Charles Alvin Beckwith
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| Charles Alvin Beckwith | |
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| January 22, 1929 – June 13, 1994 (aged 65) | |
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| Nickname | "Chargin' Charlie" |
| Place of birth | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Place of death | Austin, Texas |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1952 - 1981 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Commands held | Support Company, 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment Special Forces Detatchment B-52 (Project DELTA) 2nd Battalion/327th Parachute Infantry Regiment 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta |
| Battles/wars | Korean War Vietnam War Operation Eagle Claw |
| Awards |  Distinguished Service Cross Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster Legion of Merit Bronze Star Purple Heart |
| Other work | Security consultant |
Col. Charles Alvin Beckwith (January 22, 1929 – June 13, 1994), known as "Chargin' Charlie", was a career United States Army soldier and Vietnam veteran, credited with the creation of Delta Force, a branch of the U.S. Army. Although he is held in high regard by various members of the military Special Operations Forces, the general public know him best due to the ill-fated Operation Eagle Claw in Iran, 1980.
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[edit] Early life
Beckwith was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929, and was an all-state football player for his high school team. He later enrolled in the University of Georgia where he joined the university's Army ROTC program. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1952.
[edit] Military career
In 1955, Beckwith joined the 82nd Airborne Division as commander of Support Company, 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment. Two years later Beckwith transferred to the Special Forces and in 1960 was deployed to South Vietnam and Laos as a military advisor.
Beckwith served as an exchange officer with the British Special Air Service (22 SAS Regiment) in the early 1960s, and came away very impressed with the unit. US Army Special Forces in that period focused on unconventional warfare, but Beckwith was highly impressed with the SAS direct-action and counter-terrorism capabilities.
Beckwith commanded a Special Forces unit code-named Project Delta in Vietnam. He was critically wounded in late 1965 (he took a .50 caliber bullet through his abdomen), so badly that medical personnel initially triaged him as beyond help. Beckwith survived mainly due to his superb conditioning and iron determination.Beckwith, Charlie; C.A. Mobley (1993). Delta Force: The Army’s Elite Counterrorist Unit. New York: Avon, 352. ISBN 0-380-80939-7. After recovery, he took over the Florida Phase of the US Army's Ranger School, transforming it from a scripted exercise based upon the Army's World War II experience, into a Vietnam-oriented training regimen.
[edit] Delta Force
Delta Force was founded in November 1977 as an overseas counter-terrorist unit whose main mission is in hostage rescue, barricade operations and specialized reconnaissance. Its first mission (the aforementioned Operation Eagle Claw) ended in spectacular failure, not because of any unit shortcomings but due to a malfunction in several of the helicopters and lack of pilots trained in such operations. After the "debacle in the desert" the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment was formed specifically to provide transport for Delta Force, and eventually other Special Operations Forces, worldwide. Delta Force has since grown to become one of many counterterrorist units recognized worldwide (such as the British SAS Regiment, Canada's Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2), Australian SAS, France’s GIGN, Germany's Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (GSG9) and the Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK), and the Israeli Sayeret Matkal).
His remains are interred in the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas.
[edit] Quotes
"My men and I have decided that our boss, the President of the United States, is as tough as woodpecker lips. "
"I was not about to be party to half-assed loading on a bunch of aircraft and going up and murdering a bunch of the finest soldiers in the world."
"I learned that Murphy is alive and well. He's in every drawer, under every rock and on top of every hill."
[edit] See also
- Maj. Richard J. Meadows
- Eric Haney, one of the first members of 1SFOD-D and author of Inside Delta Force
[edit] References
- Beckwith, Charles. Delta Force: The Army's Elite Counterterrorist Unit, Avon Books, 2000. (Mass market paperback; original work published 1983.) ISBN 0-380-80939-7
