Ed smiles for photo taken at family's home in 1945. Three months after washout and discharge as an A-V(N) Naval Aviator and Ensign, he was drafted back by the Navy as an Apprentice Seaman. This was typical for all naval aviation cadets who didn't finish training, but Ed made it further than most washouts. He once quipped, "I wanted wings till I got them, then I didn't anymore." It didn't matter that he was drafted back. He was undoubtedly grateful having survived crashing his airplane. No shame in being relegated to the rank of Seaman.

From Ensign to Seaman

No longer a commissioned officer, Ed was initially relegated to the rank of Apprentice Seaman. This was the typical practice for naval cadets who "washed out" and did not complete all aviation training before combat assignment.

Ed Scharch reported Jul 26, 1945 to the U.S. Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois for boot camp and to undergo physical training for a second time.

Ironically, the surrender of Imperial Japan was announced on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close.

Two days later, Ed completed recruit training on Sep 04, 1945. He also received gas mask drill & chamber instruction, a course in fire fighting school, rifle range instruction and night lookout training. He was also qualified as a "third class" swimmer. He was advanced to S2c (Seaman 2nd Class) and granted 5 days recruit leave from Sep 04-09, 1945.  

Despite the war's end and re-enlistment of two more years, Ed remained in the service and spent the next seven months serving at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, where he was transferred to on Oct 02, 1945. Ed reported on Oct 08, 1945 to Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Waldron Field, Corpus Christi, TX, from USNTC Great Lakes, IL. NAAS Waldron Field was built as a satellite airfield in 1943 for nearby NAS Corpus Christi, and it is where he was stationed for a duration of 4 months and 20 days.

There are no military records mentioning the type of duty Ed performed at NAAS Waldron Field or NAS Corpus Christi, which was one of the Navy's other Intermediate flight training centers.

What were the duties of a NavCad Ensign washout-turned S2/c at naval aviation station after the war concluded?

Ed had a non-flying ground job at Waldron Field, and he probably performed a multitude of menial tasks in support of aviation training operations. He was probably assigned to a variety of duties where lower ranked Seaman were needed most.

After a few months Ed was transferred on Feb 28, 1946 to NAS Corpus Christi for "other duty." He reported on Mar 02, 1946 and was stationed there for 26 days. The military had already begun the great migration of discharging service personnel and returning them to civilian life and their families. Ed was sent there for that purpose and was offered an early discharge. The entry in his service record reads, "3-20-46  Has been interviewed and does not wish to reenlist in the U.S. Navy."

He was then transferred again on Mar 28, 1946 to the Naval Personnel Separation Center, USNPSC Great Lakes, IL, for discharge from the military. Two days later he reported to Great Lakes to begin long process of discharge from military. It took about two weeks to go through the pipeline back to civilian life.

The discharge process included some exit interview questions, including any preferences for type of job and training provided by the new G.I. Bill. The Notice of Separation From U.S. Naval Service form showed Ed's job preference as "Aeronautical Engineering, Middle West," with type of training as "College Training." WWII veterans became the first to be entitled to free college education along with other perks.

On April 13, 1946, having served a total of 3 years and 27 days, S2/c Edward L. Scharch was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve where he served for Uncle Sam during World War Two.

Edward shared one good yarn about the time he served as a Seaman at NAS Corpus Christi. Even though he was no longer an Ensign or navy pilot, Ed decided one early morning to take off in navy trainer on a mission for fellow ground crewman. He volunteered to go on a donut run with an airplane. Saying they had better donuts and one of Corpus Christi's other outlying airfields, Ed flew the Navy plane over to pick up a few dozen donuts at their mess hall. He safely returned from his mission with a booty of donuts for everyone!

The federal government acquired 861 acres on this site in 1940, and activated Rodd Field in 1941. Rodd Field was used for Naval Cadet flight training, and as an auxiliary landing field for the nearby Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.

The earliest depiction of Rodd Field was a 8/19/1941 aerial view. The photo shows Rodd Field during its primary training days in original airfield configuration, with two large circular asphalt landing mats, and a ramp with two hangars on the east side. The photo shows several dozen Navy trainers on the ramp, and a stream of several heading out onto the landing mat. There were no runways at first, only the two landing mats. The airfield would later expand to include four paved runways, taxiways, ramp area, three hangars, and a street grid with a total of 75 buildings on site.

NAAS Rodd Field was listed as having a total of 9 naval outlying landing fields.

A 1951 USGS topographic map indicates Rodd Field as having 4 paved runways, 3 hangars, a control tower, and numerous buildings. A 1/22/69 article from The Beehive (courtesy of Ford Lauer) said that 2 hangars were relocated from Rodd Field to Chase Field in 1954.

Rodd Field appeared to have been closed by the time of a 3/4/56 aerial view, as no aircraft were visible on the field, and 2 of the 3 hangars had been removed. The runways remained intact, consisting of 4 paved runways along with 2 giant circular landing pads.

The precise date of closure of Rodd Field has not been determined, but the property was declared excess in 1958. The General Services Administration sold portions of the Rodd Field property to several private parties in 1960. The March 1960 Corpus Christi Sectional Chart depicted Rodd as “Abandoned Airfield”.

A 1961 aerial view showed no significant change in the Rodd Field remains. GSA transferred 136 acres of the northern portion of the base to NASA in 1964, which established the Texas Manned Space Flight Network Tracking Station at the site. The Texas MSFN Tracking Station opened in 1967, and was operated by the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation. The station's administrative offices were located in the last former Navy hangar, referred to as the main operations building. In addition to the administration offices, the hangar housed telemetry systems, command system, computers, and other communications equipment. Located about one mile south of the hangar was the VHF Acquisition Aid equipment. The Unified S-Band system & power generating equipment were located a half mile north of the hangar. During the Apollo Program, this Texas station acted as a remote station, remoting telemetry data, tracking information, and voice communications to MCCH in Houston. The station also acted as an uplink facility between the lunar vehicles & the MCCH Control Center. By the time of the July 1969 Brownsville Sectional Chart, the airfield at Rodd was no longer depicted at all.

The NASA facility was closed by 1974, at which point their property was transferred back to GSA. The 1975 USGS topo map no longer depicted any runways on the property (just one remaining hangar), and labeled the property as “NASA tracking facility”. Tom Harper recalled, “I was assigned to the Corpus Christi Army Depot from 1975-78 and we were using the hangar on Rodd Field to store helicopter components awaiting repair & return to service. The hangar was in bad condition at the time. The NASA building was still there & should been saved as part of our space program history.”

The July 1979 Brownsville Sectional Chart no longer depicted Rodd Field, not even as an abandoned airfield. A 1979 aerial view showed most of Rodd's runway pavement had been removed, but the outlines of the runways were still plainly recognizable.

The Rodd Field property was conveyed in 1980 to the City of Corpus Christi, which built Bill Witt Park. The park still exists today on that part of the property. The 1984 USGS topo map labeled the property as “Radio facility”. A 1985 aerial view showed the outlines of the runways were still plainly familiar. The City of Corpus Christi acquired 175 acres along the southern periphery of the airfield 1987-1988, which became Oso Creek Park. A 1990 aerial view showed a housing development had been built over the northwest portion of the old runways.

A visit to the site in 2001 by Jeffery Sternberg provided an update of the status of Rodd Field. Most of the ramp area also still existed, as well as one of the three hangars (then in an advanced state of deterioration). The street grid and several small concrete buildings still existed. Most of the runways had been removed, with the exception of an 800 foot segment of the east/west runway (visible as a white line in the 1995 USGS aerial photo, north of the baseball diamonds), which was currently used as a parking lot for the recreational field. The control tower still existed, just south of the remaining runway segment.

A 2005 aerial photo shows the sole remaining hangar at Rodd. An aerial photo from 2006 showed the deteriorated hangar remained standing. Finally, a 2008 aerial view showed that Rodd's last hangar had been removed.

A 2017 Google satellite view shows Rodd Field's western half mostly overtaken by single-family housing. However, the auxiliary air station's old street grid and a few buildings are still noticeably visible, along with some of its original paved ramps on the eastern half of the site.

Rodd Field was once a very active naval auxiliary air station built just before the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. It, and many other WWII training airfields, represents how much of what the country was then capable of achieving in such little time.

The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (G.I. Bill)

Also known as the G.I. Bill, the law provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). It was designed by the American Legion, who helped push it through Congress by mobilizing its chapters (along with the Veterans of Foreign Wars); the goal was to provide immediate rewards for practically all World War II veterans.

Benefits included dedicated payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college or vocational/technical school, low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business, as well as one year of unemployment compensation. It was available to all veterans who had been on active duty during the war years for at least 90 days and had not been dishonorably discharged—exposure to combat was not required. The recipients did not pay any income tax on the GI benefits, since they were not considered earned income.

By 1956, roughly 7.8 million veterans had used the G.I. Bill education benefits, some 2.2 million to attend colleges or universities and an additional 5.6 million for some kind of training program.