Wil 'Squeak' Charette

[howardwhite 4]

From the Golden Knights Alumni Assn.:
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Wil 'Squeak' Charette died Sunday night, 9 May, 2010. Amy, his wife and survivor notified us and informed us their will be a service followed by a burial in Arlington National Cemetary at a later date. Details will be released as we get them.

Squeak was a legend in the parachuting world. A founding member of the STRAC Parachute Team, an original US Army Parachute Team, 'The Golden Knights', an early HALO concept instructor, an early developer on oxygen use for parachuting, a Special Forces and CIA asset that started as a tech and rose to the upper echelons of each.

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HW

[slotperfect 7]

Wilfred J. A. Charette

HALO and Safety Expert

Wil Charette, a native of Rhode Island was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1964 following 11 years of military service. His first assignment was as a paramilitary Staff Officer at CIA Headquarters and domestic training facilities. He then served in Laos and Thailand as a Paramilitary Case Officer, Chief of Operations, and Chief of Laotian irregular paramilitary unit. Mr. Charette was a Foreign Intelligence Case Officer in Ethiopia and served as Deputy Chief of Station in Accra, Ghana from 1974-1979. He opened Swaziland Station in Southern Africa in late 1979 and remained as Chief of Station (COS) until 1982 when he was posted to Kampala, Uganda as COS. Following a two-year tour in Uganda, Mr. Charette attended the US Naval War College in Newport, RI, where he received a Master’s Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. In 1985, he was appointed Chief, CIA Counter Terrorist Center, Foreign Liaison Training and Terrorist Incident Response Team (IRT). From 1992-1994, Mr. Charette served as the Agency’s Deputy Chief, Office of Field Deployment. His last assignment was the DCI Representative at U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Florida. Mr. Charette retired on November 29, 1996.

Mr. Charette has extensive military experience, having served domestically and overseas with the 508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (ARCT), the 101st Airborne Division, the 1st Calvary Division, and Special Forces. Mr. Charette is a Charter Member of the US Army Parachute Team (Golden Knights). He was the first Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) of the Special Forces Training Group High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) Committee, which included Fulton Recovery Systems (SKYHOOK) Operations. In 1961, he was selected to train the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment’s military free fall cadre at Hereford, England. Mr. Charette was a member of the Joint Army/USAF HALO Test Team in the early 1960’s that established much of the HALO training and operations doctrine still in use today. He also participated in the record breaking 43,500 foot jump to establish a world record “FAI Class G-II-C, group of nine with delayed fall”. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his participation in the HALO Test Program and his subsequent use of HALO insertion techniques. He is the author of the United States Parachute Association (USPA) Publication, “Jumping in the Troposphere”, and is the recipient of the USPA Golden Wings representing 1,000 free fall parachute jumps. Mr.Charette’s last military assignment was with the 5th Special Forces Group.

Mr. Charette’s training and management development profile also includes:

Commissioned as a Foreign Service Officer, Consular Officer and Secretary in the Diplomatic Service
Participant in the Levinson Institute Leadership Seminar (1988)
One year participant in the Director of Central Intelligence Management Seminar designed to explore selected management problems with senior CIA officials
Director, Special Operations Memorial Foundation
He has received the following awards and commendations:

(CIA) Donovan Award for Excellence
Career Intelligence Medal for Exceptional Achievement
Two Director Of Central Intelligence awards for exceptional service under conditions of hazard and hardship
Promoted into the Senior Intelligence Service (SIS-1989)
(DOD) Distinguished Flying Cross
Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service

Arrive Safely

John

[Usetawuz 1]

Very, very sad news! Time and circumstance have taken another good one from us. Squeak will long be fondly remembered. I offer my sincerest condolences to his family and many close friends.

Fly free, Squeak.

_________________________________________
The older I get, the better I was!

[skr 1]

Oh .. A flood of memories .. June, 1964 ..

I - A student struggling with the unbridgeable gap
between what I was seeing in the sky on the weekends
and the increasingly unappealing reality of graduate school
in a math department.

He - A guy also sitting at a desk when I walked in, but a
rig sitting beside him instead of a blackboard with homework.

A very hyper-modern looking rig. Sage green.

I'd never seen a sage green rig before.

Dennis Quinn, the other experienced jumper in Raleigh, and
I had driven down to Ft Bragg to get my C license signed off.

I don't remember what we talked about, but I was really
struck, both by him and by being around a real, official
parachuting scene.

It's a good thing he didn't offer to sign me up. In the rush
of the moment I probably would have done it, and then
ended up in Antarctica or something :-) :-)

And in the years after that I always perked up with interest
when I encountered news or a story about him.

Funny how someone can make such a lasting impression.

And now we're here .. Blue Skies - In memory of ...

[SkydiveSerbia 0]

I will miss my conversations with Squeak.... Let us all remember... "No one is Rightous, not even your buddy Wil Charette".... He said that to me when I was down one day.... But now Wil..... You are rightous and I know with all of your hard work keeping us safe in a world that many things no one would ever or could ever know with the "Company".... I know you are in that DZ with our Lord God....
Thank you Wil... and Thank you my friend Amy for taking care of our buddy...God bless you and your family...
David DeRancourt
Manager Skydive Smederevo (Serbia)