My parents met during WWII while both were serving at the U.S. Navy Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Mom was a Navy Nurse and Dad was a Pharmacist’s Mate, so Mom out-ranked Dad.

Dad’s name was Clarence Palmer Harrison (nickname Tony) and was from Charlotte, NC. Mom’s name was Charlotte Agnew and was from Kingston, Pennsylvania.  So they had “Charlotte” in common...

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Wanting to follow the footsteps of his older brother James, Tony volunteered for the Army Air Corps before graduating high school in 1943 (a picture of his application is below).  He was eventually told the Army Air Corps already had all the volunteers it needed, so Tony enlisted in the Navy instead.  And because his father Melrose was a pharmacist and Dad had worked with his father in the family business, Dad was made a Pharmacist’s Mate (Hospital Apprentice).

Melrose signed Tony’s Aviation Cadet application using green ink.  Green ink was Melrose’s personal “trademark” at work and home.

Here’s a picture of Mom and Dad in Philadelphia (where they were married on January 13, 1945):

Mom and Dad didn’t go overseas but Dad trained with a number of Navy Corpsmen who served and distinguished themselves on Iwo Jima.  One of these sent Dad a Japanese rifle and bayonet from Iwo Jima which stayed in my parent’s closet for 50+ years until one day Dad received a telephone call from his buddy who said he wanted to come visit.  During the visit Dad gave him back his rifle.  It had a wooden butt plate (not metal) and the story was that at that point in the war the Japanese were running out of metal.

Towards the end of the war Dad, like most everyone in the service, had orders for California in preparation for the invasion of Japan.  Dad worked at the Navy hospital in San Franciso, California for a time as an ambulance driver among other duties.  Mom liked to tell the story that while Dad was driving an ambulance one day taking someone from a ship to the hospital with siren and lights going he almost ran over Robert Taylor (in his Army Air Corps uniform)... If he had, Mom would have never forgiven him because Robert Taylor was Mom’s favorite.

As a Navy nurse, Mom said that burn cases were the worst to deal with.

Dad caught tuberculosis at some point which was diagnosed during a physical exam prior to his being sent overseas and he ended up in “his” Navy hospital as a patient on his birthday (VE Day) August 14, 1945.

On that day one of WWII's famous pin-up girls, Betty Grable (whose legs were insured for $1M) was touring the hospital and sat down on Dad's bed and talked with him for a bit.  My dad loved people and could talk with anyone. I'm not sure where my future Mom was at the time :-)

After the war Tony and Charlotte moved to Charlotte and enjoyed a great life together. They both are now resting peacefully at the National Military Cemetery in Salisbury, NC where they share a common tombstone (front and back).  I’m not sure why Mom’s military service is not noted on her side of the gravestone, I’m investigating (I think Mom had to resign her commission to get married in 1945).

Her Navy Nurse cape is on permanent display at Richard’s Coffee Shop in downtown Mooresville, North Carolina - a local Veterans meeting place and mini-museum.

Housing and other civilian products were in short supply after the war.  Charlotte and Tony bought their first new house on Thomas Avenue in Charlotte in 1950 and had to wait almost another year for the oil furnace to be installed.

Feel free to contact me at briankn4r@gmail.com