Charles Priest attended the Moody Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and after graduation continued his studies at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He was ordained Church of Christ minister. During his six years of study at Drake he filled various appointments as a student pastor. After ordination he was pastor of the Church of Christ at Blockton, Iowa, until he enlisted in the Army to serve as a Chaplain in World War II. His brother Edwin Stephen Priest, a Drake University graduate, also served as U.S. Army chaplain in France during the war, and returned for a life of ministry with the Christian Church. The soldier Chaplain Priest saved in his DSC action was Corporal Rogers V. Deck, who had been wounded and crawled into a hole where he lay hiding from the enemy for two days. On the third morning he managed to come within a few yards of an outpost, but his strength was gone and he could not call out. He was nearly unconscious when Chaplain Priest, who had not been satisfied that all the wounded had been recovered, braved the enemy presence to search the battlefield and recover him. Chaplain Priest was killed in action one month later.