Charlie Pytlak

Charlie Pytlak (d. 1945) was a sergeant in the United States Army. He served in the European Theater of World War II. On May 6, 1945, the day after Germany unconditionally surrendered, Pytlak was on patrol in a town called Lichtenau with PFC Dom Lombardo. After accepting the surrender of a group of German soldiers, and turning them into the Army, Pytlak and Lombardo returned to their patrol. As they passed a derelict vehicle, a bomb planted inside went off. Lombardo was killed instantly, but Pytlak was lived long enough to see how horribly the bomb had destroyed his body.

Pytlak and Lombardo were the first American victims of the German Freedom Front.