S/Sgt. Charles P. Nelson was a member of F Company/331st Infantry Regiment, and he appears in many of the photographs on this website. Sgt. Nelson was born and raised in Rib Lake in north central Wisconsin, and his family believes that he received his Army basic training in Texas. It is not known when he joined the 83rd Division and F/331st.Sgt. Nelson was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart among other honors. The Bronze Star may have been awarded for action involving S/Sgt. William Oliver when they both entered what they thought was an abandoned wine cellar. Sgt. Oliver was on point and entered the cellar first. When a German soldier with a knife came up behind Oliver, Sgt. Nelson began shouting and firing his rifle. Oliver dropped to the ground and Nelson dispatched the German. Several other German soldiers were then found hiding in the cellar and they were taken prisoner.
After the war, Sgt. Nelson was discharged from the Army in Illinois, and returned to Wisconsin where he took over the family farm at Chelsea. He was active in the Westboro, Wis. VFW. Sgt. Nelson passed away in January 1999. He had four children and eight grandchildren (soon to be nine).
Sgt. Nelson never talked very much about his wartime experiences, and his family is trying to assemble a memorial for him. The photos on this website are the only ones they have ever seen of him with his buddies in F Company.