[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 58 (Thursday, March 30, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E283-E284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING THE LIFE OF CHARLIE DOWD

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RYAN K. ZINKE

                               of montana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 30, 2023

  Mr. ZINKE. Mr. Speaker, Montana and Americans everywhere lost a great 
patriot, warrior, and servant with the passing of Mr. Charles A. 
``Charlie'' Dowd, radioman, U.S. Navy.
  Born in Rochester, NY, and later calling Montana home, Charlie was 
the son of a World War I veteran and enlisted in the Navy while he was 
in high school. At age 17 he received his orders and was assigned to 
duty at Pearl Harbor. On the evening of December 6, 1941, Dowd reported 
for duty at 2330. He worked through the night before returning to his 
barracks at daybreak.
  Dowd awoke to America under attack. In just his T-shirt and boxer 
shorts he grabbed his rifle and brass and took position on the roof. He 
fired so many rounds at attacking Japanese combatants that his rifle 
barrel burned like his anger. As Dowd recalled some years later, ``I 
didn't have any fear at the time,'' he said. ``We were angry.'' It was 
that courage and anger and love of country that eventually led us to 
victory in the Pacific and Europe.
  There were 2,403 service members and civilians who died that day, and 
14 of them were from Montana. As one of the few survivors on the attack 
at Pearl Harbor, he continued his military service on vessels in the 
Pacific Theater in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea until the end of 
the war and was discharged in 1945.
  For his military service, he was awarded multiple Bronze Stars and 
several other commendations.
  I had the honor of visiting Dowd over the years. Listening to his 
stories and the stories of the men he served with are humbling and 
moving. More than 70 years later at 99 years old, he could still tap to 
the messages he sent as a radioman in Morse code on the table we 
visited on in Anaconda.

[[Page E284]]

  In Charlie's time after war, he continued his second life of service 
as a high school teacher for building trades where he filled young 
minds with memories they still talk about today. He leaned into his 
passion as a sportsman by spending time hunting, fishing, and writing a 
weekly column named `The Wild Side' which became a staple for the 
Western Montana community.
  Charlie's life with his wife Clara was the epitome of the American 
dream and our state was made a better place because they called it 
home. History will know Charlie Dowd as one of the last living 
survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Montana legend, and true 
American hero.

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