Tech 5 Charles Wesley Powell

Our Hometown Heroes

Charles Wesley Powell

Died in Panama Canal Zone

Little is known about Charles Wesley Powell’s connections to Griffin, other than he is on the World War II, Monument in Veterans Park.

What we do know is Powell was born on March 15, 1917. He lived in and around Clay County, Alabama, which is outside Birmingham. The 1930 Census shows he lived with his grandmother, Mattie A. Powell, in Alabama. The family were farmers. Records show he completed the eighth grade. The 1940 Census shows he was single and living in the Panama Canal Zone.

Enlisting in the US Army at Ft. McPherson on October 16, 1940, Powell was the son of Charles Wesley Powell and Florence Lula (Sparks) Powell. He achieved the rank of Tech 5 Specialist, while in the Army.

Records show that Powell died on February 21, 1944, at Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone. He was stationed there at Ft. Sherman. The tombstone in Panama simply reads, “Charles W. Powell, US Armed Forces, 1917, 1944.