Charles Elwood Yeager was born on February 13, 1923 in Myra, West Virginia, to Susie Mae and Albert Hal Yeager. Chuck attended high school in Hamlin, West Virginia. Immediately after graduating from high school Chuck enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps to serve in World War II. Chuck was shot down over enemy territory in 1943. He evaded capture and with the help of the French resistance, he escaped over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain, which was a neutral country. U.S. Army policy at the time