Charles Jerome Avery – Colonel, United States Air Force

From a contemporary press report

Charles Jerome Avery, Colonel, United States Air Force (retired) died on Saturday, February 3, 2001 at the V.A. Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Colonel Avery was born August 11, 1923 at Fort Ringgold, Texas, the son of Army Medical Officer Samuel D. Avery of the 12th Calvary and Rita Johansen Avery.

A 1945 graduate of The United States Military Academy, he later earned a master’s degree in Nuclear Physics at Ohio State University and taught physics at the newly established Air Force Academy.

The latter years of his military career were spent in Research and Development and included an assignment to the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, DC, working on Strategic Arms Limitation. After retirement in 1973, he moved to Albuquerque, where he worked for 10 years as the Department of Energy representative on the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Safety Group at Kirkland, AFB. He leaves behind his wife of 53 years, Frances Sinfield Avery; three sons, Scott and wife, Sue, of McLean, VA; Kent and wife, Margie, of Annandale, VA; Chris and fiancee Terri Ross of Albuquerque; three grandsons, Matthew, Kyle and Shane, and a granddaughter, Shannon Bennett. His oldest son, Charles J. Avery, Jr., preceded him in death.

Services will be held on Friday, February 23, 2001 at The Old Post Chapel at Ft. Myer at 11 a.m. Interment will follow in Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association, Box 96911, Washington, DC 200

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard