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PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
CHARLES BEHREND was born in Camden NJ on September 18, 1892. He was the
son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Behrend, who had come to what was then
Stockton Township around 1890. Albert Behrend worked in the leather industry as a
morocco finisher in
Philadelphia. The family lived at 1016 Dayton Avenue in the
Pavonia section of Camden, referred to in modern times as
Cramer Hill.
Dayton Avenue was renamed North
18th Street after Stockton Township
joined Camden. Charles Behrend was one of at least five children. Sadly,
his mother passed away before June of 1900. When the Census was taken in
1910, older siblings Albert Jr., Lillian, and Freda were no longer at
home. Charles, 17, and younger sister Elsie were working as apprentices
in a yarn mill, probably the Highland Mill at
north 10th and
State
Street.
When Charles Behrend
registered for the draft on June 5, 1917, he lived at 809
Penn Street in Camden
NJ and worked as a foreman at the Victor Talking Machine Company. He had
a bad left knee, but that did not keep him out of the service.
By the time he was drafted his parents had passed away.
Inducted into
the Army on February 23, 1918, Charles Behrend was sent
to Camp Dix, New Jersey. On April 3, 1918 he was assigned to Company C, 309th
Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division. He sailed for France in May
of 1918, and spent his 26th birthday in the trenches before St. Mihiel.
He was killed during the Battle of St. Mihiel when a high explosive
artillery shell burst near him. Private
Behrend was survived by his sister, Mrs. Lillian Walker of 925 South Paxson Street in
Philadelphia.
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