Chula Vista Research Articles

Charles R. Scoggin, 1914-1944

Among the many student archaeologists serving in the armed forces of the United States, one of the first to make the supreme sacrifice was 1st Lieutenant Charles R. Scoggin. He was killed in action on Anzio beachhead, Italy, Feb. 2, 1944.Lieutenant Scoggin, son of Dr. W. J. and Essie (Cartwright) Scoggin, was born July 10, 1914, at Bridgeport, Nebraska. He received his preliminary schooling at Chula Vista, California, and in 1927 moved with his parents to Ovid, Colorado, where he attended high school, graduating in 1931. Because of the depression, he was unable to continue his formal education at that time and in 1933 moved with his family to nearby Julesburg, Colorado. He was employed at Julesburg until the autumn of 1935 when he enrolled in the University of Colorado at Boulder. As it was necessary for him to work his way through college his attendance was irregular and he had not completed the hours requisite to a-degree when the tide of world events swept him on to grimmer tasks in the summer of 1942.