Page 13 - Veterans' Issue

From the Edge

of the Forest

By Alice French

Charles volunteered to lead a small squad of men
to capture a German prisoner. That was some story.
With a memory bank full of the horrors of battle, I
asked Charles to share one of the lighter moments
he could recall. He told me about when he was Tech
Sergeant of his platoon, coming out of the Hurtgen
Forest where they came upon a German “pillbox”.
Charles told his buddy to reach into his pocket and
get out a white phosphorous grenade to throw into
the “pillbox.” “…if the Germans are in there, well,
they’ll surely come out!” So, he reached into his
pocket and pulled out the pin! Charles, thinking
quickly, grabbed his trousers and pulled ‘em down
to his ankles and turned his head. “…Didn’t hurt
him too much but the last I saw of him, he was
headed out the back, necked as a jaybird!”
Charles was
wounded in
the battle of
Prum, Germany
in February of
1945. By the time
he was ready for
redeployment,
I knew when I rounded the bend of the quiet Athens Victory had
neighborhood that it HAD to be… the house come.
on the corner with the American flag out front. Two years ago,
Indeed, it was the home of Charles C. Monroe, one at a special
extraordinary Veteran of World War II. ceremony in San
At age 18, his country called him to serve. In January Antonio, the
of 1944, after basic training at Camp Fannin, Tyler, French honored
TX, he was deployed to England in anticipation Charles with
of D-Day. His journey took him from fighting in their Merit of Honor. They honored about 20
the Hedgerows of France to St. Lo in the summer. Veterans and he was one of them.
Paris in August to Belgium in September and on Now, at the age of 92, Charles and his lovely bride
into Germany for the battle of Hurtgen Forest in of 71 years, Ernestine, enjoy living in Athens.
the winter. When his company was relieved on
December the 3rd, there were 19 men left out of As I drove away, waving to Ernestine, I was filled
250 in the company. Later that month came the with that feeling you get when you’ve just been in
Battle of the Bulge with the coldest winter Germany the presence of someone who is truly remarkable.
had ever seen. One morning during this battle,

VETERANS ISSUE 13