Staff Sergeant Charles E. Grant was a Paratrooper in Easy Company.
Biography[]
World War Two[]
Grant took part in the Battle of Normandy, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge.
On September 19, 1944 in Holland, he was wounded while helping to destroy an 88mm gun.
In Austria, Grant was named 2nd platoon Staff Sergeant. In July 1945, while driving a jeep with two members of 2nd platoon, Grant came across several dead soldiers: two Germans, a British major, and the major's driver. A drunken replacement from "I" Company (Private Floyd W. Craver) had shot them, and Sergeant Grant was shot in the head when he confronted the man and attempted to disarm him. Grant survived because of the quick actions of Captain Ronald Speirs and Jack Foley, who rushed him to an aid station. The medic there told them that Grant would not survive. However, Speirs, not willing to lose Grant, loaded him on a jeep and drove to Saalfelden, where he found a German brain surgeon who was able to operate and save Grant's life.
The drunken private, Floyd Craver was sentenced to life in prison following a trial in September 1945. Pages 319 to 325 of the link show his trial and the charges against him. He was released shortly after being sentenced.
After World War Two[]
Grant slowly recovered from the bullet wound to the head, occasionally had some speech problems, and his left arm was partially paralyzed. He lived in San Francisco, and owned a small tobacconist. He attended several Easy Company meetings and became a representative of the 506th Battalion in the Airborne 101 association. Chuck Grant died in 1984.