Leonardtown
Leonardtown, MD · Municipal
The Enterprise
Ridge veteran reflects on Navy service on 100th birthday
When Charlie Simms first drove down to St. Mary’s County on his motorcycle in 1949, he had to stop at Hole in the Wall, a local bar, to ask for directions. The now traffic-congested Three Notch Road was a simple dirt path at the time, and Naval Air Station Patuxent River was one of the only landmarks for miles. Attendees at Hole in the Wall bar told Simms to “just keep driving.” Simms, who turned 100 last month, spent 23 years in the Navy. The Ridge resident first enlisted at the end of World War II when he was 17 and one of five children in Oklahoma. His son, Glen Simms, said his father enlisted to get “three meals a day and clothes.” “I stayed in the Navy” when the war ended, Charlie said. “I didn’t want to go back to Oklahoma. The Navy was good to me.” While stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, Charlie kept an eye on German prisoners. Years later, when he was flying the Berlin airlift, he reconnected with one of the prisoners at a restaurant. Over the years, he was stationed in Florida, Tennessee, California, Texas and Washington, D.C. The last location was where he met
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