Corr

T/5 Charles L. Corr Jr. was born in Pennsylvania on June 28, 1916, to Charles L. Corr Sr., & Mabel Snow-Corr. With his brother, Robert, he lived at 6705 North Loleta Avenue in Chicago. While he was a high school student, Charles became interested in radio equipment. He joined a radio program with the Illinois National Guard. It was this interest that would get him assigned to Company B, 192nd Tank Battalion.

Charles was drafted into the U. S. Army in the spring of 1941. He went to Maywood, Illinois for his physical and induction. The building that he had his physical in was the old armory of the Maywood Tank Company of the Illinois National Guard. The company had been called to federal duty in the late fall of 1940 which left the building empty.

During his physical and induction, Charles was informed that he and Tec. 4 Frank Goldstein, another draftee, were being sent to Camp Grant immediately. At Camp Grant, the two men learned that they were being assigned to Company B, 192nd Tank Battalion. The reason was that both men were radio enthusiast and the company needed men who knew how to repair their radio equipment. This was the same tank company whose armory Charles had gone to for his army physical.

Charles and Frank Goldstein were rushed to Fort Knox, Kentucky. Arriving there is the middle of the night, they were greeted by Sgt. Arthur McArthur who was in charge of radio equipment. McArthur told them they were to chose who wanted to teach the tankers how to use their radios and who was going to repair the equipment that did not work. Charles chose to teach the tankers about their radios.

Charles went through training with Company B at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and then went through the maneuvers in Louisiana. At Camp Polk, Louisiana, he and the other tankers learned that they were being sent to the Philippine Islands.

In the Philippines he was involved in military actions at Tarlac and on the Bataan Peninsula. Being one of the two radio experts assigned to the 192nd, Charles relayed orders from B Company Headquarters to the tank crews. Doing his job often required him to work with Frank Goldstein. They often found themselves using a home made direction finder attempting to find out the locations of the tanks of the 192nd. On January 25, 1942, while doing this work at Balanga, Charles was wounded by enemy fire. He was awarded the Purple Heart.

When Bataan was surrendered, Charles became a Prisoner of War. Charles participated in the death march and was first interred at Camp O'Donnell. He was then transferred to Cabanatuan Camp #1. It was at Cabanatuan that Charles died from dysentery, at 7:00 in the morning, on June 9, 1942.

After the war, the remains of Tec. 5 Charles L. Corr Jr. were buried at the American Military Cemetery outside of Manila.