Coming from a Marine Corps Aviation family, Charlie has spent much of his life living its history and, as a historian, also writing about it. In 1960 at the age of 17, he enlisted in the Reserve. After studies in Japan, he graduated in East Asian History from Cal Berkeley, and years later, received his doctorate in history from UC Irvine.

Commissioned via the PLC program, he won aviator wings in 1965. His first deployment was as an F-4B Phantom pilot to Puerto Rico near the end of the DomRep Crisis. In Vietnam, he served with VMFA-323 out of Chu Lai, rising to flight commander. At El Toro, he became operations officer of VMFA-531. Returning to the Reserve, he flew OV-10A’s with VMO-8 and A-4F’s with VMA-134, becoming its commander when it transitioned to Phantoms. At the same time, he was on the first board of the foundation’s precursor organization.

For six years as a colonel, he commanded all the Corps’ field historians and led detachments to Desert Shield/Storm, the Bosnia Conflict and, lastly, was recalled from retirement for Iraqi Freedom. In civilian life, he is a founding partner of QSC, manufacturer of pro audio systems of Costa Mesa.

He was also chief pilot of an Orange County FBO and later an overwater ferry firm. He flew 30 years for Western and Delta. Despite his 23,000 flight hours, he and Ann enjoy still enjoy flying their vintage C195 and an aerobatic Glasair.