devildog34 Posted April 30, 2016 Share #1 Posted April 30, 2016 A while back I picked up a nice WWI AEF officers ID card to 2nd Lieutenant Charles Fred Heimerdinger who was born December 23, 1893 in Chicago, Illinois. After college, Charles applied for Commission in the U.S. Army and was sent to Ft. Sheridan. He was assigned early on to the 2nd Division and went overseas with them late 1917. Given the shortage of Marine officers, he was one of numerous USR officers assigned to the 4th Marine Brigade of the 2nd Division. On March 27, 1918 he was attached to the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines and was assigned to the 20th Company as a platoon commander. He participated in the battle of Belleau Woods, Soissons as well as the Marbache sector. On September 9, 1918 he was attached to 2nd Battalion 23rd Infantry where he participated in the engagements at St. Mihiel and Blanc Mont. During the battle of the Meuse Argonne on November 3, 1918 as the 2nd Division went on the offensive near the town of Landers-et-St. Georges, 2/23 encountered withering machine gun fire greatly stalling the advance. Heimerdinger and 12 men advanced into the enemy's line and quickly began reducing several of these machine gun positions to which 20 enemy surrendered. This patrol suffered 2 casualties and Heimerdinger maneuvered two men into position to provide suppressive fire on the remaining enemy positions so that his two wounded men could be pulled out of the firing line and the 20 prisoners could be extracted. For this action he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. After the war Heimerdinger went back home to Illinois where he went to work for the Western Electric Company in Chicago. He worked there as a supervisor throughout the 1940s. He was a very active member of the 2nd Division association and after purchasing the helmet and ID Card the seller sent me additional material. He passed away in July 1975. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devildog34 Posted April 30, 2016 Author Share #2 Posted April 30, 2016 Here is his helmet. You can see the initials on the underside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devildog34 Posted April 30, 2016 Author Share #3 Posted April 30, 2016 Here is a photo of Charles taken in the early 1970s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devildog34 Posted April 30, 2016 Author Share #4 Posted April 30, 2016 A photo of the plaque awarded him in 1970 for his activity with the 2nd Division Association. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devildog34 Posted April 30, 2016 Author Share #5 Posted April 30, 2016 Here is a photo circa early 1970s during a 2nd Division Association reunion. What I wouldn't give to go back in time and attend one of these reunions to talk to these men! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Posted April 30, 2016 Share #6 Posted April 30, 2016 Kevin as always great additions to your collection!! Agree seeing those not too old reunion photos are painful....I recently learned a post war China Marine who was active in the China Marine Assoication lived right down the street from me but passed before I could interview him and his family sold and moved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BILL THE PATCH Posted April 30, 2016 Share #7 Posted April 30, 2016 Great reunion photos. I to would love to go back in time. My old neighborhood was filled with ww1 and ww2 guys. Very young then didn't even think of it. Sent from my XT1031 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anton67 Posted April 30, 2016 Share #8 Posted April 30, 2016 That is really cool. Awesome addition to your collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgee Posted May 1, 2016 Share #9 Posted May 1, 2016 Wonderful stuff, Kevin! Great history and story, as usual. Congrats! Semper Fi........Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJohn#3RD Posted May 3, 2016 Share #10 Posted May 3, 2016 Kevin, As always you do a great job brining forward to the stories of honor and valor of all the "2nd To None" Marines and Soldiers. Thanks for posting. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBallard Posted July 19, 2017 Share #11 Posted July 19, 2017 I was in his daughter's condo yesterday & saw his certificate for his DSC & the medal itself. Was awesome. She said she had sold off a bunch of his stuff in a footlocker he had, which is what I'm guessing that's what you have. Very cool. I tried looking him up & came across this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlight Gecko Posted July 21, 2017 Share #12 Posted July 21, 2017 Great set with a lot of history on it. Definately a top shelf piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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