Charles Casper Nickel was born in Loysville, Pennsylvania in 1916 and was a graduate of Duncannon High School. He entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1933 but left after one year of study in the scientific course. During his time at the College he was a member of Theta Chi fraternity. Eventually, he attended journalism school and became an editor and publisher in Perry County, Pennsylvania.
He joined the army soon after Pearl Harbor and served two years before being commissioned at Fort Eustis, Virginia. He was assigned to an anti-aircraft battery in the Pacific theater. On December 8, 1944, during a Japanese attack on the Buri Airfield on Leyte Island, he was mortally wounded and died the next day. He was buried in Dulag Cemetery on Leyte, Republic of the Philippines.
