Charles LeRoy "Chuck" Wright

Written in his own words.
I Charles LeRoy "Chuck" Wright born February 19, 1925, to Jesse LeRoy Wright and Eliza Ann "Figgins" Wright, in Cawker City, Kansas, Mitchell County. I started school in 1931. I graduated in 1939. I graduated high school in 1943. There were 10 in my class, four girls, and six boys. I joined the Navy, Friday 13, 1943. I went to boot camp at Farragut, Idaho, Camp Ward 603-43. I then went to Astoria, Oregon to commission a ship. The USS Fanshaw Bay Cueto, a carrier vessel escort. We were sent to Townville and Brisbane, Australia, with a load of P-38 AirCraft. All were non-flyable in crates. We crossed the International Date Line, February 19, 1945, on my 20th birthday. I spent two and a half years in the South Pacific. I received five Battle Stars, and two Presidential Unit Citations. I was at Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Islands, October 26, 1945 at the world's greatest sea battle. I was honorably discharged in 1946. We decommissioned our ship.
When we got home, I worked for Richardson's as a welder. Later I worked for The Farmers Union Store as a meat cutter. Later I moved to Mankato, Kansas. I worked at Dibbles Grocery as a meatcutter. In late 1948, I re-enlisted in the Navy at Glenview Naval Air Station. In 1950 I volunteered for oversea duty on the USS Valley Forge CV45, around Korea. My brother Darrell L. Wright was also in the area on the Carrier USS Boxer XV21. I was honorably discharged in 1951. I went back to Cawker City and went to work for Barnett Upholstery. In 1952 I went to work for the Federal Governments Department of Interior, the Department of Reclamation, working on the survey team for the Dam. Then worked in the lab for seven years. There, in 1953, I met a young lady by the name of Jackie Louise Wilson, a telephone operator. My folks stood up with us. We were living
in Superior, Nebraska. This was the start of our travels. To Lovewell Dam to Foss Dam in Oklahoma, to Farwell Canals in Nebraska. Then on to Texas and a Dam on the Canadian River, Lake Meredith, Sanford, Texas. Then on July 4, 1965, we left Texas for California to the Tehama Colusa Canals. In 1969 we went to Short Cut Pipeline for 18 months, then back to the canals in Northern California until I retired in 1980. We sold our mobile home and moved back to Kansas and bought my wife's folks' home in 1982. During the summers I helped my brother-in-law, driving a wheat truck.
I did enjoy stamp collecting and coin collecting. Jackie and I also enjoyed metal detecting in our spare time.
Charles was preceded in death by his parents and only brother, Darrell. Leaving to mourn his death May 22, 2023, are his wife, Jackie of Lenora; Vickie and George Gassmann of Clayton; and other family members, and friends.