Charles Aloysius Heil was born at Saint Louis City, Missouri on April 2, 1922. His parents were Aloysius Charles 'Al' Heil (13 Jul 1889 – 18 Mar 1973) and Kathryn M. (McCauley) Heil (9 Aug 1890 – 19 Mar 1983), who were born at Saint Louis, Missouri. His parents married about 1921 and lived in the household of Peter J. McCauley (1860 – 1945), his mother's father, at 4061 Maffitt Avenue in Saint Louis. He and his sister, Margaret (Heil) Westphale (abt 1924 – unk), grew up in this household. His grandfather Peter McCauley was a railroad car inspector, and later foreman of a railroad terminal.

Charles registered for the draft at Saint Louis, Missouri on June 30, 1942. He was 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighed 165 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived at 4061 Maffitt Avenue in Saint Louis, and was employed by the Buck X-Ograph Company (a manufacturer of x-ray film cassettes) in Jennings, Missouri. He completed four years of high school and worked as a bookkeeper or cashier. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Saint Louis, Missouri on December 12, 1942. He was engaged to Jane Kent when he went overseas.

He completed Army Air Forces navigator training and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on December 24, 1943. He was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Richard F. Lee in the 836th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group. The 487th Bomb Group completed B-24 crew training at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico, and deployed to England in March 1944. The Lee crew flew B-24H 42-52657 from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

After arrival in England, Lt Heil was reassigned to the crew of Lt Paul M. Stults in the 836th Bomb Squadron. In July 1944 the 487th Bomb Group transitioned from flying the B-24 'Liberator' to the B-17 'Flying Fortress'. On July 20, 1944, the Stults crew flew a training mission in one of the new aircraft, B-17G 43-37840.

Lt Heil and four other men aboard the B-17 perished when their aircraft collided with Lt Ozbolt's B-24H 42-51197, which was on a practice bombing mission at the Ducks Hall bombing range near Lavenham. The B-24 spun in and crashed near Cavendish, England. Five men died in the crash. Lt Stults, his left wing on fire, attempted to reach Lavenham Airfield, but a fuel tank in the left wing exploded and the wing came off. The aircraft spun to the ground and crashed in a wheat field near the Officers Club and Clapstile Farmhouse.

Lt Heil is now buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

B-17G 42-37840 crew:
• Stults, Paul M – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• Thomas Jr, Eldridge W – 2/Lt – Copilot – KIA
• Parris, Howard L – Lt – Navigator – Safe
• Heil, Charles A – 2/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Walters, Lester R – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Brown, Melvin R – T/Sgt – Engineer – Safe
• Schaffer, Charles L – Sgt – Radio Operator – Safe
• Knight, Frank M – Sgt – Gunner – Safe
• Brown, Julius E – Sgt – Gunner – Safe
• Castillo, Pete J – T/Sgt – Autopilot Mechanic – KIA
• Grantham, Russell A – Lt – Squadron Bombardier – Safe

Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com