The Guide

THE GUIDE

Thursday, December 7, 1961 THE GUIDE 15

Storms or Polio Couldn't Bend Charlie's Will

HOMESTEAD AFB — Charles J. Neumann, chief civilian weather forecaster for the 8th Weather Squadron at Homestead AFB, looks younger than his 36 years. Meeting him for the first time over the counter where the pilots check in for weather briefings, one might get the impression that this deep - tanned, wiry looking man spends much of his time on the golf course or water skiing. Then he moves back to the weather sequence display board to check a pilot's report and you see the aluminum crutches for the first time and the labored gait of one who must strap steel to his withered legs in order to walk. "I fish a lot; it's about the only sport I can participate in," he explains. "We try to get out on the boat as much as possible—the wife and kids and I. About every two weeks or so we make it." Charlie Neumann has been working at the weather control center at Homestead since March of 1956. He came here about a year ago after he was released from the Veterans' Administration hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. where he struggled for a year and a half to overcome an attack of polio that left both his legs crippled. "I was flying weather reconnaissance for the Navy at the time, based out of Jacksonville and Puerto Rico. We hunted hurricanes in the Caribbean. I must have picked up the bug out there somewhere on one of those islands." He leaned against a crutch and thought a minute. "That was October, '53. We were called up for the Korean thing in 1951. I was due to get out the following July." But Charlie did not get discharged in July, 1954 as planned. He was released nine months earlier on a medical discharge because the Navy could not keep a man who had to wear braces on his legs in order to get around. Charles J. Neumann wanted to be a weatherman since his high school days in Jamaica, N.Y. "We had this course on weather at school", he explains. "I guess I became fascinated." He enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and was sent to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study meteorology. After completing his bachelor's degree, the Navy sent him to the South Pacific where he chased typhoons in a P4Y2 (B24 type aircraft) for a year and a half. "It was pretty tricky business, chasing those big storms. The radar wasn't too reliable in those days and we had to fly low over the water so we could see the water and observe which direction the wind was blowing. Otherwise you could get lost as hell in those wide open spaces." After the war Neumann enrolled in the University of Chicago, where he completed a master's degree in meteorology. He was working at Air Weather Service Headquarters in Washington, D.C. when the Korean War broke out. The Navy sent the young weatherman back to chasing tropical storms—this time in the Caribbean. Then polio struck its unexpected low blow—a disaster that came close to destroying Charlie's dreams. CHARLES J. NEUMANN "Betty and I weren't married a year when it happened. And then for the next year and a half I was laid up in the hospital. Even after they released me it was six months before I could get out of a wheel chair. Then came the job of learning how to get along on crutches. It's not easy when both legs don't work." The ex-hurricane hunter tried to get his job back at Air Weather Headquarters, but the physical requirements were not suited to a man whose legs must be braced with metal. "I didn't know how to get along well enough on my crutches to go up and down the long flights of stairs. Then, too, ice and snow—even wet leaves—are tough to negotiate with these things," he explained, holding up one of his aluminum legs. Charlie decided that the only place to go was south where the weather was more sympathetic to a guy on crutches. For this reason he picked Miami as the most likely and because of the work they were starting to do here in the field of weather research. He may not be able to chase hurricanes from a plane, but he still could apply his highly trained mind towards finding out what makes the naughty ladies behave. "It was a fateful coincidence", says E. L. Christianson, local coordinator for National Employ the Handicapped Week and chief employee utilizer for Homestead AFB. "Charlie turned up precisely at the right time. There was an opening over at air operations for a weather forecaster and his qualifications fit perfectly. His physical handicap was and is his own problem: in no way does it interfere with his job." His training in meteorology assured Neumann's success at his job. Today he is technical supervisor of the base weather staff, monitors tower forecasts to make sure they are accurate and works on developing techniques for long-range forecasting. With the help of the Veteran's Administration he got a grant to construct a tailormade home at 6855 SW 104th St. (no stairs and doublewide doors). He drives his car by means of hand controls and is now able to move around with surprising agility with only one brace on his left leg. He even moves around his office easily without crutches. Does he miss the excitement of hurricane hunting? He propped his weight on his braced leg, leaned his elbows on the counter and smiled: "Not much. That's work for young men—the footloose variety," he observed, chuckling at his own choice of words. "I've got a family . . . a wife and four children. I couldn't take those kinds of chances even if I had two good legs. And besides, I track them from here and do the research and analysis. "That's excitement enough for me and a lot more interesting."

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