“Yes, sir,” the boy replied.
“Please see me after rehearsal,” said the instructor.
Charles wondered whether Mr. Woods was going to let him stay in the band.
“How long have you been playing the clarinet?” asked the leader after band practice.
“Since I was ten years old, sir.”
After asking him where and how much he had studied, he relieved Charles’s mind by saying, “You are so advanced in your playing that I should like to give you some special help in your music. I think you can go far.”
The training Charles received from Woods was invaluable. This fine musician has been a great influence and inspiration throughout Brendler’s years. The Commander says today, “Mr. Woods was a thorough musician and a wonderful teacher. I owe him a great deal.”
Young Brendler learned rapidly. He soon became soloist in the Wanamaker Band and he also played in the orchestra of the old Academy of Music in New York. It was then, when only fifteen, that Charles decided to make music his life work and enlisted in the U. S. Navy.
Aboard the Florida this boy, never before outside of New York, embarked on a six-weeks’ Mediterranean cruise. Once, when asked if he were homesick on this first trip, Commander Brendler replied, “Homesick? I never knew the meaning of that word.”
When trouble arose between the United States and Mexico in 1914, the U.S.S. Florida went to Vera Cruz. There our young bandsman had his first experience under shellfire. The first of the many ribbons with which he is decorated today was won at that time.