Heuel

Pvt. Charles A. Heuel was born in 1921 to Christian Heuel and Frances Smolik-Heuel. He was the youngest of ten children. He grew up in Chicago at 4516 North Christiana Avenue. While he was a teenager, his father passed away, so he was sent to live with his sister, Marie, and her husband at 4606 North Marmora Avenue. He graduated from Washington High School in Chicago in 1940.

On April 7, 1941, Charles joined the U. S. Army. In January 1941, the newly created Headquarters Company of the 192nd Tank Battalion took men from all the letter companies of the battalion, because he was from Illinois, Charles was assigned to B Company. The reason this was done was that the army filled the vacated positions in the battalion with men from the home states of each of the tank companies. Since B Company was originally an Illinois National Guard Company, Charles was assigned to the company. During his training, Charles qualified as a tank driver.

After training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Charles took part in maneuvers in Louisiana. Upon completion of the maneuvers, Charles learned with his battalion that they were going to be sent overseas. After going home on furlough, Charles left from Camp Polk, Louisiana, for Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

The members of the battalion, including Charles, arrived in the Philippine Islands on Thanksgiving Day, 1941. Two weeks later, Charles survived the Japanese attack on Clark Field. He was involved in many engagements against the Japanese while the Filipino and American forces withdrew into the Bataan Peninsula.

During the Battle of Bataan, B Company was assigned to guard the east coast of Bataan against a possible Japanese invasion. On this duty, the tanks would hide under the jungle's canopy during the day and come out onto the beaches at night. While on this duty, Charles was involved in firefights between the tanks and Japanese gunboats in Manila Bay.

The morning of February 3, 1942, after being up all night guarding the east coast of Bataan, Charles and the other members of B Company were attempting to get some sleep. At this time, a Japanese reconnaissance plane appeared overhead attempting to locate the American tanks. Sgt. Walter Cigoi attempted to shoot down the plane but failed. As a result of his attempt to shoot down the plane, he had revealed their position. About twenty minutes later, Japanese dive bombers appeared over B Company's position and bombed them.

Since the tree canopy was extremely thick, the Japanese bombs exploded in the treetops above the tanks. After the attack, Tec. 4 Frank Goldstein found Charles halfway under the front of a tank. When Goldstein pulled Charles from under the tank, he was badly torn up, with at least ten wounds, from shrapnel. It appeared that he had been hit and had been attempting to crawl under the tank to escape the exploding bombs. Pvt. Charles A. Heuel was Killed in Action on February 3, 1942. He was 19 years old. Goldstein felt guilt over the death of Charles, because he had promised Charles's sister, Marie, that he would watch out for him.

Since Pvt. Charles A. Heuel's final resting place is unknown, his name appears on Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery outside of Manila. It is very likely that after the war that the remains of Charles could not be identified, and that he was buried in a grave marked unknown.