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The Bulletin-Saturday, May 24, 2014
Chuck Somma: Saving the Hornet B y P HIL B OOKMAN
Chuck Somma, in his role of docent aboard the USS Hornet, shows visitors jackets with various colors used to distinguish different jobs of the crew.
T he W o o dbridge Writers G r oup
The scene is the aircraft carrier Hornet. Planes are brought up to the flight deck ready for the hookup to a catapult that will shoot them to the sky. Shortly, they will engage enemy planes and ships in fierce battle. Once a pilot discovers his electrical system isn’t working, he probably can’t connect to the catapult. No catapult. Maybe no action. Send for an electrical mechanic. It could be 20-year-old Chuck Somma who will determine if electrical problems can be overcome or if the plane would fight another day. If so, another plane would be brought from below decks. Somma, now retired and living in Woodbridge, was on the eighth naval ship to be named Hornet. The seventh was sunk in a savage battle with the Japanese, called “The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands” near Guadalcanal. For Somma, “It wasn’t a matter of age. You had a job to do and you did it. That was to repair planes.” Somma joined the Navy in 1950 after graduating from Castlement High School in Oakland. Sent to aviation electrician training in Florida, he joined the Hornet shortly after. In 1954, after the Korean War ended, the Hornet was sent on a round-theworld cruise that would prove to be one of the highlights of Somma’s naval career. “It was mostly a show the flag cruise,” Somma said. Leaving from San Francisco, the Hornet visited Pearl Harbor, Yokosuka, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other points in the Far East. It would then take them to Europe and Naples, Lisbon and then back to Norfolk in the United States. “It was one
Photo courtesy of Chuck Somma
of the great experiences of my life,” he said. But the Chuck Somma story didn’t end there. He became one of the greatest of all ex-Navy volunteers. The Hornet, which had been decommissioned in 1975, was in a mothball fleet in Bremerton, Washington, until 1995. It was brought to Hunter’s Point in San Francisco where it was to be scrapped. “Not so fast,” said Somma and others who served on the Hornet and other ships. They determined the carrier was worth saving and could serve as a floating museum. The crew raised several million dollars to halt the dismantling of the Hornet and begin its restoration. The Hornet was towed to the Alameda Naval Shipyard in late 1995 and would remain there even though the base
was closed in 1997. With the Navy’s approval to transfer ownership of the Hornet to a nonprofit foundation, the ship has become a major Bay Area attraction. Somma instantly became a docent for the “museum,” showing tour groups around the ship and being one of the hosts at special dinners and meetings. He did this until 2007 when forced into a wheelchair by illness. Somma worked for the Amero Corp. in Livermore after his discharge and stayed with the company for 35 years. But it is Chuck’s volunteerism with the Rotary Club of Tracy that particularly stands out. He was coordinator of seven Rotary clubs seeking to raise millions to help eradicate worldwide polio.
He also participated in several trips to Mexico to build or rebuild playgrounds at schools and hospitals. A major undertaking was a two-week trip to Irkutsk in Siberia bringing medicines and equipment for the city’s hospital and orphanage. Doctors and surgeons there really appreciated it, Somma said. Somma’s wife Linda also works outside the home and is a leader in volunteering. She worked on the Hornet, was one of the first members of the McHenry House, Tracy’s Family Shelter’s board of directors and, with Chuck, volunteered on community service projects. With most of his life spent as a volunteer for worthy causes, Somma reflects, “I enjoyed every minute of it.”
Thank You.
“Those we lost live on in us. In the families who love them still. In the friends who remember them always. And in a nation that will honor them, now and forever.” - President Obama
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