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952-902-2014

by Sue Orsen/Victoria Gazette

"When I built my house, I put my flag up," said Chuck Schmidt. "I always have my flag up. I believe in it. I believe in patriotism."

Chuck built a home on Rolling Acres Road for his wife Carol and their growing family in 1970, which means his flag has been waving to passers by for over 43 years. There are probably few homes in Victoria -- maybe none -- that have displayed an outdoor American flag continuously for more than four decades.

He calls it "my flag" because he takes it all rather personally, as in "my house, my wife, my yard, my garden, my guns, my flag, my country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty."

Why the patriotism? "Well, we are what we are," said Chuck. "It was probably instilled in me as a child. My dad was too young for World War I and too old for World War II, but as a civilian he built housing for the U.S. Army in the Aleutians during World War II. He built barracks. He was a married man but he and a bunch of guys offered to go there and do that."

Chuck was in the U.S. Navy for four and a half years, from 1959 to 1963. "Almost everybody went into the military then," he said. "I chose the submarine base in New London, Connnecticut. I went to E&E School." It stands for Electric and Electronic Prep School.

"There was the right way to do things, the wrong way, and the Navy way," he said.

What were his specific duties? He replied, "I controlled the speed and direction of the submarine and the charging and discharging of batteries. We sailed the sub to all kinds of places, some that I don't feel free to talk about."

Sail is a proper term when it comes to subs. The "sail" of a submarine is the raised portion above the pressure hull. It contains the periscope, antennas, sensors, and a tunnel joining the observation platform to the pressure hull.

Secrecy is also a proper term when it comes to subs. Chuck said there was an oath to secrecy when he was in the Navy, and although some surveillance activities may now be out in the open, surely surmised if not common knowledge, he can't bring himself to break that oath, even after all these years.

"But I'll mention that we went to Bermuda, the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, all around the Caribbean," he said. "We hot- bunked, three shifts, 24/7." He explained that three sailors shared the same bed over three eight-hour shifts.

What did they do in the Caribbean? "Well, we sometimes had marines on the sub," he said, "and they would practice going to the surface and sneaking onto the beach, basically what Navy Seals do."

After four years in the Navy, Chuck extended for another six months, "to go to the Mediterranean," he explained. There is some truth in the invitation to join the Navy and see the world. While in the Mediterranean he got to Portugal, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Sicily.

Chuck doesn't feel free to talk about other places he saw and things he did during his time in the U.S. Navy, "because it's my country, my flag." However, he did say that when they were returning from the North Atlantic, they got to Belfast, Ireland, where they were the first warship in Belfast since World War II, and they also visited Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Was Chuck kind of a big guy to be working on a submarine? "Well, I volunteered and they didn't say anything else," he replied, "but you learned to duck. For the first month I didn't comb my hair because there were too many scabs up there."

Did they stay submerged very long? "It was a diesel electric submarine and we'd be out three months at a time and then come back for supplies," he said. "We could theoretically have been under water for three months -- we'd snorkel and we had a tube to bring in air -- but the longest we were submerged is maybe a week."

The youngest of three brothers and three sisters, Chuck said four of the siblings served in the military. But he doesn’t call it his brother’s flag or his country’s flag. It’s “my flag.”

The rest of “My Flag” appears in the paper edition of the Gazette.

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