World War II, Navy Hospital Corps veteran Charles Appler was surprised to see many of his closest friends and family at the Westminster Florist in Lehigh Acres during his birthday week recently as he went in to pick up an arrangement.
“Happy Birthday!!! Surprise!!!” shouted everyone as he looked up from carefully coming through the door. He regaled the participants with a couple of tried and true stories.
Charles was a Laboratory Technician Pharmacist Second Class. When he met his wife of 54 years, they were married in 1945, when he returned stateside. They made a home and raised cattle, corn, wheat, and hay in the Maryland and New Jersey area. He also worked as a high school biology teacher for 32 years. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1949.
Charles told us about his first-hand experiences at the Battle of Guadalcanal, an Allied offensive against forces of the Imperial Japan in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Theater during World War II between August 7, 1942, and February 9, 1943.
Charles said, “We landed on the Island and had secured the area 99%. We set up camp, and the Japanese soldiers in the hills would come down and raid the camp for food. We treated the wounded, and the Navy gave the hospital staff guns. We didn’t know how to use them, so we put them under our bunks. When they came to inspect, they had rusted, so they were taken away,” we laughed.
After the war, he was stationed at the Naval Hospital in San Diego. As a member of the Master at Arms force, he met and greeted Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: “I’ve never washed my hands since, and if you believe that, I’ll tell you another,” said Charles.
Special thanks to Westminster Florist Owner Isoline Litchmore, CEO/Founder of Sampson’s International Nursing Society Linda F. Hill & President Barbara Belkoff, Vietnam Veterans of America Chaplain Juan Cordero C104, and Vet. Chuck Gregory C108.
