“Charlie” Rangel was born in Harlem, the second of three children. His father Ralph was from Puerto Rico and his mother Blanche was African American. Rangel dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen and after a few aimless years, he enlisted in the United States Army on September 15, 1948. During the Korean War, he was an artillery operations specialist in the all-Black 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, which was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division. On November 30, 1950, Rangel was part of a retreating vehicle column that encountered an enemy roadblock and was attacked by Chinese forces. Although wounded, Rangel led 40 men from his unit out of the Chinese encirclement through mountainous terrain. For this, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor. Rangel left the Army in 1952 and practiced law before entering New York politics in 1963. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1970 and remained there until January 2017. Throughout his time in Congress, he was known as a personable and charismatic leader, and he often remarked that he had never had a bad day since the day he won the Bronze Star in Korea.

Rangel's official portrait from the 113th congress

CHARLES B RANGEL

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