Charles Betzel was a graduate of Davenport High School and was employed at the Iowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Co before entering the service in April 1942. Assigned to the Air Corps, he started his training at Santa Ana, California and later at Blythe, California. Training as a bombardier, he received his wings and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Corps on 8 May 1943 at Victorville, California. He followed navigation courses at the Carlsbad Air Base in New Mexico. Sent overseas, he was assigned as a Bombardier in the 91st Bomb Group / 322nd Bomb Squadron. Shot down on his 15th mission on a raid to Leipzig on 20 February 1944 in B-17F #42-29656 'Skunkface'.

Crashed NNW of Mons, Belgium. Managed first to evade thanks to Belgian patriots and the COMETE evasion network (the Comet Line). Was later captured in a trap set by infiltrators who had organized a false evasion line. Prisoner of War (POW). See his page at http://www.evasioncomete.be/fbetzelcm.html