Charles Morris Blanchard was born August 1, 1934, in Mason City, Iowa, to Morris Charles Blanchard, who was an auto mechanic, and Pearl Inez Auen. He had a half-brother, Monte Merle Auen, born in 1933, the son of Pearl before she married Morris. In 1940, the Blanchards lived in Clear Lake, Iowa.  Pearl and Morris divorced in 1945. Charles later gained two half-sisters and a half-brother after his mother married Van E. Figgins in 1946.
On August 14, 1950, Charles’ half-brother, Monte, was killed in combat while fighting in the Republic of Korea. He was a PFC in the Army with the 34th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division and died during the Battle of Naktong Bridge. He had enlisted just three months before his death, and was only 17 years old. His division was part of Task Force Hill that launched a direct assault on enemy positions. Fighting continued the entire day in a fierce series of attacks and counterattacks in which both sides, already at far reduced strength, inflicted large numbers of casualties, Monte being one of them.
Monte wasn’t interred at the Rock Island National Cemetery until September 1951 after his body was returned to the U.S. on board the Provo Victor. There were 502 American bodies on that ship. During this time Charles would have been at bootcamp in San Francisco. He joined the Marine Corp August 13, 1951, in response to Monte’s death, at the age of 18. In April 1953, Charles was assigned to the 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion, joined from the 1st Replacement Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, c/o FPC, San Francisco. On October 31, 1953, Charles was with Recruits 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, San Diego, California. He was a private, Basic Marine, General Service. By April 26, 1954, Charles was a corporal in H & S Company, 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion, FMF Korea, MOS 1331 (unk).  A little over two months later, he was a Sergeant.  He saw a little action while in Korea but was an AmTrac mechanic and helped with some prisoner swaps. He was released from active duty and transferred to the 9th Marine Corp Reserve and Recruitment District, Chicago, IL, August 12, 1954.
The 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 1st Marine Division, FMF, participated in the Korean War from the Pusan Perimeter in operations from Inchon to Seoul, Chosin reservoir, East to Central Front, and the Western Front. It subsequently participated in the defense of the Korean Demilitarized Zone from August 1953 to March 1955.
Charles graduated from Rock Island High School in 1954 after returning from Korea. In the 1955 Rock Island, Illinois, City Directory, Charles was listed as being a salesman for Omar, Inc. in Davenport, Iowa. He also worked at a candy company in Rock Island. He moved to the Chicago area for a time and went to DeVry University. In 1962, an article in the Rock Island Argus said Charles Blanchard would print a booklet explaining his new system of math, which he believed was better suited to modern use, and would advertise it nationally. His system used one hundred as the basic number rather than 10. He was very interested in math. The first printing of a book did not take place until May 1978 and was called Blanitize … While You Get Rich Inventing: An Illustrated Book on Ideas to Invent By. Some items from the Table of Contents include: New System of Numeration, Two-Faced Mirror, Oxygen Intensifier, Wall Washing Machine, Six Wheel Go Everywhere, and The Suicide Helicopter. His son, Michael, said he was “somewhat of an inventor”.
Charles’ first marriage was to Vicky F. LNU and they had a child, Morris Charles Blanchard, born in 1966. After their divorce in 1971, Charles married Ruth Hasker Faur in 1972 in Rock Island. She had one son from that previous marriage, Timothy Alan, who Charles adopted in 1973. They then had Michael Charles. Ruth and Charles divorced in 1986. Charles was an electrician and worked at ALCOA from 1969 to 1987.
In 1987, Charles moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, and took his adopted son Tim with him. He was an electrician with General Electric. He retired in early 2000 and moved to the mountains in Hendersonville, NC. He last lived at Mountain View Assisted Living in Hendersonville before going into Four Seasons Hospice in Flat Rock, where he died on December 4, 2012. He had suffered from Alzheimer’s.

CHARLES MORRIS BLANCHARD

Service

SGT

Resting Place

Mementos

Tributes

Word Cloud

undefined

Milestones

Mementos

Historical Documents

Veteran programs and services

More VA resources

Get VA updates

In crisis? Get help now

Contact us