Charles enlisted on 14th February 1908. He was 19 years and 9 months old, and was a tiler by trade. After serving his appointed time, on 13th February 1911, he was transferred to Army Reserve, but reengaged on 12th January 1912. On the outbreak of war he was mobilized to serve with the 2nd Field Ambulance, and entered the war in France on 19th August 1914. On 24th May 1915 orders were given that, when shelling commenced NCO’s & men in billets were to go down into lower rooms and where possible into cellars. Shelling commenced around 8.35 p.m. on the 24th, with the first shell striking the hospital, hitting the brickwork by the side of the front entrance of A Block, at the junction of tiled pavement and wall, making a hole about 2 feet in diameter & 1 ft deep. Some of the men whose duty it was to upload incoming ambulance cares were around this door and a few others were in the vicinity. Though the hole made was small, the explosive effect was considerable, with the shell splintering into small fragments and as a result wounding some of the men. Charles was one of them, sustaining severe shell wounds to his abdomen, head and arms. After being evacuated through the evacuation chain he was hospitalized for a while in No 13 Stationery Hospital, Boulogne. He returned to the UK on 26th June 1915. He was discharged from the army 'no longer physically fit for war service' on 8th February 1916. He was the son of Charles Thomas and Alice Turner of 47 St Georges Road, Peckham