WAXHAW, N.C. — Charlie Rose is a veteran and former teacher in Waxhaw who says he is still in awe of the life he’s lived as he prepares to turn 100 years old on Saturday.
“It never occurred to me that I would live to be this old,” Rose said. “Suddenly I opened my eyes, and I turned around, and I was 80, and then I was 90, and now I’m 100.”
Rose spoke with Channel 9’s Miana Massey on Friday to share his memories, grateful for the life he’s lived. Saturday, he will celebrate 100 years surrounded by his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
“It’s really great just to know they are all here,” he said.
His story began on a farm in Missouri during the Great Depression, he told Massey.
“Life was not too good,” Rose said. “I was making 5 dollars a week working 96 hours milking 24 cows by hand, working night and morning, seven days a week.”
But with dreams of a better life, he enlisted in 1943.
“When I was 17, I up and joined the Navy,” he said. “I ate 3 meals a day and got paid 30 a month. I thought I was rich.”
Rose became a signalman, serving aboard the USS Bolivar in the Pacific. And he said he remembers the danger vividly.
“When we were at seas we were always zigzagging, and when he dropped that bomb, we started to zig or zag,” he said. “We had turned just enough, and it missed the ship… When it went down, we had dead fish all over the place.”
After the Navy, Rose joined the Army, serving more than two decades.
Following his service in the US Military, he became a teacher and devoted family man.
Rose said now, he reflects not just what he survived, but who he represents.
“To say that I love this country is an understatement,” Rose said. “I hope that I, as a World War II vet, represent all of those guys — especially the ones that didn’t come back.”
Saturday, Rose’s family and fellow veterans will gather with him at the Museum of the Waxhaws for the “Century of Courage” World War I and World War II event, honoring Rose on his 100th birthday.
The event begins at 10:15 a.m., honoring his century of service and sacrifice.
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