Charles F Bishop
Charles was born on the 1st of February, 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and unfortunately not much is known about his early or later life. It is known that he joined the US Navy and deployed in support of the Mexican Campaign, where his actions would earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:
On board the U.S.S. Florida for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession during the seizure of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 21 April 1914.
The USS Florida was a battleship that was commissioned on the 15th of September, 1911, in the New York Navy Yard. She joined the Atlantic Fleet in March of 1912 and was one of the first two ships to arrive in Vercruz on the 16th of February, 1914. Twenty-five of her crew would receive Medals of Honor here and she resumed normal fleet operations until World War 1. She participated in wartime readiness before leaving the States on the 25th of November, 1917 for the North Sea to reinforce the British Grand Fleet. The USS Florida was the only American ship to not be quarantined due to the spread of the Spanish Flu within the Grand Fleet and she was replaced within the Fleet in late November of 1918 in order to escort the SS George Washington to France with President Wilson on board. She would go on to normal peacetime duties until 1924 when she was taken out of service for modernization in the Boston Navy Yard. Once back on the sea, she continued operations until she was decommissioned on the 16th of February, 1931 and broken up for scrap. Her bell, which weighs one ton, currently sits in the lobby of the Museum of Florida History but previously sat atop the North end zone at Florida Field from 1960 to 1992 and was rung by cheerleaders or fans after a victory by the Florida Gators.
Returning back to Charles, he received his Medal of Honor on the 15th of June, 1914 and he remained in the Navy, reaching the rank of Commander. He married Verna Carson in 1931 and even though her headstone says “MOM”, I couldn’t find a record of any children. Charles Francis Bishop died on the 1st of February, 1954 at the age of 65 and he is buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, where his wife would join him 37 years later: Section O, Site 4562.
