Memorial

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Charles L. Weeks graduated from Central High School where he was an outstanding leader both in his studies and in the activities of school life. He was a member of the dramatic and debating societies, to both of which he gave a good deal of his time. During his early years in high school he gained such a great amount of respect and admiration that in his last year he was selected president of the senior class.

His pre-law work was taken at the University of Minnesota and in 1938 he entered the St. Paul College of Law. His career as a law student was one of distinction. He was brilliant and thorough in his studies and ranked in the highest percentage of all of his classes. As a result of his scholastic excellence he was elected in 1942 to the Court of Honor, which annually honors the leading graduates of the Twin City Colleges. While attending law school Lt Weeks was employed by the First Trust Company of Saint Paul for a time, and later served as librarian of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Law Library. When war was declared against Japan and Germany Charles was among the first to go.

He was a prominent member of the bar of this State, serving as Deputy Attorney General for a number of years, and later being a member of the firm of Denegre, McDermott, Stearns and Weeks.

He entered the army on 12 March 194, and shortly thereafter was assigned to the Judge Advocate General's Section. In this capacity he was sent to England in the fall of 1942. Being dissatisfied in a job of comparative safety, he applied for combat duty and in January 1943, he returned to the United States to enter Infantry Officer's Candidate School. Three months later he was commissioned a 2nd Lt and was assigned to the 423rd Regiment of the 106th Division. In November of 1943 he returned to the European Theater of Operations as a 1st Lt.

Lt Charles L. Weeks was taken prisoner on 21 December 1944 in the vicinity of St. Vith, Belgium. Letters received by his mother from men who were with him in the POW camp Oflag XIII-B at the time are full of the highest praise for his bravery in action and this is further attested to by the fact that he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

While a prisoner, his conduct under the rigors of prison life was an example to the other men and his constant cheerfulness and many acts of kindness endeared him to all of the other prisoners.

His death, ironically enough, was a mistake. He was shot and killed by a prison guard through a misunderstanding of orders on the part of the guard during the confusion of an air raid on 21 March 1945. While walking to the latrines with his hands in his pockets, a guard shot him from close range. Father Paul Cavanaugh, a chaplain who was a fellow prisoner, without hesitation, ran outdoors to attend him but couldn’t help him anymore.

He died a week before Task Force Baum attacked the camp. Yugoslavian officers provided one of their hidden flags to drape his coffin.