Mr. Charles C Heckel

COLUMBIA - Funeral service for Col. Charles Clark Heckel, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), 90, will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday, September 25, 2015, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, with burial at 11:00 a.m. in Ft. Jackson National Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 5 until 7:00 p.m. Thursday, September 24, 2015, at Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel.

Col. Heckel died Tuesday, September 22, 2015. He was born November 1, 1924 in Long Creek Township, Macon County, Illinois, at what had been the farm of his great-grandfather, Milton Clark. He was a son of the late Guy Clark and Mabel Josephine Baker Heckel. His father owned and operated the Glenwood Dairy with wholesale and retail in Decatur, Ill. At age 13-15 while attending school, he delivered milk in the early mornings before school. At age 16, he apprenticed at Decatur Machine and Foundry, working full-time while finishing his senior year at Decatur High School.

Upon graduation in June 1942, he was employed by the Midland Machine Corporation in Chicago. As soon as he was eighteen, he enlisted as an Army Aviation cadet and went on active duty January 31, 1943. He completed pilot training and was commissioned on February 12, 1944. He flew P-38’s in Europe, where following a mid-air collision, he spent seven months in German prison camps.

Liberated by General Patton, he returned to Decatur where he married his high school sweetheart, Jacqueline Bowman. He served throughout the United States, primarily with the Strategic Air Command, Tactical Air Command and the Air Logistics Command. He flew combat in F-5’s during the Korean Conflict and flew missions in RF4c’s over northern Laos and North Vietnam during the Southeast Asia Conflict.

During his career he served as everything from a crew chief to Assistant Deputy Chief-of-Staff, Logistics, for the Tactical Air Command. Some of the planes he flew were the PT-19, BT-13, AJ-6, P40, P39, P83, P38, C47, P51, F82, F84, RB47, F100, T-23, T-29 and the RF4C. He was also triple rated, graduating from Pilot AOB training in 1953. He retired September 1, 1975 at McClellan AFB, Calif., where he was the Base Commander.

As a hobby, he shot pistols in military and civilian competition, including Camp Perry. He had a lifetime master’s rating in BFAH indoor and outdoor pistol.

After retirement, he resided in Columbia and instructed in glider pilot training with the Bermuda High Soaring School. After deciding this was “too much fun to make work of” he formed System Consultants, Inc. and did application software for IBM PC’s. He developed a very successful Mortgage Loan Closure System, with installations from Delaware to Florida.

He loved to play golf and was a member of the “Charlie Cockfield” golf group at Fort Jackson. Until his later years, he was also an avid skier and together with his wife, spent most winter and summer months in their condo in Park City, Utah.

He was a communicant of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and a member of the Air Force Association, The Military Officers Association of America, and the Military Order of the World Wars (AFA, MOAA, and MOWW).

Surviving are his precious wife of 70 years, Jacqueline Sue Bowman Heckel; daughters, The Rev. Susan H. Johnson, an Episcopal priest, Pamela K. Franklin, a retired R.N., Patricia C. Raymond, a retired middle school mathematics teacher and Anne H. Ewing, Director of Publication for the Army Aviation magazine; 14 grandchildren; and 28 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2200 Lee Street, Columbia, SC 29205.