World War II Honoree

Charley Havlat

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Nebraska

Honored By

Al Rasof

He was killed on May 7, 1945, just hours before Germany’s unconditional surrender. He arrived in England in June, 1943. He served with the 803rd Tank Destroyer Battalion. In the invasion of Normandy, He and his comrades fought their way from Omaha Beach to St. Lo. His battalion continued on across northern France, through Belgium and Holland, before reaching the Siegfried Line. In the autumn of 1944, he saw combat at Aachen and the Huertgen Forest, and on December 16, in the Ardennes Forest at the onset of The Battle of the Bulge. Three months later, his unit helped capture Trier, Germany and crossed the Rhine. On the morning of May 7, 1945, on a dirt road twelve kilometers into Czechoslovakia, his reconnaissance platoon was blindsided by a hail of enemy machine gun and small arms fire from concealed enemy positions. Moments after the attack began, He was killed. He is buried in Lorraine American Cemetery in France.