US Navy Lt. Charles Perry Mason Jr. was born in Pensacola, Florida on June 7, 1918, the son of Charles Perry Sr. (1891-1971) and Ralphine Fisher (1897-1989). His father was none other than Admiral Charles Perry Mason Sr. who was born on January 12, 1891, in Harrisburg, PA. Charles Sr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1912 and reported to Pensacola where he entered flight training in May 1916. He graduated in 1917 as Naval Aviator No. 52. And of course, while here he met a young Pensacola girl whom he married upon receiving his wings of gold. She was Miss Ralphine Fisher, the daughter of the renowned attorney William Fisher Jr. (1860-1903) and Ralphine Armstrong (1862-1956). But the world was at war by 1917, and the young aviator was sent to Europe to do his part as a fledgling aviator. When he returned home to Pensacola after the war he was presented with a hearty kiss from his wife and his new son, Charles Jr. He became the first commanding officer of the new NAS, Jacksonville, Florida and was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In July 1942, he took command of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet only to have her sunk during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Promoted to Rear Admiral, he became the aircraft commander of the Solomon Islands in February 1943.
While overseas, he was notified on September 11, 1944 that his only child, Charles Perry Mason Jr. and his 1st Class radioman John Arthur Moore had been killed in a Navy training exercise near Stillwater, Nevada. His son had followed in his father's footsteps and graduated from Annapolis in the Class of 1940. Following flight school, he became a dive bomber pilot and was participating in a bombing simulation when he was killed. His body disintegrated upon impact and the aircraft was reduced to nothing but ashes, thus he never recovered. Sadly, four years later their daughter-in-law Cornelia Amos Mason was killed in a car crash in 1949 and the old couple were called upon to raise their grandson Charles III. The young boy followed in his father and grandfather's footsteps by graduating from Annapolis and becoming a naval aviator.
In the meantime, Admiral Mason developed severe malaria in the South Pacific forcing his return to stateside duty for the remainder of the war. The old Admiral finally retired from active duty in April 1946 after a distinguished naval career of 38 years. He would return to Pensacola, where he entered politics as the Mayor of Pensacola from 1947-1957 and then again from 1963-1965. In honor of their biggest baseball fan, the ballpark at 9th Avenue and Bayfront Street was named in Admiral Mason's honor. Built around 1956, it was home to the minor league team called the "Don's" till 1959, the "Angels" till 1960, and the "Senator's" till 1962. The latter was considered a farm team to the major league Washington Senators. The Pensacola Senators lost their franchise in 1962 for refusing to field black players. On July 10, 1974, the old ballpark was torn down and by 1991 the land was leased to the Veteran's Memorial Park group, the site of the Vietnam Wall South. The parks original namesake, Admiral Charles Perry Mason Sr. passed away on August 13, 1971 and was buried with full military honors at St. John's Cemetery where Ralphine would join him in 1989.
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