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A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM JOHN HART AND THE FSSF ASSOCIATION.
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
Charles William “Charlie” Mann joined the local militia know as “Saturday Night Soldiers” in 1937 to earn some much needed cash. At age 18 he signed up for army duty in 1940 with the Midland Regiment. However, Charlie wanted more action and so joined the FSSF, arriving in Helena, Montana in August of 1942.
He describes the training as “rough, tough and fast” but the esprit de corps developed there among the men would last a lifetime. Then he “really went to war”, first in the Aleutian Islands and then on to Italy and France.
Always in the action but never wounded, Charlie often volunteered for special missions such as retrieving injured soldiers from the battlefield or laying communication wire at Anzio Beachhead. One time he narrowly escaped injury when an enemy tank shelled their farmhouse headquarters. Witnesses say Charlie dove through a window, followed by a ball of fire.
After the disbandment in December of 44, he went to England and served as an instructor for new recruits, finally arriving back home in 1946. Charlie became an operator with the Atomic Energy Board, moving to Kincardine, Ontario, in 1964. He spent three decades in municipal politics and fourteen years as mayor.
Charles being awarded with the
Congressional Gold Medal
in Washington February, 2015.
Image: www.firstspecialserviceforce.net
Memorial plaque for Sgt. Charles William Mann,
First Special Service Force, in the town of Kincardine, ON.
Image: Don Shelton.
Jim Summersides in uniform, Rome June 1944.
Image: Don Shelton. Sgt. Charlie Mann in uniform, France 1944.
Image: Don Shelton
