World War I
Charles Nelson was born Sept. 29, 1886, to K. Peter and Mattie Nelson on a farm southwest of Osmond. He had one brother, Nels, and three sisters, Lena, Anna and Elsie. In 1907, when he was about 21 years old, he moved into Osmond with his parents.
Although his obituary and the Osmond centennial book say he farmed for himself for several years and later worked for the railroad, at the time that he filled out his World War I registration card, Charlie states that he was working for himself in “auto livery.”
Charlie was inducted into the Army on April 26, 1918. I found a record of him sailing from New York on June 4, 1918, on the ship Baltic. Also on that ship was Erwin Nicolaisen, who was in the same company as Charlie. Erwin was one of Osmond's Honored 15, who died of flu complications and pneumonia.
Charlie served as a private in Company M, 355th Infantry. He was seriously wounded in the Battle of Argonne Forest, and was given the Purple Heart.
The information I found about the Battle of the Argonne Forest said that its objective, as part of the broader Allied offensive on the Western Front, was to bring about the collapse of the German Army and compel Germany to seek an armistice and end the war.
The battle contributed to the Allied victory by pushing back Germans and forcing them to capitulate. This victory ended the war and prompted a peace conference in 1919.
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the largest operation of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in World War I, with over a million American soldiers participating. It was also the deadliest campaign in American history, resulting in over 26,000 soldiers being killed in action and over 120,000 total casualties.
I couldn't find any information that said what Charlie's injuries were, but he was discharged from the Army on April 11, 1919. He was one of the charter members of American Legion Post 326.
Charlie never married, and lived alone in his home in the south part of town. He became critically ill in downtown Osmond on Aug. 31, 1965, and was rushed to St. Joseph Hospital here in Osmond, where he died that evening at the age of 78 years and 11 months.
Services were held at the Methodist Church with military rites conducted by the Osmond Legion Post. He was buried in the Osmond city cemetery. He and many other Nelson family members are buried three-fourths of the way up the hill on the left, about a third of the way across the row.
