Charles T. Edwards was born in January 1919 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He recalled growing up playing a lot of neighborhood sports. Bethlehem was a huge steel city, so his father worked at a steel plant and his grandparents owned a farm where Edwards spent his summers. He was given a shot gun so he could go hunting by the farm. Edwards graduated from high school in June 1941 then went to work for Bethlehem Steel while doing a trade program for metallurgy. He heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] when he hitched a ride home from work one morning. He was immediately exempt from the draft because he was working in a steel plant that helped with the war effort. However, within 5 months, Edwards volunteered for the Navy's V-5 Program [Annotator's Note: V-5 US Navy Aviation Cadet Program, 1939 to 1943]. He wanted to be in this program because the government would train young guys on flying and they could receive a private pilot's license.

Charles T. Edwards was sent to the University of North Carolina [Annotator's Note: Chapel Hill, North Carolina] for pre-flight school. He remembered it being a very tough workout, and a lot of students dropped out. Edwards was in good shape, being an athlete. He was sent to the Philadelphia Navy Yard [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] for his early flight training. He was then sent to Pensacola [Annotator's Note: Pensacola, Florida] for more flight training. He enjoyed all his training, especially in Pensacola. Edwards received his "Wings of Gold" [Annotator's Note: insignia designating him a naval aviator] and became a fighter pilot. He and his Fiancé, Marni, took a train down to Miami to get married. They found a Presbyterian church and the preacher married them. They were married for 68 years. He was assigned to the Opa-Locka Naval Air Station [Annotator's Note: Opa-Locka, Florida] outside of Miami and he was required to live on base even though he was an officer. He had advanced training on Brewster Buffalos [Annotator's Note: Brewster F2A Buffalo fighter aircraft]. He did not like those airplanes because they were very unsafe. He was sent to Lake Michigan and he recalled going to the Officers Club and enjoying the food and music. He was trained to land on aircraft carriers there. He was then sent to Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington] where he joined Squadron VC-66 [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66)] which consisted of torpedo bombers and fighters. Edwards flew Wildcats [Annotator's Note: Grumman FM2 Wildcat fighter aircraft]. They were then sent to a small logging town in northern Washington for a while.

Charles T. Edwards and his squadron [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66)] were sent to Southern California to Holtville where they trained in night flying and on taking off and landing on aircraft carriers. While they were stationed there, they did a lot of bird hunting. Edwards recalled keeping informed about the progress of the war. He remembered a lot of the pilots experienced vertigo while night training. When the squadron completed night training, they were sent to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] and from their they were ordered to go to Hawaii. Edwards was delighted and ready to get going and use the skills they learned in combat. After some last minute training around Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii], they were sent on their first combat mission to the Marshall Islands. Edwards' first engagement was not the worst experience, but they did receive antiaircraft fire from the ground.

Charles T. Edwards recalled that he was put on Hunter-Killer missions [Annotator's Note: anti-submarine missions usually carried out by a small tak group consisting of an escort aircraft carrier and a number of destroyers and destroyer escorts]. His mission was to support the torpedo bombers. He felt they did not receive adequate training for these missions. His first Hunter-Killer mission was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He spotted a submarine on the surface, so he attacked, but noticed that the submarine seemed dead in the water. After many passes and low on gas, he flew back to the ship. They took a picture of him in his fighter plane and it was in the newspaper of his hometown. Today, Edwards does not like the thought that 88 men were on that submarine. Another incident he recalled was when he went to pick up a fighter plane from Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii], and on his return his engine froze and had to make a water landing. He began to swim towards land and was picked up by a Hawaiian. He lost all the mail for the squadron [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66)] and was not greeted enthusiastically by his squadron-mates.

Charles T. Edwards was returning to his station from Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] when he had to make a crash landing. In doing so, he lost all his squadron's [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66)] mail. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer cuts the tape at 0:58:57.000.] Edwards regrets that he lost the mail. His next mission was in the Solomon Islands, near Iron Bottom Bay [Annotator's Note: the name given by Allied sailors to the stretch of water at the southern end of the "Slot" between Guadalcanal, Savo Island, and Florida Island]. To entertain themselves while there, Edwards recalled going to shore because there was an officer's club to drink at. Others went fishing and traded goods with the local population. They stayed there for a short time before heading to New Guinea. His ship crossed paths with a Red Cross ship. When they reached New Guinea, they got to go ashore for a couple of days. There was some entertainment as well that he thoroughly enjoyed. When he went on a mission during the battle of Morotai [Annotator's Note: Morotai, Maluku Islands, Indonesia], he was shot at and rounds hit his propeller but he didn't realize it until after he landed. He was in the combat zone for weeks. He remembered pilots were getting tired and worn out. The replacement pilots failed to qualify, so they had to continue to do missions. Finally, they were sent home. Later, he was transferred to a different squadron where he flew Grumman F6F Hellcats [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft]. He was sent to Cape Cod [Annotator's Note: Cape Cod, Massachusetts] for training. Then he was sent to Norfolk [Annotator's Note: Norfolk, Virginia]. Edwards and his squadron were then assigned to the USS Boxer (CV-21).

Charles T. Edwards volunteered to go to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to train to be an aerial photographer. His wife, Marnie, was pregnant at the time and living in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, only 90 miles from Harrisburg. [Annotator's Note: The interview pauses while the camera is still rolling at 1:13:49; then a telephone rings at 1:14:56:000.] Edwards did not realize until later that aerial photo planes were not equipped with guns. Edwards and his squadron eventually went aboard the USS Boxer (CV-21); they operated out of Guantanamo [Annotator's Note: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba]. They did many exercises on the ship to test its capabilities. The ship went through the Panama Canal then to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. Edwards recalled the Kamikaze attacks. The Navy equipped his ship with guns that could better defend against Kamikaze. They were headed for China when Edwards heard about the bombing of Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945] and a couple of days later, the bombing of Nagasaki [Annotator's Note: the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945]. Between the news of the two bombs, he received a telegram that his wife had a baby girl. He was relieved because he did not want to go through with the mainland attack on Japan. Edwards had enough points that he did not have to go to China.

Charles T. Edwards was able to go home after the war had ended. He did not want to return to the steel factory but worked with a metal firm in Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. He eventually moved his family to Virginia to his grandparent's farm and began to work at the Atomic Energy Commission as part of the intelligence department. Edwards worked with the licensing of the use of radioactive energy in daily life. He did a lot of research and intel of Russian scientist making any efforts in atomic energy. Edwards' office was eventually moved to Germantown, Maryland because they feared atomic bombing on Washington D.C. Edwards enjoyed his work at the Atomic Energy Commission and is disappointed how little this country used Nuclear energy. He believes we could have made so many advancements but missed out.

Charles T. Edwards is disappointed in that air travel should be faster than the speeds they are flying now. Edwards knew working with the Atomic Energy Commission that they would create something like the hydrogen bomb. He also believed that there could have been other great inventions, not weaponry, that thermal nuclear power and could have solved so many problems. He recalls the Senator McCarthy [Annotator's Note: United States Senator Joseph McCarthy] age and he did not care for the man. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings from 1:48:20.000 to 1:48:45.000.] Edwards remembered there was some public hostility with the Atomic Energy Commission. Edwards recalled our country being in mortal danger of atomic bombs and wonders how people got through such a scare during that period.

Charles T. Edwards' most memorable experience of World War 2 was when he sank a Japanese submarine. Since attending a squadron [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66)] reunion, he has dreams about the event and other war memories. Edwards decided to serve in World War 2 because he was needed. There was something to fight for and had to be fought. He thinks that the war did not change his life. He would not trade his experience in war for another life. He is happy that he served. He likes the thought of The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana], but he has never been yet. He thinks there is a lesson to learn from World War 2. Edwards ends the interview on a joke. He mentions what kind of people worked for the Atomic Energy Commission.