This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Stuart Dahl, LT
to remember
Bressler, Clair (Pete), M2.
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Contact Info
Date of Passing Jul 23, 2014
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Pete started working at the Washington Post as an Office Boy (general gopher) right after graduating from Washington-Lee High School. 10 months later he took a job as a switchboard installer for Western Electric (Phone Company), where he worked until he retired, with a haiatas taken during WWII. He worked in several parts of the United States, moving his family with him as he went to various locations installing switchboards and similar equipment. He retired as an installation supervisor.
He and his wife Margaret were married in 1941 (before the bombing at Pearl Harbor), they had 3 sons, the first of these was adopted, but loved with the same intensity. One of the boys pulled a hitch in the US Coast Guard.
Other Comments:
I had the pleasure of meeting Pete and his wife, Margaret, when I first noticed him in 2008 at a subway where my wife and I were also dining. He was wearing a Seabee ball cap, so I had to go over and talk to him about it.
We bumped into each other a few more times over the next few months and eventually I asked him if he wouldn't mind me putting his service history on NTWS, to which he agreed.
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Pete always considered himself a Seabee, rather than as a Sailor, this being typical of many Seabees.
Pete was in the Navy Reserve, as were most Seabees during WWII.
He distinctly remembers his termination from active service: 1100 AM, December 25th, 1945, at Camp Perry, VA, the place where he entered the Navy. He had Christmas dinner with his wife and her family at the family home in the local area the same day.
1945-1945, ME-0000, 1st Special Naval Construction Battalion
Best Moment Getting orders to return to the United States and my family!
Worst Moment Didn't know what to expect. The Japanese had been the enemy for so long, and they were fierce and brutal fighters.
Other Memories Transferred from the 31st Special Naval Construction Battalion to the 1st Special Naval Construction Battalion to occupy Japan in the fall of 1945.
The Second Section of the 31st Special Naval Construction Battalion departed Saipan on September 28, 1945; reached Sasebo, Japan, on October 22; was inactivated on November 5, with all personnel being transferred to the 1st Special Naval Construction Battalion
Spent about 6 weeks with this unit doing sheet metal work and stevedore tasks.
Shipped back to the States in late November or early December.