FORT BRAGG, 5/29/23 — A motorist arriving in Fort Bragg on Memorial Day could offer thanks no matter which way he turned. At the end of Highway 20, a driver turning right to head into Fort Bragg crosses the Lt. Charles L. Larson Memorial Bridge over the Noyo River. The bridge was bedecked for Memorial Day, which honors the service of military heroes who died serving in America’s wars. Lt .Larson flew off in his fighter plane in the South Pacific in 1944 and was never seen again. He had hoped to resume working as a fisherman with his father, Gustav “Cap” Simonson, going in and out of Noyo Harbor. When a brand new Noyo Harbor Bridge was dedicated in 1948, it was named for the fisherman/fighter pilot. When the second bridge was dedicated in 2005, his tearful sister, Florence Larson Simonson of Fort Bragg, was saluted by the assembled band and mayor.
“This was his playground and workplace before the war,” Simonson told this reporter, pointing to the harbor below.
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