Lawson, Charles Tell

Title

Last Name

Lawson

First and Middle Name

Charles Tell

Biographical Text

“War is a serious and inhuman affair at best, however, it is necessary when so much is at stake.”

-Captain Charles Lawson

Charles Tell Lawson, from Lancaster, Virginia, joined the Marine Corps on May 24, 1917 as a second lieutenant. After training at both Paris Island, South Carolina and Quantico, Virginia, Lawson and the rest of the 2nd Division departed for France on October 22, 1917. They arrived in the city of Brest on November 13, 1917. His unit continued to train in France until March 13-14, 1918 where they were deployed as reserves for the French Army in the area of the front line. On March 21, the Germans began a series of offensives which resulted to the Allied lines begin pushed to the brink of collapse. After the lines had stabilized, Lawson and the rest of the 2nd Division were ordered to push the Germans back.

In this ensuing action, the 2nd Division and the United States Marine Corps as whole would earn fame at the Battle of Belleau-Wood. After five weeks of bloody, often hand to hand combat, the now hardened American Marines pushed the Germans out of the ground they had gained in the March offensives which had precipitated the Aisne-Marne Offensive.

Lawson would go on to participate in every major American action of the war, most notably the massive Meuse-Argonne Offensive of October 1918.

Immediately after the war, Charles Lawson trained fellow Marines at the Quantico Marine Corps Base. Upon being discharged on January 30, 1919, Lawson returned to civilian life as a sales engineer with a company in Pennsylvania. Lawson married Marion L. Cundiff and raised one daughter.

Nicknames or Other Names

Tell

Hometown

White Stone, Virginia

County and/or State

Lancaster, Virginia

Birth Date

November 13, 1893

Birthplace

White Stone, Virginia

Death Date

May 9, 1979

Cause of Death

Age

Place of Death

Oakland, Michigan

Parents

Edward Everett Lawson and Rebecca Virginia Chase

Siblings

Katharine Anne Lawson, Emma Chase Lawson, and Francis William Seabury Lawson

Spouse(s)

Marion Lee Cundiff Lawson

Children

Helen Patricia Lawson

VPI Graduating Class

1916

Undergraduate Major

Mechanical Engineering

Graduated

Yes

Service Branch

Marine Corps

Unit

2nd Marines, company 51, 5th regiment

Rank

2nd Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant, Captain

Retired Rank

Captain

Military Events

Charles Tell Lawson served the Aisne-Marne Offensive, the St. Mihiel Offensive, and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, which was the largest deployment of American soldiers so far in our nation’s history. This offensive, which took place in September of 1918, was credited as one of the final decisive blows in pushing the German’s toward an armistice.

Decorations or Citations

None

Battles or Engagements

Aisne-Marne Offensive (fought in the Battle of Bellau Wood), St. Mihiel Offensive, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Postwar Life

Immediately after the war, Lawson went on to train soldiers before he was discharged. In the following years, Lawson found employment as a mechanical engineer and moved to Pennsylvania and then Michigan