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| Sgt. Charles Gardiner, was a 4th Infantry Division GI at Prum shortly before he was killed. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107667635/charles-edward-gardiner https://www.pinterest.com/pin/311100286730140117/ |
Charles Edward "Chizzy" Gardiner never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on January 13, 1918 in Iowa. His mother Jennie was born in Pennsylvania and his father Benjamin was born in Ohio. His father worked as a railroad switchman. Charles, known as Chizzy, had one brother and two sisters. Charles married Henrietta Peterman on April 11, 1937. They had two sons. He held various jobs including oil company attendant, bread company salesman, tea company warehouse man, and ironworks machinist.
He enlisted relatively late in the war on August 11, 1944. After training in Arkansas, he left for Europe on January 5, 1945 and joined Company F, 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division as a replacement with the rank of sergeant. As one of the most heavily engaged units beginning on D-Day on Utah Beach, the 4th ID was in constant need of replacements. In 299 days of combat it suffered 20,660 battle casualties, nearly 70 men on average each and every day.
By the time Sgt. Gardiner joined his company, the 4th ID was fighting in Germany. It had cross the Prum River on February 28, 1945 and was racing to the Kyll River. Sgt. Gardiner was killed by a German sniper near Hemispand on March 3, 1945.
His grave is at Aspen Grove Cemetery, Burlington, Iowa.His widow never remarried and she died in 2003, outliving both sons who both died at age 50. Unlike most of the WW2 fallen, Sgt. Gardiner does have living descendants.
Last year on this date I profiled Gerard Infanger, a Pacific theater paratrooper. You can read about Gerard here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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