Charles was born in Shreveport. His father was Jessie James Moore. He does not give his mother's name, but remembers she rented two rooms to men and cooked their meals. He graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in 1943. He wanted to enter the U.S. Army Air Forces but his vision kept him out. He joined the U.S. Army, taking basic as well as artillery training at Camp Blanding in Florida. He shipped out on the Isle de France, with Company D, 407^th Infantry, Twenty-Seventh Infantry Division. In France he joined the advance across the continent as a mortar man, firing 81-millimeter mortars. Each in the eight-man crew carried a piece of the mortar. Charles lugged the base plate and six rounds, along with his rifle. He fell wounded in a German mortar attack. Sent to hospitals in France and Germany, he was then shipped home on the Queen Mary. He convalesced at Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Memphis for four months, and was discharged in July of 1945. Charles entered Centenary College, earning a business administration degree, with an emphasis in accounting. Meanwhile, he married Rosemary McClug on November 25, 1947. Charles worked in accounts for Southwestern Electric Power, and at Drake Company. He retired in 1980.