Charles V. Newton

Service & Sacrifice

Staff Sergeant Charles V. Newton served as team leader of Recon Team 6, Detachment B-52, Project Delta, 5th Special Forces Group.

On April 14, 1969, SSG Newton led a six-man reconnaissance team into the jungle-covered mountains of northwestern South Vietnam, near the Laotian border in Thua Thien Province. The team's mission was to locate, observe, and report on enemy activity in the remote border region. Three Americans and three Vietnamese Special Forces troopers comprised the patrol.

On April 16, the team reported contact with the enemy. The following day, April 17, SSG Newton radioed that his team was under heavy attack by a larger enemy force and needed immediate emergency extraction. The team called for air strikes. Shortly afterward, radio contact was lost.

Thunderstorms prevented a relief force from reaching the area. SSG Newton and his teammates were killed in action. He remains one of the 29 members of Project Delta whose names are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.