Charles F. McGowan

Rank: Private, U.S. Army

Serial: 32264777

Unit: Company B, 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: December 18, 1944, Luxembourg

Burial: Calvary Cemetery, State Highway 70 & Hampton Road, Cherry Hill, NJ

Awards: Purple Heart

Private Charles F. McGowan was the son of Joseph and Stella McGowan. A devout Catholic, he had been an altar boy as a youth and was active in the affairs of his church, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, at Broadway and Spruce Streets. He attended Camden Catholic High School.

A foreman at the Esterbrook Pen Company, Charles McGowan was active in industrial bowling and basketball leagues around Camden. He lived with his wife Mary at 935 Lansdowne Avenue in Camden before being inducted into the United States Army on April 6, 1942.

Private McGowan went overseas in September of 1944. He was serving in the radio communications unit of Company B, 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion when he was killed in action on December 18, 1944, in Luxembourg. Attached to Combat Command A, 9th Armored Division, the 811th took part in the gallant six-day stand in the vicinity of Waldbillig and Stavelborn, Luxembourg, which disrupted the German offensive during the Battle of the Bulge. Private McGowan was 31 years old at the time of his death.

Charles F. McGowan was survived by his wife, and his parents, of 108 South 24th Street in Camden. Brought home to New Jersey after the war, he was buried at Calvary Cemetery in what was then Delaware Township (present-day Cherry Hill), NJ, in April of 1949.

Combat Command A, 9th Armored Division is cited for extraordinary heroism and gallantry in combat in the vicinity of Waldbillig and Stavelborn, Luxembourg for December 16 to December 22, 1944 by repulsing constant and determined attacks by an entire German Division. Outnumbered five to one, with its infantry rifle companies surrounded for most of the time, clerks, cooks, mechanics, drivers and others manned the 10,000 yard final defensive line. Supported by the outstandingly responsive and accurate fire of its artillery battalion this widely dispersed force stopped every attack for six days until its surrounded infantry were ordered to fight their way back to them. This staunch defense disrupted precise German attack schedule and thus gave time for the United States III and XII Corps to assemble unhindered and then launch the coordinated attack which raised the siege of Bastogne and contributed to saving much of Luxembourg and its capital from another German invasion. The outstanding courage, resourcefulness, and determination of the gallant force are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Army.

Awarded to Combat Command A, 9th Armored Division, for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an armed enemy, 16–22 December 1944. Signed by Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White, June 12, 2001.

Non-divisional troops attached to Combat Command A included Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion; Reconnaissance Company (less 2nd and 3rd platoons), 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion; and Company B, 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion — the unit in which Private McGowan served.