Charles Wallace Gum, age 88, of Oak Hill, died Tuesday, December 5, 2006, at Plateau Medical Center in Oak Hill.

Born June 12, 1918, near Mill Point, he was the son of the late Charles Emory and Rachel Ruckman Gum.

On May 28, 1954, he married Melissa Gwinn Payne, who preceded him in death on May 9, 2000.

Mr. Gum was a 1936 graduate of Hillsboro High School and received his B.A. degree from Fairmont State College, magna cum laude in 1947 and his M.A. from George Peabody College, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1948.ﾠ He taught three years in Pocahontas County, six years in Fayette County, and served asﾠ principal in Warren County, Ohio, and 21 years in the Middletown City Schools in Butler County, Ohio, from which he retired in 1979.

Charles was drafted into military service April 26, 1941.ﾠﾠ He served in the 201st Antitank Company at Fort Greeley, Kodiak, Alaska, for fifteen months, after which he was transferred to the Antitank Company, 350th Infantry, 88th Division, as a reconnaissance non-commissioned officer at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma.ﾠ The 88th Division was the first all draftee division placed in combat in the European Theatre, arriving at the front lines March 4, 1944, north of Naples at Minturno, Italy, and was the first allied division to enter Rome June 5, 1944, and continued to the Italian Alps at Bassano, Italy, until May 2, 1945, at the surrender of the Italian and German Armies in Italy.

He received many service awards including Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star Medal, Sharpshooter Badge, American Defense Medal with Foreign Service Bar (often designated Pre-Pearl Harbor Service Medal), Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal with bronze campaign star, American Theater Service Medal, European-African-Middle East Service Medal with three campaign stars: 1. Rom-Arno, 2. Northern Apennies, 3. Po Valley, Good Conduct Medal and World War II Victory Medal.ﾠ He was discharged August 11, 1945, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, after 52 months of service of which 36 months were overseas duty.

He was a sixty-year member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Mr. Gum was a member of the Oak Hill United Methodist Church, where he assisted in writing the latest addition to the history of the church.ﾠ He was a member of the Fayette County Historical Society and served as a tour guide at the George W. Eads Museum and ﾓContentment,ﾔ the home of George W. Imboden, Lt. Col. CSA in Ansted.ﾠ He also assisted in writing and editing the 1993 Fayette County History.

Survivors include his sister, Madeline Ruth Gum Ruckman, of Selma, North Carolina, and brother Max L. Gum, of Buckeye.

A sister, Verna Kathleen Gum Robbins, and a brother, Alfred Renick Gum, Sr., preceded him in death.

Visitation will be at Tyree Funeral Home, Oak Hill, on Friday, December 8, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Services will be Saturday, at 1 p.m., at Tyree Funeral Home, Oak Hill, with Dr. John Sauvage officiating.ﾠ Entombment at High Lawn Memorial Park Mausoleum, Oak Hill, with military graveside rites by VFW Post 3110, Oak Hill

Memorial gifts may be made to the Fayette County Historical Society, HC 66, Box 94, Hico, WV 25854, or the Oak Hill United Methodist Church, 205 East Main Street, Oak Hill, WVﾠ 25901.