| Title |
Charles A. "Red" Beam, North Salt Lake, Utah: an interview by Winston Erickson, July 11, 2001, American West Center : Saving the Legacy tape nos. SL-259 & 260 |
| Alternative Title |
Charles Alexander "Red" Beam, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Beam, Red (Charles Alexander), 1923-2005 |
| Contributor |
Erickson, Winston P., 1943-; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2001-07-11 |
| Date Digital |
2015-12-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
Palau; Guam; Okinawa, Japan |
| Subject |
Beam, Red (Charles Alexander), 1923-2005--Interviews; Veterans--United States--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Naval operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Area--Personal narratives, American |
| Description |
Transcript (103 pages) of an interview by Winston Erickson with Charles "Red" Beam on July 11, 2001. From tape numbers 259 and 260 in the "Saving the Legacy" Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Beam (b. 1923) spent his early childhood in Ely, Nevada, where his father was a forest supervisor. The family later moved to Holladay, Utah, where he graduated from Granite High School and attended the University of Utah. He was in the ROTC program at the time of his enlistment in the Navy in May 1941. He served on the Colorado and the Dickerson before entering the Naval Academy in 1942 as a Midshipman in the 20th Company. He later reenlisted as a 3rd Class Bo's'n Mate and joined the crew of a submarine bound for Palau. After being wounded near Tarawa he was assigned to an underwater demolition team and participated in the Guam and Okinawa invasions. He received the Silver Star. Interviewed by Winston Erickson. 103 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
103 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6hd9xs6 |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Naval--American |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1033825 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6hd9xs6 |
| Title |
Page 40 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1033759 |
| OCR Text |
Show Charles A. "Red" Beam july 11 2001 RED: Cargo convoys mostly. We took one to Murmansk, and then on the way bacl , a I mentioned, we came down by Finland on the way to England becau e we picked up a convoy in England and then brought it back. But some German bombers came out and attacked us from Finland. And we shot one of them down, which was a miracle with the guns that we had, and he bailed out. And we were going to go quite close to where he was going to land in the water. So I grabbed a .45 out of the gun mount. I was the gun captain, from my experience in ROTC, of course. I said, "I'll shoot that so and so as we go by." And the next thing you know I'm lying flat on the deck, and in there, and out there (showing where he got shot in the leg). WIN: You got shot right the calf. Did it hit the bone? RED: It nicked it but didn't break it. I couldn't figure out. It didn't hurt for a minute or two. You know, why am I laying here? Of course, I didn't get a Purple Heart because it wasn't wartime, right? Later, I got a Purple Heart for it, but not at that time. We were at sea when the war started. We were off of Norfolk and just bringing a convoy in. And we went on wartime duty from then on. And one of the big convoys were to take empty tankers from Norfolk down to New Orleans where they would fill them. And for some strange reason, and this was about time school was to start up at the academy, we brought ten empty tankers from New Orleans to Norfolk. Now, I never have understood why, but that's what we were doing. And a German submarine fired at those tankers, but they were empty, so they were riding very high. And one of the torpedoes passed under them and got us. And the captain had all of us up on the fo'c's'le, 38 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6hd9xs6/1033759 |
