Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: A Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 17K – Ground Surveillance Radar Crewman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 16-Sep-1948
Hometown: Shelbyville, Tennessee
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 5-Sep-1968
Start of tour: 13-Feb-1969
Incident date: 7-Nov-1969
Date of casualty: 7-Nov-1969
Age at death: 21
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Artillery/Mortar/Rocket. Artillery, rocket, or mortar.
Charles Crawford Napper was killed while in base camp when the area came under rocket attack by a hostile force. / At base camp. Came under hostile rocket attack.
Location of fatality: Binh Long, South Vietnam, XT 816 904
Place of interment: Willow Mount Cemetery, Shelbyville, Tennessee, USA
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BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS CHARLES CRAWFORD NAPPER
24 MAY 1969
A TROOP, 1st SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Private First Class Napper distinguished himself by heroism in connection with ground operations against a hostile force on 24 May 1969 while serving as a machine gunner with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date while conducting a reconnaissance operation, the troop suddenly came under intense automatic weapons, heavy machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire from an enemy bunker complex. In the initial contact one of the armored vehicles received a direct rocket-propelled grenade hit, wounding three members of the crew and setting the vehicle on fire. Unhesitatingly, Private Napper ran through the hostile fusillade to aid his wounded comrades. He quickly helped extract the casualties from the burning vehicle. After ensuring that all the wounded were receiving proper medical attention, Private Napper returned to the vehicle and helped extinguish the fire, thus preventing the ammunition inside from exploding. Private First Class Napper’s courage, devotion to duty and concern for the welfare of his fellow soldiers were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, II Field Force Vietnam General Orders No. 2127 (24 August 1969)