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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Mar '92
Charles Gustavus Memminger No.16076 Class of 1946
Died 8 October 1990 in Alea Hawaii, aged 66 years.
Interment: National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific Punchbowl
Honolulu, Hawaii.
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The early life of Charles Gustavus (Chuck) Memminger
was decidedly different from that of the majority of his classmates.
His father was a career Foreign Service officer, and Chuck was
born in Bordeaux, France on 11 October1923. He received his early
education in Belfast, Ireland but, at the age of 13, returned
to the United States to attend the Episcopal High School in Alexandria,
Virginia. Graduating in 1942, Chuck enlisted in the Army and
obtained an appointment to West Point from a North Carolina congressman,
entering on 1 July 1943 with the Class of 1946. His cousin, Elinor
Gorham, recalled deep family roots in North Carolina. Chuck's
paternal great grandfather, Christopher Gustavus Memminger, was
the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury. He built a home in
Flat Rock, North Carolina in 1839, and it later was the home
of Carl Sandburg. Today, "Connemara" is a national
historic site.
During plebe maneuvers at Pine Camp, New York,
Chuck suffered a severe loss. His brother Lucien was killed in
an Army training accident, making an already difficult year more
so. His two roommates, Jim Johnson and Al Wood, remembered:
"He was totally devoted to his own sense of basic values.
He held that West Point was meant to be endured rather than enjoyed,
and yet his personal beliefs were entirely compatible with those
espoused by the Military Academy. Unpretentious himself, he had
no use for pretentiousness in others. He also displayed a refreshing,
sardonic, self deprecating sense of humor."
Quite early during his cadet days, Chuck decided
that his goal was to become a pilot in the Army Air Corps. He
began to concentrate his considerable talents towards that goal.
His primary interest, other than becoming a pilot, was soccer.
When graduation came, Chuck became a second lieutenant in the
Army Air Corps.
Chuck took multi engine training at Enid Army Air
Field, Oklahoma and then was assigned to Smoky Hill Air Force
Base, Salina, Kansas. William D. McSween, Jr. recalled living
in substandard bachelor quarters heated by coal stoves. When
the Strategic Air Command (SAC) commander inspected the quarters,
all bachelors were allowed to live off post. Chuck and Bill McSween
doubled up in one of the few apartments available. When the 301st
Bomb Group Wing moved to Louisiana, the two friends ended up
with similar living arrangements. These terminated when Chuck
met Melba Lee Smith of Winfield, Louisiana and they married in
1950.
In 1952, Chuck was assigned to Mac-Dill Air Force
Base, Florida as a B-47 pilot with the 306th Bomb Wing. John
J. Logan recalled:
"Our unit would often go TDY to North Africa for 60 days
or more, and we would live two B-47 crews to a tent. Chuck would
always make it a point to tent with a new crew so as to develop
and guide the younger personnel.... Chuck Memminger was the most
inspiring officer I met in over 30 years of service."
Chuck then moved overseas to become the deputy
commander for Operations, 3926th Combat Support Group at Ben
Guerir Air Base in Morocco. Colonel Robert E. Sheridan, (Ret),
recalled meeting Chuck at SAC Headquarters, Omaha, Nebraska,
in 1965. Chuck was in the Directorate of Operations, following
an assignment at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia. Chuck was to
take responsibility for SAC Manual 55-7 and the preparation of
SAC Combat Mission Folders (CMF's). The CMF was of special interest
during visits by the inspector general, and problems in this
area invariably required an explanation to the CINC. Chuck convinced
the SAC staff and CINCSAC to revise the manual to incorporate
costly but cost effective techniques. Bob Sheridan reminisced:
"Chuck was a solid, reliable friend with a great sense of
humor. He referred to himself as the 'Original Old Trapper'.
I came to know a lot about Chuck in those days, but I never knew
about one of his skills until the Memmingers hosted a going away
party for me. The party was the hit of the social season but
was most memorable for Chuck's version of Fish House Punch."
In 1967, Chuck volunteered to go to Vietnam with
the 4th Air Commando Squadron, flying AC-47 "Dragonships".
Chuck flew 300 night missions in support of US ground forces,
receiving the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, two Distinguished
Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, and 14 Air Medals. One of his
DFC's was for his actions on 5 December 1967 when he went to
help a US Marine Reconnaissance Team trapped on a hilltop by
North Vietnamese regulars. On 4 March 1968, Chuck was awarded
the Silver Star for his help in defending Da Nang Air Base from
a VC rocket attack.
After a tour with the Office of the Commander In
Chief, Pacific Command, Chuck became Professor of Aerospace Studies,
AFROTC at Oregon State University. The year 1975 was always to
remain in Chuck's memory: his beloved Melba died of cancer that
year, and he retired from the Air Force in the grade of colonel.
Chuck and Melba had three sons, Lucien, Charles and Stephen.
Chuck opted to return to Hawaii in retirement He became a realtor
and worked for a number of realty companies. On 4 September 1976,
Chuck married Mary Anne McIntyre, a widow whose husband had been
on Chuck's B-52 crew. Mary Anne brought three children to the
marriage, a son Robert and two daughters, Catherine and Anne.
After four years of illness, Charles Gustavus Memminger
died on 8 October 1990. He is survived by his wife, Mary Anne,
three sons, three stepchildren, four grandchildren, five step
grandchildren and a sister Elizabeth. At the funeral, his son
Charles gave the "Words from the Family" excerpted
here:
"My father was not fearless, but he was courageous.
For without fear there cannot be courage. It was not until I
began writing his obituary and read of the incidents that lead
to his receiving his medals that I realized just how courageous
he was.
"He volunteered to serve in Vietnam when he
was 44 years old, an age when most people are slowing down, thinking
about playing it safe. But as a professional soldier he felt
it was his duty to help his country.
"He never made a big deal of military service.
Although my brothers and I were there when he was awarded the
Silver Star at Camp Smith, we never really understood the extent
of the danger he had faced.
"Dad would not want us to feel sad for him
today. He did everything he wanted in life. He flew airplanes,
which was his dream. He often joked about cheating death, but
he knew that you don't cheat death, you just push the bugger
back as far as you can.
"He enjoyed his retirement in Hawaii in the
same way he enjoyed his years of flying. He and Mary Anne lived
a wonderful life for 12 years, the type of life that many can
only dream about.
"As hard as it is to say goodbye, my father
was one of the few lucky people in the world who got to live
entirely the way he wanted. And we should be happy for that.
"As many of you know, my father was a religious
man. He tried to live according to the teachings of the church.
But I don't think he lived that way just so he could go to heaven
when he died. I think he knew that when you strip all the philosophy
and theory away, no one really knows why we are here on earth.
And so that only leaves us with one choice: to live with dignity,
class and courage. And, finally, he taught us how to die with
dignity.
"I don't know exactly what heaven is, and
I don't know who gets there and how. But I do know that it would
be a poorer place without my father"
There is a little that can be added to Charles'
remarks. Perhaps one of his roommates best summed it up when
he said, "Chuck Memminger was one of the finest men I ever
met." To which the Class of 1946 can truthfully add, "Well
Done, Chuck; Be Thou At Peace!"
'46 Memorial Article Project and his family
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