Charles Andrew McWilliams was born at Letts, Louisa County, Iowa, on May 13, 1922, and later resided in Davis County, Iowa. He was one of at least seven children of Verne R. McWilliams (29 May 1885 – 23 Jul 1965) and Velma M. (Shields) McWilliams (28 Mar 1893 – 6 Apr 1974), who were born in Iowa. In 1918 the family lived at Columbus Junction, Louisa County, Iowa, and his father worked as a tinner. In 1940 the family lived at 707 West Walnut Street, Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa, and his father worked as a paper hanger and painter. He completed four years of high school and worked as a semiskilled mechanic or repairman. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Camp Dodge in Herrold, Iowa, on October 8, 1942. His home of record was Bloomfield, Iowa.

He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery and flight engineer training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March–April 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew that was taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England. 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.

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission, and Sgt McWilliams flew as the nose turret gunner. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France, to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area, to the west of the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. Sgt McWilliams and his nine crew mates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England, received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.

The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.

Sgt McWilliams is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.

Sgt McWilliams also has a cenotaph at Bloomfield IOOF Cemetery in Bloomfield, Iowa, where his parents are buried.

B-24H 42-52629 crew:
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA

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