Obituary: Charles W. McKeever / Heroic rescuer of Army platoon in WWII
Jan. 16, 1924-March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
By Milan Simonich, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For half a century, few people knew that Charles W. McKeever rescued his platoon in World War II by rushing into the teeth of German machine-gun fire to destroy a sniper's nest.
Armed with his rifle and a grenade, he killed five enemy soldiers and captured four others during a battle that began just after his Army unit crossed the Rhine River.
Mr. McKeever, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, America's second-highest award for combat valor, died Wednesday of Alzheimer's disease. He was 84 and lived in Monroeville.
Even those who knew him well would not have suspected that he was a war hero. He simply did not talk about it.
Mr. McKeever spent more than 20 years of his working life as a maintenance man at Penn Hills Senior High School. The thousands of students who crossed his path never knew this quiet, unassuming man had served in battles they were studying.
So private was Mr. McKeever that his own family knew almost nothing about his extraordinary service in the Army's 87th Infantry Division, which fought its way across Europe for five months until Germany's surrender in May 1945.
Mr. McKeever revealed bits of his story during the 1990s to someone outside the family, said his daughter, Cheryl Marsh. By then he was retired and in his 70s.
She said relatives discovered that he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross when looking through a box of old papers. He never mentioned it.
The story of Mr. McKeever's bravery finally received a bit of publicity in 2005, when he was inducted into the Hall of Valor at Soldiers & Sailors Military Museum and Memorial in Oakland. His family sent in his war citations.
Raised in Homewood-Brushton, Mr. McKeever quit school in the 11th grade. With World War II raging, he enlisted in the Army in February 1943.
He attained the rank of technical sergeant, overseeing a platoon in Company K of the 347th Infantry Regiment. After crossing the Rhine and landing on March 25, 1945, his men were pinned down by a German machine gunner.
Mr. McKeever charged ahead, despite the bullets. His citation for the Distinguished Service Cross said he risked his life to wipe out the enemy hideaway.
After the war, Mr. McKeever returned to the Pittsburgh area. He drove a streetcar, worked in a steel mill and painted bridges before joining the maintenance staff for Penn Hills schools.
Mr. McKeever is survived by his daughters, Ms. Marsh, of Monroeville; Peggy Elk of Mohnton, Berks County; Penny McKeever of Gloucester, Va.; and Helen Zimmerman of Irwin; five grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a brother, James; and a sister, Rita Hilla.
His funeral will be at 10 a.m. today at Findlay C. Wylie Funeral Home in Penn Hills. Burial, with full military honors, will follow in William Penn Memorial Park.
Obituary: Charles W. McKeever / Heroic rescuer of Army platoon in WWII
Obituary: Charles W. McKeever / Heroic rescuer of Army platoon in WWII
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman
