Materials contain an autobiography of Charles A. Beam entitled "In Retrospect: Looking Back at My Life" written mostly about the war and post-war years, but also contains information about his civilian life before and after the war. Beam writes about enlisting in the U.S. Navy and about working under a marine officer because he was stranded on an island during a battle. Beam writes of being severely burned while fighting a fire in a sub. Beam tells how he was recruited into a top secret company to destroy radio direction finders, which allowed the Japanese to find and destroy subs. He was awarded with many medals and ribbons. Dated approximately 2000.