By: Kathy Warnes
Charles and Anne Wedel of Wisconsin began their forty-six year marriage on a nautical note and were still cruising full speed ahead.
In the spring, 1942, the Navy sent Charles, who originally hailed from New York City, to Great Lakes Naval Training station for training. He met Anne, a Milwaukee native, at a dance at the Milwaukee Yacht Club. They were married in August 1942 and he was shipped out three days later.
After first serving on the capital ship U.S.S. Indianapolis, Charles attended the Navy Submarine School in New Haven, Conn., and worked up to the rank of Motor Machinist’s Mate 2/C. His next ship was the submarine U.S.S. Icefish, one of the 28 submarines built at Manitowoe for the United States Navy.
During his twenty-year navy career, Charles served on the U.S.S. Indianapolis, U.S.S. Icefish, U.S.S. Sablefish, two times on the U.S.S. Tautog, two times on the U.S.S. Conber and on the U.S.S. Sardia and the U.S.S. Cobia. He retired from the Navy 27 years ago as a chief petty officer, the highest enlisted rank, in the Navy. From 1961 until 1983, he worked at the Oil-Rite Corporation in Manitowoe and retired as its executive vice-president. Charles is an active member of the United States Submarine Veterans of World War II and a founder of the Maritime Museum at Manitowoe.
Anne is a living example of a seasoned Navy wife and the effort, and often times, emotional pain that goes into that seasoning. After Charles shipped out, Anne lived with her mother in Milwaukee for a time and had signed papers to join the Coastguard when she received a letter from Charles asking her to join him in San Francisco. Their daughter, Anne was born in 1944. Wife Anne recalls that Charles went out to sea when Anne was five weeks old and didn’t come back until she was two years old. “You learn how to cope on your own, but it never gets any easier.” Anne says.
Drawing on her twenty years experience as a navy wife, Anne says that one of the biggest problems of being a Navy wife was “living alone with the children and never knowing whether or not their father would come home. When he was at home, he often seemed like a guest instead of the father of the household because he didn’t live with us all the time.”
The places the Wedels lived included Groton, CT., Charleston, SC., National City, Mare Island and Vallejo, CA.
“I worried about him a lot and I worried about having the responsibility of the children by myself much of the time.” Anne remembers. The Wedels have four children: Anne, Barbara, Steven, Phillip and five grandchildren.
In June 1958, Anne became an Honorary Submariner and submerged eight times. She belongs to an organization of wives called “Wives of Submarine Veterans of World War II” and is past North Central Regional Director 1986-1987.
Anne’s formula for a happy marriage is “you have to give a little and take a lot.” Wives of submarine veterans are called “Silent Partners”, and Charles formula for a happy marriage fits right in with that name. He says you have to “Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut.”
Published U.S. Legacies January 2004
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