Charles H. Coolidge was born on Signal Mountain on August 4, 1921, the son of Walter and Grace (McCracken) Coolidge of Chattanooga. He graduated from Chattanooga High School in 1939 and worked at his father's printing business as a bookbinder. Drafted into the U.S. Army on June 16, 1942, he received basic training at Fort McClellan in Alabama, then went to Camp Butner, North Carolina, and Camp Edwards in Massachusetts, where he was assigned to M Company, Third Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division. In April 1943 his unit shipped to Oran in Algeria to take part in the North Africa Campaign. Serving as a machine gun section leader and sergeant, he received the Silver Star for gallantry in action in Italy on May 31, 1944. On October 24-27, 1944, as a Technical Sergeant in charge of a section of heavy machine guns supported by a platoon of infantry from Company K, he held a vital hilltop position near the German border on Hill 623 east of Belmont-sur-Buttant in France during four days of enemy attacks, including an assault with two tanks on October 27. He personally led the counterattack that repulsed the enemy, refused a German demand to surrender, and came under direct tank fire. For actions above and beyond the call of duty in that battle, he received the Medal of Honor from Lieutenant General Wade H. Haislip during a 1945 ceremony at an airfield near Dornstadt, Germany.