An excerpt. 
"I got a note that my friends and neighbors had selected me [to be drafted]….I haven't found one of those friends or neighbors yet..." Charlie Dyke wasn't eager to go fight World War II.  He had a well paying job that he liked doing.  However, like so many other men of his generation, Charlie went to war.  After Basic Training he shipped to North Africa where he joined the Combat Engineers.  His unit fought through Sicily, Naples, and Anzio.  After Italy, they moved through southern France, the Battle of the Bulge, and finally into Germany.

Only five men from Charlie's battalion made it all the way through the war.Not all of them were killed- many were wounded and captured- but Charlie was one of the five.  From clearing mines, to building bridges, to hauling fuel for Patton, to pulling tanks from the mud in the Bulge, to being on hand for the liberation of Berlin, to a concentration camp, and finally home, Charlie served his country faithfully.