For his fathers’ birthday on 24 May 1944 Chuckie sent this photo of himself to his family back home in Pennsylvania.

In his Army uniform, his handwritten note reads:

“A salute to a ‘real pal’ on his birthday.”

Everyone always called him Chuckie. It’s likely he chose to sign formally as “Charles” to show respect for his 54 year old father who was from the Deep South where manners were taught and expected.

One month later Chuckie was killed when his B-24 clipped the side of a small hill inside enemy lines in France and crashed landed while on a top secret mission to drop supplies and ammunition to the French resistance in advance of D-Day. These missions were credited with shortening the war.