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Scan of United States Navy enlistment photograph Chester W. Nelson.
Chester was born on December 31, 1921 to Arthur William Nelson and Lena Selina Allen of Warren, Ohio and later of Braceville. He attended Braceville High School, graduating in 1940. Following the war he married Elsie Loraine Phipps Nelson on November 20, 1948 and fathered two children, Dolores Ann Nelson and Richard Charles Nelson. He worked as a machinist at Rockwell Standard International in Newton Falls from 1950 to 1976 and as Braceville's Fire Chief from 1980-1986. He was a long -time volunteer fireman and school-board member, and was a member of the American Legion Posts 709 in Braceville and 236 in Newton Falls, and Masonic Lodge 462. He passed away in Braceville, Ohio on October 9, 2005. He is buried in the Braceville Cemetery.
Chester served in the U.S. Navy from August 17th, 1944 to April, 1946 as a Water Tender, 3rd Class. Because of his occupation as a machinist at Lenny's Machine and Manufacturing Company of Warren Chester's draft eligibility was deferred for three years (1941-1944) until he voluntarily gave up his deferment, was drafted and assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center for boot camp and engineering school. He was stationed on the USS New Orleans CA-32, and served in the Pacific Theater in the Mariana Islands, Okinawa and the Philippines. Following the war he sailed on the New Orleans to evacuate allied prisoners of war in China and Korea. He was a member of the Navy choir that once sang for President Roosevelt, and was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon.