US Army Staff Sergeant Charles “Chuckie” Melvin Wilson, 36thBomb Squad, 801stBomb Group, was killed in action on 28 April 1944 along with four other American aviators when his B-24 ‘Liberator’ Bomber crashed in the French village of Saint-Cyr-de-Valorges. He is permanently interred in the military war grave cemetery Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial located in Draguignan, France.
Born: January 19, 1922 – Died: April 28, 1944
These few details are all his family had about the fate of their son, their brother, their nephew, their cousin or the uncle they never knew. The ‘good guys won’; Chuckie was ‘killed in action’ and he’s ‘buried over there’ were the only memories spoken of or shared as the years went on. Little information was known. No one from his family had visited his grave. They never had passports, knew anyone French or traveled abroad.
The journey begins.
I had always been curious to know more about Chuckie, other family members too. Surely there was more to know about Chuckie now available on the internet? The lives of those in the Allied Forces who fought and died in WWII are recorded in hundreds of thousands of films, photographs, letters and history books. Monuments recognize the victory they achieved to restore freedom and end tyranny around the globe. These offer us a lasting record of their hopes, dreams, talents and ambitions, the countless lives they impacted, and the loved ones they left behind. But that record is incomplete and quickly disappearing for many.
One of those is US Army Staff Sergeant Charles “Chuckie” M. Wilson. When his mother (my great grandmother) died in the late 1970s, my family found a shoe box with a purple heart, a few undated photographs and just six official letters she received from the War Department over a 15 year period from the date of his death. These were all the memories that remained of Chuckie.
As the world commemorates the 75thanniversary of D-DAY this year, I felt a new sense of urgency and family duty to create a more complete digital record of Chuckie’s life so that his memory and contribution to freedom will not be forgotten. With only a basic timeline of key events known from those six letters, I dove into the internet to see what more I could find. The internet has made it possible for anyone with a computer and curiosity to search hundreds of thousands of websites, indexed data bases and social media to uncover a wealth of facts, images and uncover the truth of personal human stories.
The ultimate sacrifice, the unforgotten glory of their deeds.
What quickly emerged in my searches is a fascinating and remarkable story of heroism and bravery of a 22 year old man who enlisted in the Army to do his part in the fight for freedom for people in countries oceans away from his small town in Western Pennsylvania who soon found himself in England as part of the build up to the Allied invasion in France, details of his top secret air mission on that fateful day in advance of D-Day to supply the French resistance behind enemy lines, images of Chuckie and his fellow airman with their-24 ‘Liberator’ Bomber, a first-hand account of human tragedy as he and four fellow American airmen gave the ultimate sacrifice of their life for the liberation of France and the restoration of freedom, and a previously unknown monument to them erected with gratitude by the French villagers on the spot where they found his body under the plane wreckage after their fiery crash in Saint-Cyr-de-Valorges, France and the compassion they showed him as they quickly buried him in gratitude in a temporary grave so that his remains would be safe and could be returned with honor and dignity.
It is my hope that by sharing some history, personal family stories and facts of Chuckie and his mission on this blog over the coming months, readers will gain an interesting snapshot into an important period in history. Together we honor those like Chuckie who fought and died for freedom. In late May, I will be the first family member to visit Chuckie’s grave in France and I will share that experience here too. When I write my last post on this blog in a few months time there will finally be a more complete record of the life of Charles M. Wilson so that future generations can remember him, better understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn.
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For all of us, may it evoke a small comfort to know that once we are gone, we will not be erased from the memories of others.
Tim B.
Unforgotten Glory 