Salute to Veterans: Man traveled the world during Coast Guard service
SALISBURY — George Christopher is an interesting man.
At 86, he is a widower who recently brought home a puppy he calls Queenie, a ball of wiggles and licks to the face he's trying to housebreak.
Talkative and thoughtful, Christopher easily discusses his many life experiences and challenges, back to childhood, when he suffered from polio. The disease caused his right leg to be underdeveloped, 2 inches shorter than the left leg. He walks with a pronounced limp, can't move his foot and said it just swivels when he takes a step.
Still, he desired to serve his country and, "I did my job as well as anybody," he said.
It wasn't until three years ago that Christopher learned he was a World War II veteran. He didn't think he was because he served in 1946 and 1947 and the war ended in 1945.
"I found out by researching my brother's sailing on a ship during the war on my computer. While surfing the merchant marine articles about the war, I came on one that stated that those who served on oceangoing ships during the armed conflict, Dec. 7, 1941 to Aug. 15, shall be considered active duty and part of the armed forces,' " he wrote in a document about his experiences.
"Later on, on Veterans Day 1998, President (Bill) Clinton signed a Public Law, 105-368. A provision of this law states that service during the period, Aug. 16, 1945, to Dec. 31, 1946, Shall be considered active duty for certain limited benefits,' " he wrote.
Clinton's reasoning was that men who sailed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of America, in the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, "were being blown up by floating mines that had broken loose. Those who sailed in those waters were the only ones that qualified. I was one that did. In 1998, there was an extension of the war years for those who served in the Atlantic Coast," Christopher wrote.
"My brother came home and took me to New York harbor to see the tanker he was on and asked me if I would like to sail with him. Yes,' I said. I was living in New Jersey, nine miles from Philadelphia, Pa. He told me to go to the custom house there and ask for seaman's papers. I did and was told I needed a job to get them.
"I went home and wired my brother and told him what they said. He had the captain of the ship he was on send me a telegram that he would hire me. I took the telegram to the custom house and got seaman's papers. No medical needed. I sailed with him for about six months from New York to Texas, different ports in Texas and different ports north Boston, Philadelphia, etc. The ship was then put in the bone yard for scrap metal. Out of a job, I went home and my father told me the family was moving to Maryland soon.
"I needed a job to buy a car if I went there. So I went to the hiring hall for sailors and got one. I was upgraded to First Class Seaman from Ordinary Seaman because that was the only opening they had.
"I sailed on that ship for one year in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. I got $5 a day while in the Mediterranean for hazard duty as there were so many floating mines. I watched one, the ship missed by a few feet, go by," he wrote, detailing his experiences.
"I wanted to sail. I wanted to be with my brother and I wanted to sail," he said.
"They needed men to sail ships. Men didn't want to sail ships. They wanted to go home. What ships were sailing, they couldn't get the crew for. It wasn't that easy. The ship had to have the full 48 men to sail," he said.
He boarded the ship Modoc Point — the name was not preceded by "U.S.S." — in New York and headed for Texas, going to Galveston as an apprentice, with the rank of Ordinary Seaman.
He was also aboard another ship, but during the years he has forgotten the name. Both were oil tankers, carrying fuel to other ships.
He traveled to Texas, Aruba, Japan three times, Suez Canal several times, Italy, Holland, Venice and Tokyo.
Quick to get his sea legs, the New Jersey native wasn't seasick as he did his job, relieving the quartermaster, who steered. At night he stood watch on the bow and reported ship sightings.
In the Mediterranean, he watched for mines.
"I did see one, one day. It did miss our ship by 1 to 3 feet," he said.
One storm was so severe, he said, "I didn't believe there was ever a storm that bad. I was walking through the hallway. I had perfect balance. I don't know what did it. It might have been adrenaline or excitement. I thought that ship was rolling over," he recalled.
A sand storm at midday made the sun disappear and carried sand 30 miles from the beach to his boat in the Persian Gulf.
After being discharged, he worked for the Salisbury Times, now The Daily Times, as a linotype operator, earning 55 cents an hour.
Next he worked in Princess Anne, at the Maryland Herald, and eventually in Dover, for the Wilmington Morning News, where he stayed for 30 years. He retired when he was 62.
In his mid-40s, he learned to fly as a hobby.
He also started to drink and now discusses his alcoholism matter-of-factly, saying he isn't ashamed of being a recovering alcoholic, that in fact it had its benefits.
"I have learned how to live. The good times aren't worth what it did to me. It stunted my growth as a person," he said.
"Now, being in the Coast Guard, that was a wonderful experience. I did enjoy it. The greatest thing I did was steer the ship. I steered half an hour and after I did I was bored and I didn't like it no more. I wished I was in the engineering room. I like mechanics," he said, sitting back in his chair and watching the puppy sleep.
"It was a good experience. I wouldn't like to do it again, but it was wonderful to see the world."
Worcester County State's Attorney Oglesby takes hands-on approach
SNOW HILL — The criminals facing jail time at the hands of Worcester County State's Attorney Beau Oglesby can thank a computer glitch for their misfortune.
As a freshman attending Salisbury State College to study accounting, an error in the school's course registration system blanked out the classes Oglesby had signed up for. He had to redo his schedule, and many of his classes were already full.
Oglesby recalls that the dean of the business school at the time was married to an attorney who taught business law. Her class was normally reserved for upperclassmen, but because of the good relationship he had with his dean, she let Oglesby in.
During the course of that semester is when Oglesby decided he wanted to be an attorney.
"I realized that the appeal of that was much greater than the appeal of being an accountant," he said.
Today, the 42-year-old Oglesby is 18 months into his job at the helm of the Worcester County State's Attorney's Office. He won his seat on his third try, in 2010, ousting longtime incumbent Joel Todd.
Oglesby grew up as a self-described Army brat, bouncing between homes in Georgia, Germany, Maryland and Virginia.
His father retired from the Army and took a job in security with the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The family settled in Prince George's County, Md., and Oglesby graduated from high school there. It was his third high school.
"I think it made me stronger," he said. "It taught me that you had to persevere yourself. You've got to learn how to make friends and deal with very cliquish communities sometimes."
All that moving in some ways made it easier for him to take on new jobs at four different State's Attorney's offices on the Shore.
"If you look at my background, I've made my personal career of going into situations where I wasn't known and having to fit. You move to two, three different middle schools, different high schools, you have to adapt and overcome," he said.
After law school, Oglesby was hired by former Wicomico County State's Attorney Davis Ruark. Oglesby spent 11 years working there and made a name for himself as a prosecutor of drug cases.
He gained more experience as a District Court prosecutor in Dorchester County and then as the No. 2 prosecutor in Caroline County. All the while, he and his wife were raising their family in Ocean Pines. He would spend two-and-a-half hours in the car each day commuting.
The relief on his face and the happiness come through when he talks about being able to see his daughter at school during a lunch break if he wants to.
But usually, lunch is a group affair among his staff of attorneys at his Snow Hill office. Oglesby said it's part of the camaraderie they're building there, to make the workplace more like a family.
Within trial attorneys, he said, there are just some people that are prosecutors, and some people that aren't.
"There's something in our makeup and I don't know exactly what it is, but you have to want to get up early in the morning."
And he does: Oglesby is at his desk at 6 a.m. most days, accomplishing the few tasks he's able to without any interruptions.
Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis has worked for many years alongside Oglesby, while Lewis was a Maryland State Police trooper tackling drugs on the Route 13 corridor.
Now, they're good friends and their families meet for dinner. Lewis was even at Oglesby's side in the Worcester County courthouse when Oglesby was sworn into office.
"Did you see how clean and neat his office is? That's the way his cases are. He knows every inch of that case before he walks into a courtroom," Lewis said.
Lewis said many prosecutors just don't take the time to meet with police before a case goes to trial because it's a ton of work, "but Beau always makes it happen."
"He just fights so hard for justice, and I so admire him for that. I have never, ever lost a case with Beau Oglesby as my prosecutor. He's just phenomenal," Lewis said.
Oglesby also has high standards for the attorneys under his command.
"He expects us to be excellent and he expects to hold everyone accountable," said Bill McDermott, executive assistant state's attorney.
Worcester County Sheriff Reggie Mason said Oglesby has been "outstanding" in working with his department.
"I'm very happy," Mason said. "He's been attending community meetings with me, across the county, listening to the concerns of the people. He gets firsthand what's going on. He's been great working with us, and I think all law enforcement would say that."
Oglesby said working hands-on is the only way he knows to get the job done.
In prosecuting a man accused of gunning down another with a long-range rifle during a drug deal, Oglesby and his team went to the site. They sat where the shooter sat and looked through the scope to see what he saw.
When a man high on PCP crashed his car into a vehicle carrying a mother and infant in north Ocean City, Oglesby was there on the scene.
"I wanted to see the cars, I wanted to see the street, know the time of day and the weather situations. That kind of stuff, you just, you can't read it in a file and expect to do the same job as if you actually get out there and kind of live it," he said.
Among Oglesby's accomplishments in a year and a half is a major drug bust operation in Pocomoke City and Snow Hill.
Of 40 people charged, 38 were convicted. In total, they were sentenced to 276 years behind bars. Oglesby called it "ridiculously successful."
The result? "It's been really quiet, especially Snow Hill. I can tell you that the number of cases generated since then is smaller. It means that people have been taken off (the streets)."
He promised to maintain his aggressive, proactive stance as a prosecutor.
"Hopefully, a message goes out, that if you commit a crime in Worcester County, they're going to hold you accountable. Hopefully that message resonates on the whole Shore," he said.
bshane@dmg.gannett.com
On Twitter @bwshane
