CHARLES MARION THIRLKELD, JR.

The Citadel Class of:	1944
Cadet Company:	G (4), G – Corporal (3)
Age:	23
Born:	17-Jul-21
Hometown:	Hood County, Texas
Family:	Col. Charles M. Thilkeld, Sr. (father), Mary Thirlkeld (mother), Jean Thirlkeld Coate (sister)
Rank:	Second Lieutenant
Branch of Service:	U.S. Army
Servicenumber:	O-1825509
Entered the Service from:	Texas
Function:	Platoon Leader
Regiment:	506th Parachute Infantry Regt
Battalion:	2nd Battalion
Division:	101st Airborne Division
Company:	Headquarters Company
Unit:	Anti-Tank Platoon
Date of death:	3-Jan-45
Status:	KIA
Place of death:	vicinity of Bastogne, Belgium
Spot:	Bois Jacques, south of Foy, Belgium
Awards:	Purple Heart
Gravenumber:	Plot D Row 5 Grave 7
Cemetery:	Luxembourg American Cemetery
Biography:	not available
Other information:	Click here for story posted 15 June 2012.   Lieut. Thirlkeld Killed in Action Lieutenant C.M. (Chuck) Thirlkeld of the United States airborne troops, was killed in action in Belgium, January 3, according to the telegram received by his parents, Colonel C.M. Thirlkeld of the Third command, Baltimore, Md., and Mrs. Thirlkeld. Lieutenant Thirlkeld was graduated from the University high school, Columbia, attended The Citadel and the Univerisy of Louisiana. He received his commission at Camp Hood, Texas, and trained further at Fort Jackson and Fort Knox, Tenn.[sic], before going overseas in the summer of 1944. His father was formerly stationed at Fort Jackson with the Eighth division. Besides his parents, he is survived by one sister, Mrs. L. C. Pierson, of Baltimore.” Source – The State, Columbia, S.C., 25 January 1945 “Lt. Charles Marion Thirlkeld was a replacement officer in the HQ Company of the 2nd battalion of the 506th. He joined the battalion after Market Garden and was killed on January 3rd during the artillery strike that cost Joe Toye and Bill Guarnere their legs. He was working with the bazooka squad, which was dug in on another part of the Bois Jacques, and he apparently had moved up to the front line to hear about the battalion’s actions during the clearing operations in the woods east of Foy. Red Falvey served in his squad.” – Source: Dalton Einhorn, author of From Toccoa to the Eagle’s Nest: Discoveries in the Bootsteps of the Band of Brothers. Einhorn toured the area with Falvey in 2008.

Sources: American Battle Monuments Commission, The Citadel Archive & Museum, Mike Stannard ’65, 506th Inf Div Memorial, Army Enlistment Records, Sphinx 1941 & 1942, Mark Dworschak, Find a Grave.com

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