Charles Sehe, right, a World War II veteran aboard the USS Nevada, prepares to lay a wreath at the ship’s memorial behind the Nevada state capitol building in March 2016. With him is Bud Southard from the Carson City Council of the United States Navy League.
On Oct. 14, 2015, I met “Carson City’s oldest adopted son,” Charles T. Sehe. Pat and Derrel Fike had been corresponding with Charles who had expressed his bucket list item to visit Carson City and meet Gov. Brian Sandoval.
I wrote and submitted my commentary “Help Bring WWII Vet to Nevada,” and the Appeal published it on Sept. 16, 2015. We raised $2,500 in donations from Carsonites and flew Charles and his son-in-law/caretaker to Reno.
Charles was born in February 1923, the first born with five siblings. He was six years old when the New York Stock Exchange crashed on Oct. 29, 1929, causing the Great Depression. It was challenging for his parents to feed two adults and six children … “add more water to the soup.”
After Charles graduated from high school in 1940, his mother agreed to sign for him to enlist in the U.S. Navy on Nov. 1, 1940. He was 17 years old. Now, there was one less mouth to feed in the Sehe household because the times were challenging.
Charles was assigned on Feb. 1, 1941, to the battleship USS Nevada, BB-36, assigned to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. For the next five years, the USS Nevada feed, clothed, housed and cared for his medical/dental needs and his family of 1,200 brothers, Did I tell you that the Navy paid him $21 a month?
Everything was relative in 1941 because there were some bars that sold a draft beer for a dime, a dime. A sailor could get “roll in the gutter drunk” for a buck.
On Oct. 15, 2015, Charles and his son-in-law toured the Nevada State Museum in the morning. That afternoon I had made arrangement with Commander Dan for Charles to address the Naval Junior ROTC Cadets at Carson High School. The cadets were fascinated with Charles’ account of the battleship USS Nevada.
This venerable ship has had a resounding success in performing her specific wartime tasks, accomplished only by the unity of a joint action by the Nevada’s seven operational departments. The officers and crew members of the gunnery divisions had been instructed by senior officers of the ship to elevate the life and spirit of their potentials to its zenith of combat readiness. These potentials could only be accomplished through the action of those individuals’ self-realization, such as the full development of that person’s own talents and capabilities. Yet, there seemed to be an additional motion and spirit that impels their desire to reach that level of “combat readiness.” Critics would call it a sense of pride, a sense of intense pride.
When Charles had free time, he chose to sit on the fantail near the ship’s stern.
“Here I could watch the foaming sea water being churned up by the two turning propellers some 45 feet below,” he said.
Charles would let his mind wander.
Charles closed his thank you after his 2015 visit: “Governor Sandoval, Nevada state officials, Carson City Administrators and proud citizens, I couldn’t have expressed it in any other way. Thank You! Thank you very much for this impressive and unforgettable visit.”
Nevada Appeal file photo
World War II veterans Charles Sehe, who spent his entire Navy career aboard the USS Nevada, offers comments during his visit to Carson City in 2016.
Charles was on board the USS Nevada for all seven Battle Stars awarded in WWII: Pearl Harbor, HI, Attu, Alaska, Utah Beach on D-Day, Cherbourg, France, Cote d’Azur, France, Iwo Jima, Okinawa.
There were a total of 10 articles/pictures of Charles in newspapers. Nine of the articles/pictures were in the Nevada Appeal and one in the Las Vegas Review Journal. He is pictured with two of the ladies who sewed a Quilt of Honor for him. The three are on the cover of Steven R. Ranson, Kenneth Beaton and David C. Henley’s book, “Legacies of the Silver State: Nevada Goes to War.” All the proceeds of the book have been donated to Honor Flight Nevada.
Please stand at attention and hum the notes to Taps as you read the next sentence.
Charles T, Sehe, 101 years young, died on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Minnesota.
“Fair Winds and Following Seas” our faithful and heroic sailor.
Ken Beaton is a Nevada Appeal columnist and co-author of the book on World War II heroes with Nevada ties, “Legacies of the Silver State: Nevada Goes to War.”