Charles D.W. Canham

Charles D.W. Canham
Maj. Gen. Charles D.W. Canham
Born	1901
Died	1963 (aged 61–62) Walter Reed General Hospital
Buried	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1919-1960
Rank	Major General
Commands held	29th Infantry Division 3rd Infantry Division 82nd Airborne Division XI Corps
Battles/wars	Normandy Invasion
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross Silver Star Bronze Star Purple Heart Combat Infantryman Badge

Major General Charles Draper William Canham (January 26, 1901 - August 21, 1963) was the commander of the 29th Infantry Division's 116th Infantry Regiment, which landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Canham joined the Army on May 23, 1919. In 1921, as a sergeant, Canham took a course in the Army's first preparatory school to allow soldiers from the ranks to attend the United States Military Academy. He was chosen and graduated from West Point in 1926.

Prior to World War II, he served in the Philippines and Shanghai and was one of the purchasers of the Shanghai Bowl. During these years he acquired a reputation as a strict disciplinarian and superb leader of troops.

In 1942, as a colonel, he took command of the 116th Infantry Regiment shortly before it sailed for England. Canham's 116th Infantry, alongside the 1st Infantry Division's 16th Infantry Regiment, was chosen as the first to land at Omaha beach on D-Day. The opening scene of the movie Saving Private Ryan depicts the conditions under which Canham's regiment landed on the Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach along with one company of Army Rangers. Shortly after hitting the beach, Canham was shot through the wrist, refusing evacuation, he moved his men off Omaha and inland. Sergeant Bob Slaughter (D Company, 116th) remembers Canham screaming at soldiers to move off the beach and go kill Germans. Slaughter remembers him yelling at one lieutenant hiding in a pillbox from a German mortar barrage, "Get your ass out of there and show some leadership!". Don McCarthy (Headquarters Company, 116th) remembers seeing Canham walking upright along the beach in the face of enemy fire, "I got the hell out of there and moved forward. I was more afraid of Colonel Canham than I was of the Germans."