The photo of Charlie was taken in 1944 shortly after he enlisted in the Air Force.

Herman Charles was known as "Junior" in the Rego Park neighborhood where he grew up, but preferred "Charlie" when he reached his teens and began high school. He had red hair, a calm and easy-going nature, and was extremely well-liked by all who knew him. He loved to roller skate and would dance waltzes and tangos with his partner at the Queens Roller Rink in Elmhurst, NY.

He was one of three children born to Herman Blohme and Lena Augusta Mathias. His siblings were Doris Mae Blohme Hodges and Edythe Caroline Blohme Kaspar Dunne.

In the early 1940's he worked in a "top secret" capacity for the Lake Success Sperry Gyroscope Defense Plant in NY.

In 1943, he enlisted in the US Air Force and thirteen days after enlistment found himself on his way to England where he was assigned to work in a Foundry. It wasn't until 1945 that all his paperwork finally caught up with him and he was assigned to go to the air bases all over Europe to teach bombardiers how to use the new bomb "sight" that he had been perfecting at the Sperry Plant in NY.

Corporal Blohme had just one more base to teach at before he would be able to come back home to New York to be discharged. To speed up his "going home" he left his group who were going to the next base by train, and he took advantage of a vacancy on a B-17 headed there from St. Trond, Belguim. This plane was one of a squadron of five planes that were thrown off course during a severe snowstorm on its way to Lechfield, Germany. His plane crashed into the Bavarian Alps and all personnel aboard lost their lives.

Due to the location and weather conditions, the bodies were not recovered until the following September and had been classified as MIA from Dec. 14, 1945 until Sept. 23, 1946 when evidence considered sufficient enough to establish the fact of death was received by the Secretary of the Army from a Commander in the European area.