lest we forget

FITTS, CHARLES MILTON

Rank / Branch:

FIRST LIEUTENANT, U. S. ARMY

Date Of Birth:

1932-11-21

Country Of Loss:

SOUTH VIETNAM

Status:

HOSTILE, CRASH HELICOPTER

Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:

C-21 SHAWNEE HELICOPER

Other:

MARRIED

Unit:

MAAG-V

Date Of Loss:

1963-01-11

Loss Coordinates:

KIEN HOA

Catagory:

BODY RETURNED

Awards & Decorations:

SEE BIO

VETERAN HAGI0GRAPHY

FITTS, CHARLES MILTON, FIRST LIEUTENANT, U.S. ARMY, SAN ANGELO, TOM GREEN COUNTY, TEXAS

AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

ARMY AVIATOR WINGS, DISTINGUSIHED FLYINGN CROSS, PURPLE HEART, AIR MEAL, GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL WITH 2 LOOPS, NATIONAL DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL, ARMED FORCES EXPEDIENTION MEDA FOR VIETNAM VIETNAM CROSS OF GALLANTRY WITH PALM

BIOGRAPHY

Charles Fitts was born in Roscoe, Texas, the son Marie Crabtree and Eugene Milton Fitts. He attended Roscoe schools and graduated from Roscoe High School in 1948. After high school, he moved to San Angelo and lived with relatives and worked as a truck driver. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1954. He married Jeraldine Elizabeth Weddle of San Angelo and the marriage produced two children both born in San Angelo. He served as an enlisted man for six years. On his third re-enlistment he applied for Officer Candidate School and was accepted. He attended the Field Artillery OCS at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1960-61 and graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant in April 1961.
Lieutenant Fitts applied for Rotary Flight Training upon completion of OCS and was trained at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He completed flight school in 1962. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and did a branch transfer from Artillery to Transportation. He departed for Vietnam as a part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group-Vietnam in October 1962. He was a helicopter pilot for the 93rd Transportation Group, 45th Aviation Group. On January 11, 1963, he was one of three passengers and a crew of four on a CH-21C tail number 55-04220. The aircraft was from the 57th Transportation Company. The aircraft was flying in the area about 55 miles southwest of Saigon. The helicopter went down under hostile conditions and crashed on an island in the Mekong River. All seven personnel perished.
Lieutenant Charles Milton Fitts was buried in the Fairmont Cemetery in San Angelo, Texas with full military honors. Building 312 at Fort Rucker, Alabama was named and dedicated in honor of 1Lt. Charles Milton Fitts. He was survived by his wife, Jeraldine and his two children, Milton Eugene Jr. and Sherri Marie all of San Angelo. He was also survived by his father of Carlsbad, New Mexico, his grandmother Mrs. Mollie Fitts of Roscoe and by two brothers-Reverend Robert Fitts of Cleburne, Doyle of Midland and two sisters: Jervin Stephens of Youngstown, Pa and Betty Nelson of Carlsbad.
1LT. Charles Milton Fitts was the second Permian Basin Resident to die in the Vietnam War.