Kouns, Charles Wilmarth

Date of birth:: February 24th, 1914 (Salina-Saline County, Kansas, the United States of America)
Date of death:: March 9th, 2004 (Alexandria City, Virginia, the United States of America)
Service number:: 0-22129
Nationality:: American

Biography

Charles Wilmarth Kouns was born on 24th February 1914 in Salina, Saline County, Kansas, the United States of America. He was the eldest son of Maynard Walker and Jessie Vandella Kouns. Charles had one older sister and two younger sisters and two younger brothers. In 1935 he started at the military academy of West Point, where he graduated in 1939. As 2nd Lieutenant his first station was Porto Rico where he served in the 2nd Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment. He became CO of the Heavy Weapons unit and on 9th September, 1940, he got promoted to 1st Lieutenant. In 1941 he volunteered for the paratroopers and after completing his para-training, Charles was transferred to the Provision Parachute Group, where he became assistant Adjutant.

In the spring of 1942, the Provision Parachute Group reformed into the Airborne Command and at May 1st Charles, already Captain, started his next appointment in the, on the same day activated, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR). Just two weeks earlier he married his greatest love, Marion Putnam on 14 April, 1942. For just a short time he was the CO of the Service Company of the regiment, because that same month he started the 3 month long battalion commanders course at the infantry school. After successfully completing that course, he returned to the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment to become S3. He supervised the weapons training and combat doctrine within the regiment. In the meantime the 82nd Infantry Division was reformed into the 82nd Airborne Division ‘All American’ and the 504th PIR was the first regiment to become part of it. On October 1st the 82nd Airborne Division moved from Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Charles was promoted to Major on 8 October 1942, the usual rank of a regimental S3. Some months later he became CO of the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. He then supervised the training and preparation of his battalion for its strategic move to North Africa. End of April his unit was shipped in for Casablanca, where it arrived in early May. His battalion then transferred by train to Oujda, Algeria.

In June 1943 Kouns was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. His 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR, was assigned to the 505th Regiment Combat Team (RCT) led by Colonel James Gavin for the duration of the upcoming operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. On 9th July 1943, late at night, Lieutenant Colonel Kouns flew in the first wave of transport planes and just after midnight he, together with his battalion, was dropped above the island. Extreme winds and anti-air fire by the Axis forces caused the troopers to get dispersed of over a wide area, south of Niscemi. Kouns’s battalion was ordered to block the two main roads south of Niscemi and protect the north flank of the 505th RCT. After landing Lieutenant Colonel Kouns gathered a small group of paratroopers, around 20 men, however, he couldn’t establish radio contact with the rest of his battalion. During the day Kouns’s group dug in on a hillside overlooking a secondary road. The troopers prepared an ambush against an approaching column of tanks. Kouns’s group then got in a heavy fight with an enemy that far outnumbered the troopers. The paratroopers retreated but got encircled when they tried to make a stand in a farm house. Out of ammo and outnumbered, they were forced to surrender. On 10th July 1943, around 17:00 hours, Charles Kouns was made prisoner of war by the Germans.

In December 1943, Kouns ended up, after numerous interrogations and several transfers, in Offizierslager (Oflag) 64, located near Szubin in Poland, by the Germans renamed as Altburgund. During his tranfers to Oflag 64, Charles made at least four attempts to flee of which two succeeded. However, both times he got caught again within a couple of days. On 21st January 1945 the Germans evacuated the prisoners of war out of Oflag 64 by a forced march. Some time after this march commenced, Charles fled again and succeeded to travel via Rembertow (Poland) and Odessa (Ukraine) to the Mediterranean, where he rejoined the Allied forces.

After World War II, Charles Kouns would stay in the US Army and was posted at several headquarters. Amongst others, he served at the joint Brazilian-US military commission in Rio de Janeiro, the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and it headquarters of the Caribbean Command in Panama. Charles retired from the Army with the rank of full Colonel in 1961.

He then took up a study at George Washington University and got his masters degree in geology five years later. Over 20 years Charles worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he mainly studied moon rocks. In the late 80’s he became engineer at the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) until his retirement in 1994. On 9 March, 2004, he died at the age of 90 in Alexandria City, Virginia, the city where he lived on and of since 1950. His wife Marion died on 29 November 2011. Charles is buried and shares the grave with his wife at Oak Lawn Cemetery, Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

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Prisoner of War Medal

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Lieutenant Colonel
Unit:: 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division 'All American', United States of America

Lieutenant Colonel (Infantry) Charles Wilmarth Kouns (ASN: 0-22129), United States Army, was captured by German forces during fighting in Sicily, Italy, Europe in 1943, and was held as a Prisoner of War until the end of hostilities in May 1945.

According to his own account, Charles already escaped in January 1945 when Oflag 64 was evacuated because of the approaching Russian forces. The prisoners of war went on transport by forced march. During this march Kouns saw his opportunity to escape and after a long travel, via Rembertow (Poland) and Odessa (Ukraine) to the Mediteranean, reached Allied forces.