THE WALL OF FACES

Spec4 Charles Akins is buried at Crown Hill Memorial Park in Clinton, New York.

I can only wish you were here to celebrate. I think about you all the time. You were my big brother, my protector, my partner in adventures. Oh how miss those days. I know you still watch over me.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. Reading the remembrances posted by friends and family it is evident you were loved. As long as you are remembered you will never truly die.

Specialist Four Charles James Akins, Served with the Aerial Surveillance and Target Acquisition Platoon (ASTA Platoon), 11th Aviation Company (General Support), 11th Aviation Group, 1st Cavalry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

SP4 Charles J. Akins was an aircraft mechanic who worked on the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk for ASTA (Ariel Surveillance and Target Acquisition) Platoon, 11th GS Aviation Company (General Support), 1st Air Cavalry Division. On December 5, 1968, SP4 Akins died at Vung Tau Air Field in Phuoc Tuy Province, RVN, after conducting a marathon maintenance session on a Mohawk when he accidently walked into the propeller of the aircraft while its engines were being tested. The following is a personal account of the incident by Don Lamb (edited for clarity): “I was a crew chief on an OV-1 Mohawk as was Chuck (Akins) and another close friend, Danny Burris. Near the end of 1968, the 1st Cavalry was moved to Vung Tau. One of our aircraft returned from an early AM mission with a mechanical problem. Chuck, Danny, and I began working on it early in the morning. We were on that aircraft all day and through the night until approximately 8:00 AM the following morning, in excess of 24 hours without a break except for one of us to run after some food. When we completed the maintenance, Danny climbed into the cockpit to run up the engines, starting with engine #1 (left side). I picked up some tools and went around the nose of the aircraft, around engine #2 towards the tool bin. I'm not exactly sure where Chuck was at that time. I heard engine #1 fire up and picking up RPM's when suddenly it began shutting down. Not knowing why, I dropped the tools and went back to the front of the aircraft and saw Chuck laying on the ground under the prop. I went out around the left wing to avoid the prop to assist Chuck. Danny had to wait (in the cockpit) for the prop to stop before he could safely climb down. When I turned Chuck over, I could see that he had walked head first into the spinning prop.” [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Don Lamb (October 2018)]