Charles Vernon Owen was born at Pawnee City, Pawnee County, Nebraska on September 11, 1922. His parents were John Pierport Owen (24 May 1891 – 23 Dec 1959) and Elizabeth (Brule) Owen (28 Mar 1895 – 10 Apr 1966). His parents married in Nebraska in 1919. He had three brothers: John Leroy Owen (10 May 1920 – 27 Jan 1975), Paul Robert Owen (2 May 1921 – 10 Jun 1981), and William Duane Owen (abt 1928 – unk). In 1930 the family lived on a farm in Lusk, Niobara County, Wyoming, and his father was a day laborer. His paternal grandfather, Levi Franklin Owen (23 Apr 1852 – 22 Jan 1943), lived with the family. In April 1940 the family lived in Douglas, Converse County, Wyoming, and his father was a farmer on his own ranch.

He completed four years of high school, and worked as a farm manager or foreman. He was single when he enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Santa Ana, California on March 19, 1943. He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training, and was assigned as nose gunner and togglier on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Joseph M. Sugarman Jr.

The Sugarman crew completed B-17 operational training in the States, and deployed to England. The crew was assigned to the 839th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived at Station 137 by February 13, 1945, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. On March 11, 1945, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched forty aircraft to bomb an industrial area and shipyards on the south bank of the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany. This was the fifth combat mission for the Sugarman crew.

Sgt Owen and eight of his crew mates were killed in action on March 11, 1945 when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38888, was shot down by flak at Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft crashed at 1310 hours near Meckelfeld, about 20 kilometers south of Hamburg. Sgt Owen was probably killed instantly when flak struck the nose or flight deck. One man, radio operator T/Sgt Harvey F. Schlotte, survived and became a prisoner of war. The dead were buried initially at the cemetery in Sinstorf, a southern suburb of Hamburg.

After the war Sgt Owen's remains were reinterred at Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium.

B-17G 43-38888 crew:
• Sugarman Jr, Joseph M – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• Crosland Jr, William S – F/O – Copilot – KIA
• Barnett, James S – F/O – Navigator – KIA
• Owen, Charles V – Sgt – Togglier – KIA
• Stanton, Willard W – S/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Schlotte, Harvey F – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – POW
• Mau, Eldon A – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Yaegle, Clyde L – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Berger, Robert M – Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Simac, Edward A – Sgt – Tail Gunner – KIA

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