Biographies from Troy Military Banners
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a weekly series that will appear in print every Sunday until Veterans Day. Each week, five military members featured on a Troy Military Banner will be highlighted.
1. Charles Schongar, U.S. Army
Staff Sergeant Charles Schongar was born in 1922 to Charles Schongar and Marguerite Denaker in Troy, New
York. He had 5 siblings, John, George, Will i am, Joseph, Alfred and Rita.
He attended
LaSalle High
School and enlisted in the Army on 9/15/42. He was assigned to the 326th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR) with in the 82nd Airborne Division. The 326th regiment was reassigned to the 1st Airborne Infantry Division in early 1943. In August of 1943, the GIR was again reassigned to the 13th Airborne Division.
The 326 GIR was sent overseas and arrived at Le Havre, France in February of 1945. The 13th Airborne Division was originally selected to participate in Operation Plunder, the Allied airborne crossing of the Rhine River in Germany. The 13th Airborne Division’s involvement was cancelled due to lack of aircraft to airlift all three Airborne Divisions- the British 6th, the US 17th, and the US 13th. Several other daring missions were planned and cancelled due to the speed of the advancing ground troops.
The 13th Airborne was then assigned to the PAcific theatre of operations for the Invasion of Japan. Due to the surrender of Japan in August 1945, the unit which was on its way to the Pacific, returned to the United States and arrived in New York harbor on August 27, 1945. By that time, Charles had been promoted to Staff Sergeant and served as a platoon sergeant in the regiment. He was discharged from the service on February 2, 1946 at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. Charles was awarded American Service Medal, the European African Middle Eastern Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
Upon returning to Troy, he went to HVCC and then became a lineman for Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation. He became a foreman and a general line foreman before retiring in 1983 after 35 years of service to the company.
Charles married Mildred Kaiser in 1948 and had 5 children- twin sons, Michael and Timothy, Kathleen, Thomas and Richard. He moved to Lansingburgh in 1957 when he bought the house his wife had been born in on West Park Place. Charles resided there for 48 years until his passing in 2005. His wife, Mildred, preceded him in 1986.
Schongar’s banner is located at 498 West Park Place.
2. John “Jack” McHugh, U.S. Army
John F. McHugh “Jack” enlisted in the US Army at the age of 23. He proudly served our country from 1961-1963. Jack joined the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he was a para