(MANSFIELD TWP., May 28, 2008) – Charles Edward Wolfrum, a Navy veteran who served during the Korean War, received the Warren County Distinguished Military Service Award today in a special presentation at Warren Haven, the county-run nursing home.

Wolfrum, a Warren Haven resident, received the award from Freeholder Director John DiMaio and from county Chief Financial Officer Charles L. (Pete) Houck, who, like Wolfrum, served on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Wasp.
Wolfrum was 21 when he entered the Navy in September 1951 and was honorably discharged nearly two years later.

Houck served on the same ship a decade later. As an aviation electronics technician and ASW air crewman, he was a member of Air Anti-Submarine Squadron 31, assigned the Wasp from 1962 to 1964. Houck served on active duty for four years.

Both men served on the ninth of 10 United States Navy ships to be named Wasp, and it was fondly known as the “Mighty Stinger.”

Launched on August 17, 1943, the ship was soon in action in the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese, serving at Wake, Tinian, Guam, Iwo Jima, Mindanoa, Luzon, Palmas, Formosa, Hong Kong, Okinawa, and finally Yokosuka and Tokyo, Japan. After World War II, it temporarily served as a troop transport, and was put into the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in February 1947.

The ship was later refitted for the jet age, to accommodate larger, heavier and faster aircraft, and recommissioned on Sept. 10, 1951, then designated an attack carrier 13 months later. In November 1956, Wasp started her third and final designation as an anti-submarine carrier. In the early days of the Space Age, the ship picked up five pairs of Gemini astronauts after splashdown in 1965 and 1966.

The aircraft carrier was decommissioned July 1, 1972 and sold for scrap on May 23, 1973.

Wolfrum is one on the 72 veterans being honored this year by the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders as part of the county’s Veterans Recognition Program. The Freeholders will pay tribute to all those veterans at a ceremony this Saturday, May 31, 2008, to be held at 11 a.m. at the Warren County War Memorial, located at the corner of Mansfield and Second streets next to the county Courthouse.

The public is invited to attend this ceremony and join the Freeholders in recognizing the brave men and women of Warren County who have served their country during wartime.