With the draft looming, and not wanted to sleep in foxhole, Charles Owen made the decision to enlist in the United States Navy in January 1943. After completing basic training in Great Lakes, Illinois, Owens would attend gunnery school where he learned to operate the 40mm anti-aircraft gun.

Owens was assigned to the Iowa-class battleship USS New Jersey, aboard which he would participate in many of the fiercest naval engagements of the Pacific War. Owen's would see action in the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa before returning home from war.

Recorded on February 20th, 2020

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