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Personal info

Full name
PIKE, Charles Booth
Date of birth
14 June 1914
Age
30
Place of birth
Papillion, Sarpy County, Nebraska
Hometown
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California

Military service

Service number
O-513244
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
unknown
Unit
2nd Battalion,
120th Infantry Regiment,
30th Infantry Division
Awards
Silver Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
24 March 1945
Place of death
In the vicinity of Mehrum-Möllen, south of Wesel, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
C 12 18

Immediate family

Members
Charles T. Pike (father)
Lyna S. (Calhoun) Pike (mother)
Alice C. Pike (sister)
Alice W. (Ruth) Pike (wife)
Karen Pike (daughter)

More information

1st Lt Charles B. Pike attended Los Angeles High School and attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) here he played football.

He was awarded the Silver Star Medal posthumously for actions on 23 February 1945. The citation stated: Lt Pike and four comrades volunteered to take an enemy strongpoint located in a railroad station, despite two platoons not having been able to capture it. Leaving men to cover their advance, they made their way to a position where they knocked out an enemy automatic weapon. Firing and hurling hand grenades, Lt Pike and his comrades rushed the building through a stream of small arms fire and crashed through the doors. Their sudden assault so startled the enemy that their resistance completely collapsed and thirty-three surrendered. Their gallant actions allowed the attack to continue forward.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Astrid van Erp, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census / Family Trees, www.oldhickory30th.com, www.30thinfantry.org, www.newspapers.com - The San Bernardino County Sun / The Los Angeles Times 11 April 1945

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, www.findagrave.com - Roberto Guerrero, www.newspapers.com - The Los Angeles Times 11 April 1945