In 1897, his father, a member of the notorious Staffelbach gang from Galena, Kansas, was sentenced to life in prison for murder, and his mother gave him up for adoption.

Upon completion of accession training on April 24, he was assigned to Company L, 354th Infantry Regiment, 89th Division.,[2] which absorbed most of the men from southeastern and eastern Missouri.

[3] On October 31, 1918, near Bois-de-Bantheville, Barger's regiment sent several patrols into no man's land to reconnoiter German positions in preparation for an advance as part of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

[5] For these actions, General John J. Pershing presented Barger and Funk the Medal of Honor in February 1919 in Trier, Germany.

[6] Barger returned to farming with his adopted uncle, Henry McFerron, and later as a construction worker in Waco, Missouri, but had a rough time making ends meet.

He was assigned as a machine gunner to Company D, 38th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division, at Camp Pike, Arkansas, until being permanently discharged from the Army on July 15, 1921.

[7][8] On February 22, he and Officer Howard Pollard were dispatched to 1724 Holly Street where two men were involved in bootlegging and one was suspected of murder.

[12] Barger recovered from his injuries, but his head wound coupled with the effects of mustard gas and post-traumatic stress eventually took its toll on his physical and mental health.

He raised rabbits to put meat on the table, planted a garden, and, against everything he believed in, accepted charity from the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, the only two agencies that stood by him through the years.

[16][17] On the night of November 23, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office were called to his home where they found him wielding a large hunting knife and setting fire to his farmhouse.

[9] "That the breakdown was due to his war experience no comrade of Charles Barger would deny," a reporter friend wrote after his death.

"Yet through the years every effort made by the veterans' organizations to persuade the government that sent him to war to admit responsibility for his mental condition ended in failure.

Barger and another stretcher bearer upon their own initiative made 2 trips 500 yards beyond our lines, under constant machinegun fire, and rescued 2 wounded officers.