Charles Oscar Hedges, Jr. was born on October 17, 1922 in Missouri. He was the son of Charles Oscar Hedges and Effie E. Hedges. He resided in Cedar County, Missouri prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps on October 26, 1942 at Jefferson Barrack's, Missouri. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a farmer and also as Single, without dependents. Charles served as a Private First Class and Radio Operator on B-24D #41-24138, 1330th Army Air Force Base Unit, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

B-24D #41-24138 took off, with a crew of 4, from Hsinching Airfield, Szechuan Province, China to Jorhat Airfield, India. This B-24 was being used for cargo missions and they were returning it empty after a recent cargo flight back to Jorhat.

They last made contact to the Kharagpur air ground radio and noted that they were low on fuel. After that contact they were not seen nor heard from again. It was noted also that there was severe icing conditions in the area which may have also caused them to crash.

Charles was declared "Missing In Action" on this mission during the war on February 2, 1945. Having actually gone "Missing" on the above date, he was not officially declared by the military as being dead until February 3, 1946. His name is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph located in Stockton Cemetery, Stockton, Cedar County, Missouri.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov