SOURCE: Helena (MT) Independent Record 5/27/2004
Chuck's grandfather, "Three-Mile Charlie" (Charles) Wirth, arrived in Helena with the gold seekers in 1864 and eventually homesteaded the family ranch in Wolf Creek Canyon. Chuck was born on April 17, 1920, to Nicholas J. Wirth and Inga Bergum Wirth. He was the eldest of four children and graduated from Cascade High School.
He was a member of the Montana National Guard, stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Guard was mobilized to become the 163rd Infantry Regiment and sent to a staging area in Australia and then on to New Guinea. This regiment took part in the famous Papuan Campaign and was the first to receive the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. While in New Guinea, he contracted malaria and was sent back to Batty General Hospital in Rome, Ga. There he met Catherine (Kay) Peele, a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. They were married in September 1946 in Dillon and last September celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary.
Following his discharge from the Army, Chuck went to work for AT&T (later Mountain Bell) as a lineman and later as a supervisor. He retired after a 35-year career that took him to many parts of the state and even to New York City in 1970 to work during a strike by telephone workers there.
Chuck's grandfather, "Three-Mile Charlie" (Charles) Wirth, arrived in Helena with the gold seekers in 1864 and eventually homesteaded the family ranch in Wolf Creek Canyon. Chuck was born on April 17, 1920, to Nicholas J. Wirth and Inga Bergum Wirth. He was the eldest of four children and graduated from Cascade High School.
He was a member of the Montana National Guard, stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Guard was mobilized to become the 163rd Infantry Regiment and sent to a staging area in Australia and then on to New Guinea. This regiment took part in the famous Papuan Campaign and was the first to receive the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. While in New Guinea, he contracted malaria and was sent back to Batty General Hospital in Rome, Ga. There he met Catherine (Kay) Peele, a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. They were married in September 1946 in Dillon and last September celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary.
Following his discharge from the Army, Chuck went to work for AT&T (later Mountain Bell) as a lineman and later as a supervisor. He retired after a 35-year career that took him to many parts of the state and even to New York City in 1970 to work during a strike by telephone workers there.
SOURCE: Helena (MT) Independent Record 5/27/2004
Chuck's grandfather, "Three-Mile Charlie" (Charles) Wirth, arrived in Helena with the gold seekers in 1864 and eventually homesteaded the family ranch in Wolf Creek Canyon. Chuck was born on April 17, 1920, to Nicholas J. Wirth and Inga Bergum Wirth. He was the eldest of four children and graduated from Cascade High School.
He was a member of the Montana National Guard, stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Guard was mobilized to become the 163rd Infantry Regiment and sent to a staging area in Australia and then on to New Guinea. This regiment took part in the famous Papuan Campaign and was the first to receive the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. While in New Guinea, he contracted malaria and was sent back to Batty General Hospital in Rome, Ga. There he met Catherine (Kay) Peele, a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. They were married in September 1946 in Dillon and last September celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary.
Following his discharge from the Army, Chuck went to work for AT&T (later Mountain Bell) as a lineman and later as a supervisor. He retired after a 35-year career that took him to many parts of the state and even to New York City in 1970 to work during a strike by telephone workers there.
Chuck's grandfather, "Three-Mile Charlie" (Charles) Wirth, arrived in Helena with the gold seekers in 1864 and eventually homesteaded the family ranch in Wolf Creek Canyon. Chuck was born on April 17, 1920, to Nicholas J. Wirth and Inga Bergum Wirth. He was the eldest of four children and graduated from Cascade High School.
He was a member of the Montana National Guard, stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Guard was mobilized to become the 163rd Infantry Regiment and sent to a staging area in Australia and then on to New Guinea. This regiment took part in the famous Papuan Campaign and was the first to receive the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. While in New Guinea, he contracted malaria and was sent back to Batty General Hospital in Rome, Ga. There he met Catherine (Kay) Peele, a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps. They were married in September 1946 in Dillon and last September celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary.
Following his discharge from the Army, Chuck went to work for AT&T (later Mountain Bell) as a lineman and later as a supervisor. He retired after a 35-year career that took him to many parts of the state and even to New York City in 1970 to work during a strike by telephone workers there.
Inscription
PFC US ARMY WWII
PUC
163RD INF REG 41ST DIV
CARRY ON
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
