Charles Fernley Fawcett (2 December 1915 â€" 3 February 2008) was a
wrestler, resistance worker, soldier, airman, film star, film maker,
and co-founder of the International Medical Corps. He was a recipient
of the French Croix de Guerre and the American Eisenhower
medal.Charles Fernley Fawcett was born in Waleska, Georgia, where his
mother had been caught in a snow storm and died when he was six. His
family was of old Virginian stock, whose family tree included Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison. Having been orphaned at an early age,
Fawcett and his younger brother and two sisters grew up in Greenville,
South Carolina, in the care of their aunt. Here he attended Greenville
high school for three years where he learned to wrestle and play
American football.Aged 15, Fawcett became involved in an affair with
his best friend's mother. He remarked, "If that's child molestation, I
would wish this curse on every young boy." The end of the affair made
Fawcett contemplate suicide, and he left the United States to travel
to the far East, working his passage on a number of steamships.By 1937
he had returned to America and stayed for a time in New York City
before making his way to Washington D. C., where he was taken in by
his cousin, who happened to be an assistant United States Postmaster
General. Here he ended up wrestling to make a living. Then in 1937 he
boarded a ship outside Montreal bound for France, where he worked as
an artist’s model and again as a wrestler.
wrestler, resistance worker, soldier, airman, film star, film maker,
and co-founder of the International Medical Corps. He was a recipient
of the French Croix de Guerre and the American Eisenhower
medal.Charles Fernley Fawcett was born in Waleska, Georgia, where his
mother had been caught in a snow storm and died when he was six. His
family was of old Virginian stock, whose family tree included Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison. Having been orphaned at an early age,
Fawcett and his younger brother and two sisters grew up in Greenville,
South Carolina, in the care of their aunt. Here he attended Greenville
high school for three years where he learned to wrestle and play
American football.Aged 15, Fawcett became involved in an affair with
his best friend's mother. He remarked, "If that's child molestation, I
would wish this curse on every young boy." The end of the affair made
Fawcett contemplate suicide, and he left the United States to travel
to the far East, working his passage on a number of steamships.By 1937
he had returned to America and stayed for a time in New York City
before making his way to Washington D. C., where he was taken in by
his cousin, who happened to be an assistant United States Postmaster
General. Here he ended up wrestling to make a living. Then in 1937 he
boarded a ship outside Montreal bound for France, where he worked as
an artist’s model and again as a wrestler.
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