Interviewer(s): J. P. Theriot. Pearland, TX

Affiliation: University of Houston/History International

Charles Mills is a native of Galveston, Texas and spent fifty years in the maritime industry. He joined the U.S. Merchant Marine in the late 1930s and sailed for Lykes Brothers Shipping. During this time he joined the National Maritime Union. In WWII he sailed out on the first Liberty Ship build by Brown Shipyard in Houston. He nearly lost his life during a U-boat torpedo attack in the Atlantic in 1943. After the war, Mills became a representative of the Union and lived on the East Coast. He returned to Texas in the early 1960s and continued service with the union. He is now retired, but continues to be active in numerous Merchant Marine organizations.