Remembering EW3 Charles Thomas Moller, KIA USS STARK (FFG 31)

At the time of the attack, EW3 Moller was survived by his wife, Tresa, and 9-month-old daughter, Heather, who lived in Jacksonville, Fla. He was a 1979 graduate of Jordan High School.

November 16, 1960 – May 17, 1987

From the AP News Achieve:

Ella Mae Moller tried all day Monday to find news of her son, Petty Officer 3rd Class Charles T. Moller, 27, of Columbus, Ga., and was told several times he was not on any casualty lists. Then two officers came to her home Monday night to tell her otherwise.

Moller recently had completed a two-year course on computerized weapons and radar, and the Stark assignment was his first permanent ship duty, his mother said. ”He just wanted to better himself, and he thought the Navy was a good way to do it,” she said. Mrs. Moller said she received a note over the weekend from her son, assuring her he was safe although in a troubled area of the world. ”Iran may be dumb enough to fire a missile at China,” he wrote. ”But Iran is not dumb enough to fire on one of our ships. Neither is Iraq.”