PFC Charles Gilbert McSkimming (ASN 33455566) was born on October 11, 1909 in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. His father, George Francis McSkimming, was born and raised in St. Louis. His mother, Mary Teresa McCann, was born and raised in New York. His father worked in the newspaper business as a printer, editor, and supervisor. Charles was the youngest of his parent’s ten children. He had five older brothers and four older sisters.

Charles was born and raised in St. Louis and went to St. Margaret’s private school. His father died when Charles was seven years old, and he was raised by his mother and older siblings. After graduation, he attended college for a year and then started working as a clerk for a judge in St. Louis. His mother died in 1938. On April 28, 1939 Charles married Illinois native, Patricia Alice Rickart, in St. Louis. He was working for the Federal Housing Authority in St. Louis when he received his draft card in October 1940. He later transferred to Washington D.C. and was working with the FHA when he received his induction notice. On February 25, 1943 he enlisted in the Army at Fort Myer in Virginia.

Charles was assigned to the 116th Infantry Regiment. At the time of his enlistment, the 116th Regiment had already been located to England to prepare for the invasion of Europe. Charles completed his basic and infantry training stateside, and then joined the rest of the regiment in England in August 1943. The 116th Regiment was now the 116th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) and Charles began training at the U.S. Army Assault Training Center on Woolacombe Beach with the rest of the 116th RCT. In May 1944 the 116th RCT participated in Exercise Fabius I at Slapton Sands, a final rehearsal before D-Day.

For the invasion of Normandy, the 116th RCT was to lead the assault on Omaha Beach to the west of the 1st Infantry Division's 16th RCT and would be temporarily attached to the 1st Division. Company A (Charles’ unit) of the 1st Battalion would land at 06:30 and lead the infantry assault in the Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach adjacent to the Vierville exit off the beach. On May 15, 1944 the 116th RCT moved to Dorset in southern England. On June 3, 1944 the 1st Battalion boarded the troop carrier, SS Empire Javelin, at Weymouth. At 02:30 on June 6, 1944 the invasion fleet had arrived in the Channel and dropped anchor about 12 miles from the Normandy coast.

At 04:00 on D-Day, the six teams of men from A Company starting climbing into their six LCAs (Landing Craft Assault). At 05:30 naval and aerial bombardment of the beaches began. Within 90 minutes before they were due to land, it was apparent that things were going wrong in that most of the bombs fell inland away from the beach. As a result, the German defensive positions on the cliffs overlooking Omaha beach were largely untouched. As the A Company LCAs were within 700 yards of the beach they were hit with heavy artillery and mortar fire. They also saw that while the A Company LCAs were on target for their landing area, the landing crafts for E, F, and G Companies had drifted significantly east of their assigned targets. The A Company teams were isolated. When the first LCA ramps were opened the men in A Company were instantly enveloped in machine gun fire. Within 7-10 minutes, A Company was effectively wiped out by either the heavy German fire or by drowning in the surf. PFC Charles McSkimming was wounded and fell on the beach. A medic had given him first aid, but before the medic could return, PFC McSkimming had drowned in the rising tide. Estimates of actual casualties vary, but by the end of the day, it was estimated that only 18 of the 230 men in A Company made it across the beach unharmed. PFC McSkimming had been initially declared missing, but his body was soon recovered.

The 116th RCT would later earn the Presidential Unit Citation and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for the D-Day landings in Normandy. The remains of PFC Charles G. McSkimming were shipped home and on December 14, 1947 he was laid to rest at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. He was survived by his widow, Patricia, and by his nine siblings.

Sources:

1910 United States Federal Census
1920 United States Federal Census
1930 United States Federal Census
1940 United States Federal Census
Missouri, U.S., Birth Registers, 1847-1910
Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-1999
U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962
U.S. Veterans' Gravesites, ca.1775-2019
U.S., Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945
++https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37553158/charles-g-mcskimmings-body-returned/?xid=637++
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49257966/charles-gilbert-mcskimming
https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/battle-of-normandy/after-action-reports/29th-infantry/116th-ir-1st-bn-a-co
http://perpus.univpancasila.ac.id/repository/EBUPT180146.pdf
http://www.6juin1944.com/assaut/omaha/en_page.php?page=land116
http://www.worldwar2files.com/29thinfantrydivision/index.html
https://29thdivisionassociation.com/29th-division-116th-infantry/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/116th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=484559

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

C G Mc Skimming