Caldwell, Charles Edmund, Cpl

Best Friends
Sgt Ira Kinsler, Radio Operator (deceased) Sgt Walter Kozak, Deckhand (location and status unknown).

Best Moment
1) Getting enough points to qualify for discharge. 2) Promotion to Corporal shortly after arrival.

Chain of Command
1) WO Cecil Nickerson, Boat Skipper (Deceased) 2) CO, 12th Emergency Rescue Boat Squadron 3) Hq, 6th Air Force

Other Memories
1) When I arrived I met with a SSgt who was responsible for Crash Boat assignments. His intention was to assign me to a Crash Boat on Galapagos Island at the Equator. I balked at that assignment since the war had just ended a few weeks earlier and I was afraid they'd forget about me being so far away. We 'negotiated' a closer assignment to Rey Island which was 60-100 miles from the mainland (Pacific side). It proved to be an interesting assignment. a. Rey Island had an Emergency Runway which is why the P-258 was assigned there. The Island also had a Radar Unit and a small base to support us all, including a small Dispensary, Mess Hall, barracks and a Club. We could get the key to the club anytime we wanted it as I recall. The CO of the site, a grounded pilot hardly ever came out of his houch but we were allowed to drive his jeep as needed, which wasn't often, but I would take it to fetch mail and stuff from incoming planes that landed occasionally. There was no control tower at this airfield. b. The Skipper of the P-258 was a WO and a pretty nice guy. Never bothered us with nonsense or useless details, but I was only with him a couple months before he rotated which left just three enlisted behind to main the boat before we were ordered to return it to the mainland in late Jan '46, which we did and walked away pending our transfer to CONUS. 2) I was assigned as the Engineer for the boat because they already had a Radio Operator, Sgt Ira Kinsler. 3) Caught a boat (either the SS Florida or the SS Monterey...but not the one that had brought me down) back to New Orleans, then boarded a train to the Separation Center, Camp Atterbury, IN. 4) We recently acquired a roll of 16mm microfilm from the Air Force Historical Research Agency and sent it off to be copied to a DVD so we can look at it on the PC. This roll of film has approximately 2000 documents from WWII pertaining to the AAF Crash Boat Squadrons. Should be an interesting read. 5) The 12th ERBS was activated on 2Jun44 and deactivated on 15Oct46. Prior to activation, it was the 926th Quartermaster Boat Company (Aviation). 6) Crash Boat P-258 was transferred to Bolling AFB, Washington, DC in 1950. While at Bolling it served as a crash boat and ferry. The crash boats were discontinued in the USAF on 30 June 1956. However, some boats at Bolling were maintained as Yachts, Crash Boats and Ferry Boats until 1973, but I don't know if the P-258 was retained that long or not. The final status of the P-258 at this time is unknown. What happened to it after it served its purpose at Bolling AFB?