Colonel (Ret.) Charles Samuel Finch
Colonel Charles Samuel Finch graduated from ARC in 1961. His experiences as an ROTC cadet provided him with the building blocks which set his course to serve his country in so many ways. He continued his education, including ROTC, at the University of Georgia.
Immediately after graduation from UGA, Charles joined the US Army as a Second Lieutenant. He became one of the valiant Catkillers (reconnaissance aircraft pilots) in the Vietnam War. His heroic service is well documented in the book, A Hundred Feet Over Hell, authored by Jim Hooper. No other Bird Dog unit in Southeast Asia operated in as hostile an environment as did this elite group. This period of our country’s history and Col. Finch is further documented in “Welcome Home”, a new film series which tells the story of Vietnam veterans, from all branches of the service, in their own words.
Having flown many missions and being awarded the Silver Star, Charles extended his enlistment for an additional six months to fly U-21s for the 52nd Aviation Company and then to Long Thanh with the Command Airplane Company. The death of his father, an army colonel who had participated in the D-Day landings in France, brought him home in February 1970. Charles served as a Bird Dog instructor at Fort Rucker, Alabama until transitioning to helicopters in mid-1971. After resigning from active duty, he was hired by Delta Airlines but always remained in the Army Reserves, logging thousands of hours in Hueys, OH-58s, and Blackhawks. His last assignment in the reserves was as 33rd Group commander at Fort Rucker. He retired as a full colonel after twenty-eight years of service.
Colonel Finch was a marathon runner. He also engaged in a long-term commitment to working with the disadvantaged. He was awarded the Olympic Medal of Honor in 1994 and ran with the Olympic torch two years later in Miami. By the time the Colonel retired from Delta in May, 2003, he had been a lead check airman on McDonnell Douglas MD-88s and Boeing 757s and 767s and at that time, he was widely acknowledged as one of the company’s top one hundred employees.
Colonel Finch has never slowed down in his contributing contributions to serving others. He is a devoted member of the First Methodist Church in Greensboro, Georgia. One of his strongest passions is his service for the Boys and Girls Club in Greensboro and his work with students at the Greensboro and Union Point Elementary Schools. In November 2013, he was the recipient of the Pete Nance Boys & Girls Club Volunteer of the Year Award. On acceptance of this honor, the Colonel stated: “You give back because you’re still on this planet at age 70. We need to make the world better for those not as fortunate as you. These children are poor, and we have the power to make them richer with education.”