Charles Hotze

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Biography

Charles Robins "Chuck" Hotze was born October 21, 1924 in Richmond, Virginia. HIs parents were Charles Robins Hotze and Ethel "Bessie" Browder Hotze. Chuck had an older sister, Anne Elizabeth "Lib" Hotze, born in 1921. The elder Charles Hotze worked as a telegraph operator, and later as a stockbroker. In the late 1920s or early 1930s, the Hotze family moved to Queens, New York. The family lived in the neighborhood of Laurelton, on 232nd Street. ^[1]

By 1940, Chuck, his mother Bessie, and his sister Lib had moved back to Richmond, Virginia. ^[2] Bessie and her mother Etta were working in a tobacco factory, while Lib was looking for employment and Chuck was attending school. At some point, a divorce was finalized between Bessie and the elder Charles Hotze; Charles Hotze Sr. remained in New York, where he eventually remarried. Bessie and the children continued to live with Bessie's mother.

Chuck enlisted in the United States Army in November of 1942. ^[3] In 1944, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and given his navigator's wings at Hondo Army Airfield in Hondo, Texas. ^[4] He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a B-17 navigator during World War II and Korea, reaching the rank of Captain before leaving the military in 1958. During his military career, he received many commendations, including: Air Medal (8 Oak Leaf Clusters), the WWII Victory Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the Armed Forces RESM, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

On May 6, 1944, he and Mildred Eileen ("Millie") Moore were married in Sharon, Pennsylvania at the First Presbyterian Church. Following their wedding, Chuck was stationed in Lincoln, Nebraska. ^[5]

Chuck and Millie had two children, a daughter in 1946 and a son in 1948. Chuck's role in the Armed Forces took the family around the country, living in Sacramento, California and Waco, Texas in the early - mid 1950s.^[6]

An April 1953 article in The Sacramento Bee highlighted some of Chuck's military experience in the early 1950s, noting that he had recently returned to Sacramento after "50 night combat missions for the Blackbirds Squadron of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing in Korea." Chuck was cited, seemingly erroneously, as being a first lieutenant. The article also noted that he was a navigator who "guided two engined RB26 planes on night photography missions to pinpoint targets." ^[7] At the time, he was assigned to Mather Air Force Base in Mather, California.

In the late 1950's, Chuck Hotze entered the pneumatics nailing and stapling industry, remaining there until his retirement in 1984 from Senco Products. Before Senco, the Hotzes had their own pneumatics distributorship, Dixie Stapler in Atlanta, Georgia.

Chuck was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Whitesboro and was a dual member of Masonic Lodges, Waco #92 and Whitesboro #263 A.F. & A.M.

In his retirement, Chuck lived in several parts of the Atlanta metropolitan area, followed by Naples, Florida, northern Alabama, and finally Whitesboro, Texas. He and Millie enjoyed traveling, watching Atlanta Braves baseball games, and spending time with family. Chuck in particular was a gregarious man who made friends wherever he went. ^[8]In May of 2004, he and Millie celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

Chuck Hotze passed away of pneumonia on May 23, 2004, at Wilson N. Jones Medical Center in Sherman, Texas. ^[9] He was 79 years old. Funeral services were held at the First United Methodist Church in Whitesboro.

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X45H-DCT : accessed 10 January 2019), Charles Hotze in household of Charles Hotze, Queens (Districts 1251-1500), Queens, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1333, sheet 12B, line 88, family 206, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1603; FHL microfilm 2,341,337.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTMX-MSP : 14 March 2018), Charles Hatze in household of Jemitta Brawder, Jefferson Ward, Richmond, Richmond City, Richmond City, Virginia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 118-95, sheet 15A, line 22, family 304, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 4322.
3. ↑ "United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8P5-C8P : 5 December 2014), Charles R Jr Hotze, enlisted 21 Nov 1942, Richmond, Virginia, United States; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946," database, The National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD) (http://aad.archives.gov : National Archives and Records Administration, 2002); NARA NAID 1263923, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
4. ↑ "Promoted," Richmond News Leader, Richmond, Virginia, 8 July 1944, page 7 print edition. Retrieved from Newspapers.com - https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95774777/lt-charles-hotze-commissioned-as-2nd/
5. ↑ "Attends Wedding of Former Local Girl," New Castle, News, New Castle, Pennsylvania, 10 May 1944, page 3 print edition. Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31068385/mildred-moore-charles-hotze-wedding/
6. ↑ Personal recollection of events told to Lauren Hopkins, by Charles Hotze and his family, as remembered 13 Nov 2020.
7. ↑ "Veteran," The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California, 18 April 1953. Page 26 print edition. Retrieved from Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95785926/charles-hotze-korean-war-veteran/
8. ↑ Personal recollection of events witnessed by Lauren Hopkins as remembered 13 Nov 2020.
9. ↑ Charles R. Hotze obituary. Published by Meador Funeral Home. Charles R. Hotze obituary