Born February 13, 1923,
Myra, West Virginia

Charles Elwood Yeager, known as Chuck, was born in Myra, West Virginia, on February 13, 1923. His father was a driller for natural gas in the West Virginia coalfields. As the United States began mobilizing for World War II, Yeager enlisted in the Army Air Force in September 1941, the summer after he graduated high school at the age of 18. In 1943 he became a flight officer, a noncommissioned officer who could pilot aircraft. During the last two years of the war he went to England, where he flew fighter missions into France and Germany.

Proves to be great fighter pilot

During his first eight missions, at the age of 20, Yeager shot down two German fighters. On his ninth mission he was shot down over German-occupied France. Suffering flak wounds, he bailed out of the airplane and was rescued by members of the French resistance...