Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:44 | At seventeen, Charles Kelly joined the Navy Reserve. He had three cruises under his belt before he went active. His training on those meant that, unlike almost every other service member, he had no boot camp. Life aboard a carrier was not to his liking, so he requested a destroyer.
Keywords : Charles Kelly reserve carrier destroyer Norfolk VA New York City USS Cowell (DD-547)
The Navy said he had mechanical aptitude, so Charles Kelly worked in the engine room on the destroyer. When he deployed to Korea, he first stopped in Japan, a country and a culture which he grew to love.
The destroyer was off the coast of Korea when, down in the crew quarters, Charles Kelly heard a muffled explosion and felt the ship lurch. Turns out it was not the enemy. His ship, the USS Cowell, participated in the siege of Wonsan, as well as patrolling the coast looking for supply trains.
As a destroyer in a carrier group, the USS Cowell had to sometimes pick up pilots who had ditched in the ocean on their return from missions over Korea. Charles Kelly recalls those incidents as well as a couple of odd occurrences.
After seeing action off the coast of Korea, the USS Cowell resumed its around the world cruise, which had begun in Norfolk. From Korea, the ship headed south. Charles Kelly recalls the delightful liberties he had in many ports on his trek from Singapore to Ceylon and up through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean.
