First Name: Charles
Last Name: Lockwood
Middle Initial: E
Date of Birth: 10/09/1950
Sex: Male
Martial Status: Married
Number of Children: 2
Home Town: East Lansing, Michigan
Education Completed: Not Sure
Other Occupations:
Branch of Service: Army
Highest Rank: N/A
Serial Number: N/A
Platoon: N/A
Age at Start of Service: 18
Years of Service: 2
Combat Veteran: Yes
Time in Combat: Not Sure
Place of Combat: N/A
Awards:
Date of Suicide: 11/1988
Suicide Method: hanging
Veteran’s Story: My brother, nickname – Rick, was a bit of a troubled youth. At the time he went in the service it was either go to jail or join the Army. He opted for the Army and went through Basic training at Ft. Leonardwood, MO. Then he got his orders for Viet Nam. During his stint in Nam, he got on hard drugs. At some point in time, while in Nam, he shot himself in the leg and was offered the choice of taking an “undesireable” discharge or staying in and having his leg fixed. He took the discharge. Several years after he returned home, he was seriously strung out on heroin and decided to get help. He ended up in the VA Hospital in Battle Creek, MI in a very intensive program to clean himself up. He completed the nine month program and came home. He moved on with his life, married, had a daughter, got a divorce, remarried and became a very successful salesman. We thought he had his life together and one day I received a call from my mother telling me that Rick had hung himself in his garage, over his brand new Lincoln, in Arlington, TX. After the funeral, we got together with several of his friends and one told me that Rick had just spent $1500 on cocaine the day before he took his life. The rest will always be a mystery to us. Rick would rarely speak of his days in Nam. He spoke of buddies that were killed there and some that came home, but what he went through over there he took with him when he died.
Submitted By: Tina E. Overly
Relationship to Veteran: Sibling
