A Memorial Service for Charles Edwin Wensel of Mountain Home, Arkansas, will be 11:00 am, Friday, January, 19, 2018, at Kirby & Family Funeral Home Chapel, with Heather Marsalis officiating. Visitation will be from 10:00 am until time of service at the funeral home. Military Honors will be provided by the United States Air Force Honor Guard.
Charles, previously of Tarkio, Missouri, passed away, Monday, January 15, 2018, at the age of 93. He was born October 28, 1924, in Tarkio, Missouri to Charles Elias and Rachel Bernice (Stanley) Wensel.
Charles married Evelyn June Rolofson on April 6, 1947. He attended school in Tarkio and joined the Army Air Corps before graduation in 1943. He served as a tail gunner on a B17 and B24. His plane was shot down over Italy in 1945. He received a Purple Heart and was discharged after 9 months in the hospital in 1946. He came home to farm in the Tarkio area, then moved to Mountain Home, Arkansas in 1972, working as a finish carpenter. He also served as a Major in the Arkansas Civil Air Patrol for 25 years. He was a member of the American Legion Post #199, Tarkio, Missouri for over 50 years and the Ozark V.F.W. Post #3246, Mountain Home, Arkansas for over 40 years.
Charles is survived by his wife, June Wensel of Mountain Home, AR; three children, Edwin Keith (Ann Graves) Wensel of Fairfax, MO, Charles LeRoy (Opal Martin) Wensel of Gassville, AR and Kathy June (AJ) Pennison of Mountain Home, AR; numerous grandchildren; great-grandchildren; great-great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
Burial will be in the Kirby's Tucker Memorial Cemetery, Mountain Home, Arkansas at a later date.
Memorials may be made to Hospice of the Ozarks.
Arrangements are by Kirby and Family Funeral and Cremation Services.