Charles R. Kessel is the son of Mr. & Mrs. Louis J. Kessel of Edwardsville, IL. He grew up in Edwardsville, and attended local public schools until he graduated from Edwardsville High School Class of 1950. Charles enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in the August of 1950 and was sent to Biggs Air Force Base, El Paso, Texas. Airman First Class Kessel was aboard a B-29 bomber aircraft, serving as a "scanner", engaged in a target-towing mission when one of the four engines failed. The pilot attempted an emergency landing, but overshot the runway, and crashed as he tried to execute a bank turn. The plane skimmed over a line of parked B-29's, plowed into the earth and broke in two. Airman Charles R. Kessel was killed along with three other airmen. He is buried in Valley View Cemetery in Edwardsville, and is survived by his father, a step-mother,(Charles' birth mother passed away some time earlier) , and 6 brothers, George, Louis Jr., Floyd, Albert, William (Billy) and John and three sisters, Mrs. Edith Aff, Mrs. Lillian Bensa and Mrs. Dorothy Meyerhoff. Airman First Class Charles R. Kessel was 22 years, 9 months and 3 days of age.
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