This article is published here as a tribute to three legends of the WW-2 Combatives community, who are sadly no longer with us.

The subject of the article is Charlie Nelson, who was the last of the authentic WW-2 era instructors. Charlie passed away three years ago, and this article is being put online on the anniversary of his death.

Peter Robins was the greatest authority on the life and works of W.E. Fairbairn, and author of the Fairbairn biography. Peter set up CODA to research and teach the WW-2 Combatives methods. He was allied to the US counterpart GHCA, set up by Bob Kasper, a senior student of Charlie Nelson, who later became a world respected instructor in his own right.  Bob [wearing plaid shirt] is Charlie’s partner in the first picture below. Bob passed away earlier this year.

This article first appeared in Fighting Arts International Magazine in 1988, and is scanned from the original and republished here with permission of Terry O’Neill.

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