Lieutenant Charles "Chuck" Gumm Jr. was born on 29th October 1920 in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the John R. Rogers High School in 1939 from where he then proceeded to Gonzaga University to continue further his education. In 1942, following the US entry into World War II, and shortly after marrying his high school sweetheart, Muriel "Toni" Wiley, Gumm left the university to volunteer for training in the USAAF. He joined the 354th Fighter Group of the 355th Fighter Squadron where he undertook his training as a pilot. After a while, Charles and Muriel were blessed with the birth of their daughter Toni, and then sometime later the Fighter Group was posted to England. After crossing the U.S. by train they arrived in Manhattan where they were loaded onto the HMS Athlone Castle, and set sail for Liverpool. They arrived on the 1st of November, but could not move into the dock until the 3rd owing to a thick fog that hung over the harbor. Early on the 4th of November, they disembarked and made their way to the Greenham Common airbase, which was to become their first home in England. But this would be only a short stay and, on the 13th of November, they were posted to Boxted airfield, Station 150 in the small rural East Anglian village of Langham, which lies on the Essex-Suffolk border, close to Nayland.
Lt Gumm soon saw action and on a mission to Bremen, 16 December 1943, and is credited with being the first P-51 Mustang pilot to shoot down an enemy plane over Europe - a Bf-110 over Bremen. He returned to base with a claim of one JU 88 damaged and one Bf 109 shot down at 1330 hours. A little over two months later on the 21st of February 1944, Lt. Gumm became the first of many 354th Fighter Group aces by downing a Bf 110 over Brunswick at 1430 hours - the accepted definition of a fighter pilot ace is one who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft. Lt. Gumm was assigned two aircraft, both of which he named "My Toni" after both the wife and baby daughter he had left back in Spokane. After a six-month stay, the 354th moved to Lashenden, and thence to Criqueville, France in August 1944, following the Normandy invasion.
In a cruel twist of fate, Lt. Gumm's career ended very unexpectedly on 1st March 1944 when he made the ultimate sacrifice. The P-51 Mustang (P-51B1, 43-12165) he was flying (on a cross country flight to Goxhill) crashed shortly after becoming airborne. Its engine lost power at 800 feet. Observers of the crash, and in particular Canon W. Wright of St. James Vicarage, reported that Gumm could have parachuted to safety but chose to stay with the plane which crashed into an open field outside town. He realized he was over the Nayland village and that if he bailed out to save himself his plane would crash into the English town and claim innocent lives. He, therefore, decided to remain with his plane to steer it away from the village and to attempt a forced landing. It crash-landed on the banks of the River Stour near 'Court Knoll' but, unfortunately, at the last moment his Mustang hit a tree and he was thrown out of the cockpit and died instantly. He is buried at Greenwood Memorial Terrace in his home town of Spokane, Washington, USA.
Source of information: www.naylandandwiston.net, www.findagrave.com