THE WALL OF FACES

Remember to save for them a place inside of you, and save one backward glance when you are leaving, for the places they can no longer go...

Dear Lt Charles Knowles, Thank you for your service as a Navigator. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Happy New Year in heaven. The time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

On this day (Veteran Day, 2018) we are remembering our fallen of UPT Class 69-07 (Vance AFB,OK) and want to invite any Next-of-Kin to the 50th Reunion in May to be held at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH.
Additional information can obtain from the address below

Charlie, Bubba was a friend in high school, but I really got to know him in college when we commuted to Southeastern State College in Durant, Oklahoma from Denison, Texas. We had so many laughs some at the other rider's expense, some at our own. Later, Bubba pledged Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity (Mu chapter). I didn't know when Charlie joined the service. He always did what was right for Charlie and that was always right for everyone else. I just loved this guy!

On April 27, 1970, an AC-119G gunship (#53-8155) from Detachment 1,17th Special Operations Squadron, 14th Special Operations Wing, USAF, crashed shortly after takeoff from Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Gia Dinh Province, RVN. The crash occurred at 0022 hours when the gunship, radio call sign Shadow 78, and scheduled for a mission over the Ho Chi Minh trail, suffered a right engine failure at about 100 feet just as it was taking off. The aircraft rose, faltered, and did not gain altitude. The crew struggled to keep the plane airborne, but it crashed in a dry rice paddy about two miles beyond the end of the runway. The right wing hit a tree and it exploded in flames. Six of the eight men on board were killed in the crash. The lost crewmen included aircraft commander 1LT Thomas L. Lubbers, co-pilot 1LT Charles M. Knowles, navigator/NOS (Night Observation Sight Operator) MAJ Meredith G. Anderson, flight engineer MSGT Joseph C. Jeszeck, and aerial gunners SSGT Robert F. Fage Jr. and SGT Michael J. Vangelisti. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, ac-119gunships.com, and 46thars.tripod.com]