Charles E. Edwards

Charles Earl Edwards

Company B 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

4th Infantry Division

KIA 11/27/1944

Charles Earl Edwards was born in Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi on March 10, 1922.

He enlisted in the Field Artillery of the Regular Army on January 23, 1941 at Jackson Mississippi. His home of residence
was listed as Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi. He had completed grammar school and was single with no dependents.
His religion was listed as Protestant.

He was assigned to Company B as a Private from the 4th Engineer Battalion
on October 1, 1944.

He was promoted to Private First Class on October 17, 1944.

Private First Class Edwards was killed in action in Germany during the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest
on November 27, 1944.

On that day his Company's advance was halted by heavy resistance from the Germans with the Company
taking heavy casualties as it tried to cross a large open area.

By this time the company was only thirty strong. The 2d platoon attempted to slip a squad at a time across the field.
Ten men got within twenty yards of the woods, before a machine gun pinned them down. Private First Class
Charles Edwards crawled forward to try to knock out the gun. He was a former member of the 4th Engineer Battalion,
but had asked to join Baker Company during the drive across France. His wish had been granted in September
when Baker Company was assaulting the Siegfried Line. He got no more than five yards
before a burst of machine gun fire killed him. ¹

Charles E. Edwards was buried in the temporary U.S. Military Cemetery,
Henri-Chapelle Cemetery, Eupen, Belgium and some time later
his remains were returned to the United States where he was
reinterred in Mississippi.

Burial:
Greenwood Cemetery
West Point
Clay County
Mississippi
Plot: Section A2, Lot 22

Grave marker for Charles E. Edwards

Photo by DeeDee from the Find A Grave website

¹ Paschendale with Treebursts by Robert S. Rush September 1996 pp. 85

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