Charlotte Combs was born in April 1920 in New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. She had two little sisters. They moved to Mississippi. Her father was in the Army. He also worked as a carpenter. Her mother was a housewife. They walked to school. They lived three blocks from the school. They had a neighborhood full of children. They would go skating. She went to high school. She could sew. She sewed debutant dresses and dresses for the queens and maids of the balls. She got married when she was 23 years old. She was at a friend's house when she heard the news about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Her husband was shipped out. He was a Marine in the Pacific. The war was terrible.

Charlotte Combs went to school for drawing maps. She got a job at the Higgins factory [Annotator's Note: Higgins Industries, a naval production company based in New Orleans, Louisiana]. After they built the ships, she would go and correct them. The ships never turned out like the drawings were. They were very patriotic. They would go to shows with friends. She would ride on the street car. She worked until her husband returned. He had fought on Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan]. Then they moved to California.

Charlotte Combs returned to Louisiana when her husband got out of the service. They did not have children yet. Her husband talked about his experience. Her father was in the war as well. He was stationed in England. She hates to think about how her generation is just about gone now. Her husband went out on Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat].