Thomas McLean is pictured beside an American flag kept in a place of honor on the wall of his Harbor Heights, Fla. home. The flag flew from the stern of Sub Chaser 664, one of the ships he served on during World War II. Sun photo by Don Moore
Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Thomas McLean’s war in the Pacific lasted a little over three months. He sailed aboard the USS Tollberg, APD-103, for Pearl Harbor arriving April 22, 1945.
Dave Schmidt of Port Charlotte, Fla. is shown in front of a map covered with pins and colored strings noting the voyages he made aboard the USS Memphis and the USS Quincy in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II. Sun photo by Don Moore
Dave Schmidt joined the Navy at 15, before World War II. He was a big boy for his age – 5-ft., 6-inches tall and 215-pounds.
“I was an out of control kid. My parents both worked and they decided the Navy was the best thing to straighten me out. They told the Navy recruiter my birth certificate was lost in a fire and I was 17-years-old,” the 86-year-old Port Charlotte man recalled almost seven decades later.
