Colonel Charles Samuel Black: Obituary

Colonel Charles Samuel Black, United States Army (retired), passed away peacefully on December 6, 2015, at his home in Bent Tree in Jasper, Georgia at the age of 93. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Joy and three daughters, Jodi Thurmond (Paul), Penny Brown (Tim) and Lesle Manget (Fred); 10 grandchildren and 5 greatgrandchildren. He is preceded in death by both younger siblings; sister, Vivian Brown and brother, Jack.

Colonel Black was a member of the greatest generation.  He was born July 13, 1922 in Apple Grove, West Virginia, son of Jacob Samuel Black and Beatrice Wallace. He graduated from high school at the age of 13, worked on his family’s farm and attended Marshall College in Huntington, WV before joining the Army in 1943. After completing the Officer Candidate Course at Ft. Belvoir, VA in 1944, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He served for the next year in Germany and later in Japan.

In 1946 he became one of the “Originals” of Army Aviation, receiving his wings as a helicopter and fixed-wing pilot at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. He later received his parachutist qualification from the 11th Airborne Division.

A long career in the Army ensued. Posts included the Panama Canal Zone where he was assigned to the 937th Engineer Company (Aviation) and served with the 7402nd Army Unit, the Inter-American Geodetic Survey, as an Army aviator with duty stations in Brazil, Bolivia, and Colombia. He flew numerous missions with survey parties into highly dangerous and remote terrain and at one point was the personal helicopter pilot of the President of Colombia.  Of the four pilots on assignment to the Survey during his tour of duty he was the only one to survive.

He served in Korea twice. In the late fifties he was in the 8th Army Aviation Brigade and then he returned in 1969 as the Senior Transportation Advisor to the Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) at Camp Long in Won Ju.

Like all military families there were many moves during his career. Posts included Ft. Benning (GA), Ft. Campbell (KY), Ft. Rucker (AL), Ft. Leavenworth (KS), Ft. Eustis (VA) and Ft. Monroe (VA) and 3 years in Germany where he commanded battalions in Ludwigsburg and Hanau.

Colonel Black retired from the U.S. Army after over 30 years of service on August 29, 1975 at Ft. Gillem (GA) where he had served on the Army General Staff, 3rd Army Headquarters.

After retirement he and Joy lived in Atlanta 5 more years before moving to Destin, Florida where they lived for many years in the Mossey Cove and Indian Bayou neighborhoods. They enjoyed golf, bridge and socializing with friends and entertaining children and grandchildren.  They loved to travel by car, visiting children across the country and particularly enjoyed trips to Mexico taking their beloved dog with them each time. In 2000 they moved to Bent Tree in Jasper, GA where they continued to enjoy golf, bridge and entertaining family and friends. Colonel Black was quite a handyman. He not only laid all the tile in their Destin condo but he finished the basement in his Bent Tree home with flooring, bead board, crown molding and painting, while in his eighties! He enjoyed crossword puzzles and was an avid Braves fan.

There will be a memorial service celebrating his life at 2:00 p.m., December 27, 2015 at Roper Funeral Home with a reception following at Club Tamarack in Bent Tree. The military internment will be at 2:30 p.m. on December 28 at Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, Georgia. To participate in the processional with the family meet at Roper Funeral Home by 1:15 p.m.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his memory to the Air Warrior Courage Foundation (airwarriorcourage.org), P.O. Box 877, Silver Springs, MD 20918 or Team River Runner (teamriverrunner.org) 5007 Stone Road, Rockville, MD 20853 designating Denver CO as the “donation target”.