Memorial

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Charles A. Lodge enlisted at Fort Thomas Newport, Kentucky on 24 March 1942.

Pvt Lodge kept a diary during much of his service stateside. On 15 August 1942 he described the "last parade" of the 82nd Division, noting "We are now the 101st Airborne, so they say". He added, "we call it foot-borne, which is a better name", no doubt referencing an extensive amount of time spent marching and on drills. On 19 May 1943, Lodge wrote that he had taken his first ride in a glider. His final diary entries are in late August of 1943, when he had returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and was awaiting deployment overseas. This included: "Waiting tables in the officer's mess" and "working on equipment and getting ready for......." Some of the last words written in the diaries are, "Motto of the 101st B Battery, We Will, We Can, 101st Do or Die."

Pvt Lodgde was a passenger in a CG-4A glider with serialnumber 42-77455 with destination Landing Zone W, north of Son, The Netherlands.

Statement from Capt Norman G. Statham who was the pilot of the C-47 that towed the glider:
"I last saw the glider I was towing as it crashed on the ground. I believe F/O De Lassus was shot because spiraled down and crashed after suddenly lurching, and when I circled to see what happened it looked as if the glider was in good condition. Upon reaching the ground the glider crashed on its right wing with such force that I believe that the pilot must have been killed."

According to Mr Willekens, a citizen of Reusel, German troops had dug in near the road from Reusel to Postel (Belgium). They took the planes, steadily under fire with machineguns. He saw how a glider turned loose, made a curve coming down and flying back in the direction in the direction of the mentioned road. After he lost sight of the glider beacuse of pine trees, he heard machinegun fire supposed to be pointed on the descending or already grounded plane. On 22 September, when the Germans had left, he went together with the chief of police and another policeman to the crash site. They found one grave with two crosses and one grave with one cross on which helmets rested. No names were on them. Everything bur thz wreckage of the glider was robbed by the Germans.

About ten days later, Mr. Wouters, also a local citizen, placed wooden crosses on the graves. He thought the soldiers were English and had the crosses marked "British Soldier 17-8-44".

On 5 January 1946 the bodies of the three soldiers were disinterred.

The pilot, F/O De Lassus was the only crew member. There was no co-pilot on board. The glider carried six members of HQ Battery of the 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division and equipment. Crew and two passengers were killed in the crash, two men died of wounds a day later. The exact location to where they we taken by the Germans and where they died, is not known. Two men were taken prisoner. F/O De Lassus is also buried at Margraten as is Pvt Charles A. Lodge. Pvt John J. Elliott Jr. is buried at Ardennes Cemetery.