Darrell R. Christensen

I was born in Dickinson, North Dakota. At the age of 15, I went to live in California with my sister.   While in California I continued my schooling and took a job on the Western Pacific Railroad. I was then offered a better position at the Red River Lumber Company in Westwood, California, work ilctg at the saw nruti. I had always wanted to see the ocean, so I went to Seattle, Washington and got a job asSeattle-Tacoma Shipyard building destroyers. Upon completion of each ship, we went out to sea, on trial runs of two to three days, before the ship was turned over to Navy Command. I continued to attend night school, when possible, and Barber College on weekends.

At the age of seventeen, I enlisted in the Navy in Seattle and took my boot training at Camp Bennion, in Ferragut, Idaho.

 I was shipped to Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego; then to Camp Shoemaker in California. I left San Francisco on the General R.L Howze (AP-134) and bearded the U.S.S. Nassau in the South Pacific in 1944.

  I was assigned to the First Division; followed by a promotion to Coxswain; and then First Division Petty Officer and Gun Captain of the Starboard 40 millimeter gun mount. I left the U.S.S. Nassau and was discharged at Bremerton, Washington, in May 1946.

The most memorable event during my duty on the U.S.S. Nassau was surviving the Typhoon at Okinawa, and going through the China Sea, to the shores of China, and into Tsinatao, China. After my discharge, I returned to Dickinson, North Dakota to continue my education under the G.I. Bill.  I started with electrical and refrigeration, later changing to business, marketing and accounting.

I took flying lessons with a business associate, and later in my career with Standard Oil, we formed a corporation. Our first plane was a J-3 Piper and later we owned a Cessna 150.

 In 1949, I took over the management of a Coast-to-Coast Hardware and Furniture Store. On April 29, 1949 I married Beatrice A. Becker in Scranton, North Dakota. We have four children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

 In 1954, I took a position with Standard Oil Company and became a General Territory Manager. I retired from Standard Oil in 1984.

  I have been active In public relations work, church, and volunteer work since retirement.

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08/16/02