This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Eugene Claude Ipox, Jr., TM1
to remember
Brink, Charles Wallace, LCDR USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Roswell
Last Address The Villages, FL
Date of Passing Oct 27, 2012
Location of Interment Callaway Cemetery - Callaway, Florida
Brink, Charles W. LCRD USN, retired
went on his Eternal Patrol, October 27th. Our father was born on a sheep camp near the city of Roswell, New Mexico, April 16th, 1925. He was raised in the San Diego/El Cajon region of California, and at the age of twelve his mother died, and he and his five sisters were left to survive the hardships of the times. At the age of 17, WWII had erupted, and he immediately enlisted in the Navy. He had been raised on flour tortillas and beans, and on his first day in the Navy he was served steak and all the milk he could drink. He decided the Navy was heaven, and his destiny. He became a Submariner, and served on the USS Icefish, Bluegill, Catfish, Tusk and Torsk. He was in the second class at the nuclear power school, and served under Admiral Rickover.
Our father's Navy career took us from coast to coast, and to Rota, Spain, where he was squadron material officer and made lieutenant commander. His last tour of duty was as the Commanding Officer, Naval Reserve Training Center, Tampa & St. Petersburg. He served in WWII, The Korean War, and Vietnam. He started in the Navy as a sailor with only a 9th grade education, and ended his career as an officer. Following his Naval service, he distinguished himself in the private sector, and was a founding member of Florida Credit Service, which after his retirement was acquired by Equifax.
Our father was preceded in death by our mother in 2005, Amelia (Amy), his loving wife of 57 years. She was his rock, and his soul.
We survive him, his three children, seven grandchildren and nine great- grandchildren, and his extended family throughout the world: Ralph Brink, The Villages, his children Kara (John Amador), Adam and Christina, and his grandchildren, Samantha and Tyler; Charles Brink, Tampa & Park City, Utah, along with his wife Linda and their children Bryan (Kelsey) and Christopher (Brooke), and their grandchildren Jackson, Carter, Braxton, Mateo, and Ellie; Celene Brink, St. Petersburg, and her husband, J. Kipp Wall, and their children Jamie (Sandra) and Weston, and their grandchildren, Alexander and Lucas.
"Pay it forward", our father believed in this expression to describe the concept of asking the beneficiary of a good deed to 'repay' it to others instead of to the original benefactor – he lived kindness.
Memberships: Masonic Eagle Rock Lodge, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Military Officers Association of American, St. Petersburg Chapter: US Submarine Veterans WWII.
Donations to Hospice (LifePath, Suncoast), and Clothes to Kids, Inc. (www.clothestokids.org).
We, his family, were honored to have had him as our father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle. He was "The Greatest Generation". Pride Runs Deep.
Service: Friday, November 23rd, 1:00 Calvary Cemetery - Burial with Military Honors; Reception following from 3 – 6 at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. Brett Funeral Home & Cremation Services.
World War II/American Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The American Theater was a minor area of operations during World War II. This was mainly due to both North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia. Thus, any threat by the Axis Powers to invade the mainland United States or other areas was considered negligible, allowing for American resources to be deployed in overseas theaters.
This article includes attacks on continental territory, extending 200 miles (320 km) into the ocean, which is today under the sovereignty of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other smaller states, but excludes military action involving the Danish territory of Greenland, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Aleutian Islands. The most well known battles in North America during World War II were the Attack on Pearl Harbor (the first attack on US soil since the Battle of Ambos Nogales), the Aleutian Islands Campaign, the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and the attacks on Newfoundland.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1944
To Month/Year
December / 1944
Last Updated: Dec 24, 2023
Personal Memories
People You Remember USS Icefish (SS-367)
Memories First patrol, September - November 1944
After trials and diving tests in Lake Michigan, voyages down the Mississippi, and shakedown out of New Orleans, Icefish joined the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor 22 August. Assigned to Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood's Task Force 17 (Supporting Submarines Pacific Fleet), she joined "Banister's Beagle's" (consisting of Comdr. Alan B. Banister in Sawfish (SS-276) and Drum (SS-228)) and departed 9 September on her first war patrol which took her into Luzon Straits and the South China Sea.
October 1944 was a peak month in the war of U.S. submarines on Japanese shipping: 322,265 tons were sunk, and almost one-third of that total consisted of tankers. In October Icefish and Drum together sank 26,901 tons of enemy shipping in "Convoy College", code name for the area extending across the East China Sea from Luzon Strait to Formosa and the coast of China. Icefish sank a 4,000-ton cargo vessel on 23 October and on 26 October she was credited with sinking a transport of 10,000 tons. She terminated her first war patrol at Majuro, Marshall Islands, 13 November.