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Colonel
Charles Beckwith
U.S. Army
Special Forces
1929 - 1994
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Colonel Charles Beckwith is known for being one of the
principle advocates of an SAS-like special operations unit. He
was one of the founding members of the 1st Special Forces
Operational Detachment - Delta (SFOD-D). He also is known for
being the on-ground commander of
Operation EAGLE CLAW - the
ill-fated mission to rescue Americans held hostage by
Iran in the American embassy in Tehran in 1980. "Chargin'
Charlie" was a Special Forces legend - with a career that
spanned from the early 1950s to the 1980s - including tours in
Laos and Vietnam.
Beckwith grew up in Georgia and was a high school football
star. He would then be a star athlete at the University of
Georgia - where he also was a member of ROTC. In 1952 he was
drafted by the Green Bay Packers but decided to serve with the
Army as the Korean War was ongoing.
One of his first assignments was in Korea. In 1958 he
volunteered for Special Forces duty. After his training he
deployed to Southeast Asia where he served in Operation Hotfoot
in Laos.
Serving with SAS. In 1962 Beckwith served as
an exchange officer with the British 22nd SAS. While with the
SAS he deployed to Malaya and was involved in counterinsurgency
operations.
Vietnam Service. He served in Vietnam to
include a tour as commander of Project Delta (Operational
Detachment B-52) in 1965 and as commander of 2nd Bn, 327th
Infantry in Vietnam in 1968.
JCRC. Beckwith served with the Joint
Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand.
This was a Special Forces unit tasked with recovering the
remains of missing service members from the Vietnam conflict.
Delta. The 1st Special Forces Operational
Detachment - Delta was established in 1977. It was a unit
similar to the British Special Air Service (SAS). Beckwith and
others spent two years establishing a selection program,
developing TTPs, and instituting a training program.
A Varied Career. Other assignments included
a tour with the Ranger School at Fort Benning, GA and as
commandant of the Army Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, NC.
After Retirement. He retired from the Army
in 1981. Beckwith wrote an autobiography and opened a private
security and consulting firm - Security Assistance Services in
Austin, Texas. He died at the age of 65 of natural causes in
June 1994. [1] One of his three daughters served in the military
and a grand-daughter served with a aviation special operations
unit.
Regimental Honor. On August 9, 2012 Charles
Beckwith was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the Special
Forces Regiment. [2]
Books about Col Beckwith
Beckwith, Charles and Knox, D., Delta Force: A memoir by
the founder of the U.S. military's most secretive
special-operations unit, New York, NY: William Morrow,
2013.
Websites about Col Beckwith
Colonel Charles Alvin Beckwith - ARSOF Icons, USASOC
Historian
https://arsof-history.org/icons/beckwith.html
Charles Alvin Beckwith - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Alvin_Beckwith
Charles Beckwith: The Father of Delta Force - U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs
https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/66538/charles-beckwith-father-delta-force/
News Stories about Col Beckwith
September 7, 2015.
"Leadership in Action: Colonel Charles A. Beckwith", The
Military Leader. Phil Walter highlights the decision that
COL Beckwith was faced with when he realized he was one
helicopter short during OPERATION EAGLE CLAW.
Endnotes
[1] "Obituary: Col. Charles Beckwith;
Led Failed Iran Raid", Los Angeles Times, June 14,
1994.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-06-14-me-3831-story.html
[2] Read his citation for his induction
as a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment.
https://www.soc.mil/swcs/RegimentalHonors/_pdf/sf_beckwith.pdf
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