Charlie Savala (Walking Charlie) Walking Charlie was an Iron Mountain icon.
Walking Charlie was an Iron Mountain icon. He was a familiar sight around town in the 60's and 70's, every one knew who he was. He lived in the streets and slept where ever he could find a spot the lay his head down. That was the life he enjoyed. I recall Mike Rodman, the owner of Rodman's Bridge Inn saying he had to get Charlie out of his car every morning this week before he could use it. I got to know Charlie fairly well and had several conversations with him. He was an intelligent person with beautiful handwriting. He played the harmonica and told me one time, as he spread his hands about a foot apart, that he had to get back to Traverse City, Michigan to retrieve his good harmonica, which he had hidden in a stump next to the railroad tracks there. There were a lot of stories about Charlie circulating at the time, only Charlie would know if their was any truth to them. The kids used to call him lightning to tease him, he would shake his fist at them and make like he was going to chase them. He told me he hated that name and liked to be called " Wildcat Charlie" that was what they called him when he worked in the woods. I was trying to get a truck started in cold weather one time and Charlie walked up and told me how when he worked in the woods, they would build fires around the diesel engines to get them started. For a while he had a shack behind the Powder Lake dump made out of cardboard and tin. Talking with him at the Log Cabin in Aurora, WI, he invited me out to his shack for a Christmas drink, he said just cut through the dump, cross the crick and his shack was right there. He lost half of one foot to a train sleeping on the railroad tracks, I believe that happened behind Smitty's Sport Shop, now Stephen's Decorating, as the story goes when he was recuperating at the Veterans Hospital he disappeared one day and they found him, in his wheelchair, stuck on the railroad tracks on H street trying to get to Greenleafs bar. For a while one of his morning stops was Joey Jaff's Avenue Bar. He would stop and ask Joey if he needed any snuff, Joey would give him the money to run and get him a can of snuff, then give Charlie a couple of beers for doing it. I understand Charlie was supposed to have been quite a war hero. I looked , but could not find any information on this. I think one of my fondest memories of Charlie is every time I would run into him, if he had money in his pocket he would try and give me a dollar, if not he would ask to borrow one.
Memories of Walking Charlie. Nancy I remember him coming into my mom’s office on a regular basis. Sometimes just to visit and “check in”, other times for warmth. Always interesting. Many people watched out for him.
Nick He kind a stayed at Harry Carlson's gas station on the corner of Woodward and Carpenter Ave. When I helped out there he was always in one corner of the station. I heard he lost part of a leg when he fell asleep on the train tracks. Don't know for sure...... Tim I took him to Minneapolis one time must have been 75-76 and got to meet his brother who was president of some big company great big house thought I was in the wrong place and learned a little about Charlie was college educated had good jobs before the service but during the war they were in battle don't remember where and he shot a deserter and when he came back he didn't want to be around people that's when he started in the woods and there's more things but that's enough the VA should have taken better car of him my opinion anyhow.