On September 9, 1942, at age 49, my great-uncle, Charles William Giddens, left from New York City for the U. S. Naval Training Station in Norfolk, Virginia. He arrived September 11th for training in Platoon #51 to become a Chief Specialist G (Gunnery Instructor). Less than a month later, he left Norfolk for his duty station, the Naval Air Gunners School in Hollywood, Florida. 

Mom said her Uncle Charlie was a sharpshooter. He was a sergeant in the U.S. Army's Rainbow Division when he was injured in Sergy, France during WWI in 1918. In 1942 he was a supervisor for the local gas company, was married to Louise Uhde Giddens, and owned a home at 263 Irvingtion Avenue in South Orange, New Jersey. Mom said he tried to rejoin the Army during WWII, but was too old; however, the Navy needed him. At the Gunnery school, he was said to teach new sailors to shoot. 

In 1942, Charlie celebrated his first Thanksgiving in at the gunnery school. Here is the menu. 

Names on the menu:
Charles C. Gold, W. L. Guthrie,
J. R. Fitzpatrick, L. F. Beotte

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2016

Source

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn