Charles Perry Mason served two non-consecutive terms as mayor of Pensacola, from 1947 to 1957 and again from 1963 to 1965.
Mason was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on January 12, 1891. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1912 and entered flight training in Pensacola in May 1916. Mason graduated in 1917, becoming the Navy's 52nd aviator. In the same year, Mason married Ralphine Fisher in Pensacola. Before long, however, Mason was ordered to Europe, as America had become involved in World War I. On June 13, 1918, then-Lieutenant Mason piloted the first American-built aircraft to be assembled in France, at Pauillac.
In 1923, Mason, then a Lieutenant Commander, took command of VS Squadron 3, a special service squadron assigned to develop long-distance scouting planes. In 1940, Mason became the first commanding officer of the newly-commissioned Naval Air Station Jacksonville.[1]
Mason would later serve in World War II, also, at one point commanding the USS Hornet, and earning the Navy Cross for his defense of the ship before its destruction in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
Mason served in the Navy for 38 years, eventually attaining the rank of Vice Admiral. He retired from active duty in April 1946, first settling in Jacksonville, but soon returned to Pensacola, where he became Mayor of Pensacola in 1947.[2]
Mason died August 13, 1971 and is buried at St. John’s Cemetery.
Admiral Mason is the namesake of Admiral Mason Park.
References
| Preceded by: Walter Wicke |
Mayor of Pensacola 1947—1957 |
Succeeded by: Roy Philpot |
| Preceded by: Charles Overman, Jr. |
Mayor of Pensacola 1963—1965 |
Succeeded by: B. I. Greenhut |
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