U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 321-09
May 12, 2009
DoD Identifies Navy Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Commander Charles K. Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina, died May 11, 2009, from injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident at Camp Liberty, Iraq.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.
12 May 2009:
A man killed Monday in Iraq once served as the director of a program at Camp Lejeune that counseled military members and their families, officials said.
Navy Commander Charles K. Springle, 52, was one of five people killed when a soldier opened fire at a clinic at a base in Baghdad, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Springle’s voter registration lists an address in Camp Lejeune, but he had ties to Wilmington, according to former co-workers.
He worked for a few years at New Hanover County Department of Social Services, said Karen Vincent, former assistant director for income maintenance programs at DSS.
She said she knew Springle, who went by his middle name Keith, while he worked there in the early 1980s.
“Keith was a guy who was a lot of fun to be around,” she said.
She said Springle left the Wilmington area and DSS in the early ’80s to join the Navy.
A soldier was charged with multiple counts of murder in connection with the shooting, and military officials have pledged to look into the mental health treatment provided for troops, according to The Associated Press.
First Lieutenant Craig Thomas of Camp Lejeune said a Navy officer is assisting Springle’s family and answering any questions they may have.
Springle was a licensed clinical social worker who joined the Navy in 1988, according to a statement from Camp Lejeune. He was recently deployed to Iraq with a medical company.
Springle’s friend Bob Goodale told The Associated Press that Springle had dedicated his life to helping service members cope with emotional problems caused by combat stress. Goodale works with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program in Chapel Hill, an organization Springle dealt with when he directed Camp Lejeune’s Community Counseling Center.
The center provides counseling for problems including substance abuse, anger management and sexual abuse, as well as pre- and post-deployment issues and classes on post-traumatic or combat stress, according to Camp Lejeune’s Web site.
Springle was promoted to the rank of Commander in 2002. He had received numerous decorations including multiple overseas service ribbons, according to the statement from Camp Lejeune.
Commander Charles Keith Springle, age 52, of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, formerly of Beaufort, was killed Monday, May 11, 2009, while deployed to the Army 55th Medical Company Combat Stress Center at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq.
He served in the U.S. Navy for 21 years as a clinical social worker, serving his country in Alaska, Japan, Spain, Tennessee, Germany and North Carolina. His undergraduate and graduate work was completed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and he received his PH.D in Social Work from the University of Alabama.
The primary focus of his work involved counseling service men and women suffering effects of stress from battle, multiple deployments and family issues. Before his tour in Iraq, he was deployed for one year to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. While there, he treated service members wounded in combat. He volunteered for deployment to Iraq in January of this year because he felt the greatest need for his services was there at the heart of the battle.
He is remembered by family and friends as a man who loved life and lived it to the fullest. He enjoyed travel, music and sports,and although he was fully dedicated to his work, he also loved his family immensely.
He is survived by his wife, Susan of 25 years; his son, Corporal Charles K. Springle, Jr., USMC; his daughter, Sarah Monday and son-in-law, Sergeant Michael Monday, USMC; parents, Charles E. and Ruth B. Springle; sister, Tammy Mahouchick and husband, Dennis; brother, Thomas Springle (Commander, U.S. Navy, Retired) and wife, Marilyn; sister, Donna Lynn Smith; and grandson, Joshua Phillip Monday.
Family and friends have established the Charles Keith Springle, Ph.D Memorial Scholarship Fund for interested donors. The scholarship will support military-dependent students in the Masters of Social Work program at the University of North Carolina School of Social Work, who are working with military families or have an interest in mental health care for veterans and their families. Contributions may be made to the UNC School of Social Work (payee) c/o UNC School of Social Work Development Office, 325 Pittsboro St., Campus Box 3550, Chapel Hill, Nrth Carolina, 27599-3550.
Funeral service will be held 2:00 p.m. Wednesday at Munden Funeral Home Chapel. The family will receive friends 12:00-2:00 p.m. Wednesday, prior to the service at Munden Funeral Home, Morehead City, NC. Burial service will be held 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 16, 2009 in Arlington National Cemetery.
Funeral services planned for slain Navy Commander
Funeral services for Navy Commander Charles Springle will take place Wednesday afternoon in Morehead City,North Carolina.
Springle and four other military members died May 11, 2009, during a shooting spree in Baghdad. A U.S. soldier now faces murder charges in their deaths.
Springle’s funeral service starts at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Munden Funeral Home Chapel. The family will receive friends starting at noon, and the burial will follow at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Springle was 52-years old and a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. He is survived by his wife and two adult children.
By Mark Berman
Courtesy of The Washington Post
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Navy Commander Charles K. Springle had served for more than two decades before volunteering to go to Iraq to help counsel service members. He was allegedly killed by the kind of soldier he had sought to help.
Springle, 52, of Wilmington, Nnrth Carolina, was killed May 11, 2009, when a U.S. soldier opened fire inside a combat stress clinic at Camp Victory in Baghdad. Springle, a licensed clinical social worker with a doctorate in social work, was buried yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery.
He was a good man who “never met a stranger,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the Citizen Soldier Support Program based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He worked with Springle when he volunteered with the program, traveling the state to train civilians, such as social workers and psychologists, to work with service members and their families.
Springle, director of the Community Counseling Center at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, volunteered to go to Iraq, Goodale said.
“He knew that his work was very important, and he also knew that it was dangerous . . . in the theater,” Goodale said. “It was in the combat zone, and that's where he wanted to be. He volunteered to go there. He felt that that's where he could be most effective.”
At Arlington yesterday, the U.S. Navy Band, a sea of crisp white dress uniforms, led more than 100 mourners down Marshall Drive to York Drive. The slow, steady drumbeat of the band accompanied them, the only noise audible besides the clop-clopping of the horses pulling the caisson.
Family and friends gathered in the shade of the willow oaks lining York Drive before emerging into Section 60, following the wooden box containing Springle's cremated remains. Members of the motorcycle-riding Patriot Guard Riders stood watch behind them.
The sun, which had peeked out during the service, disappeared behind a massive cloud just before flags were presented to Springle's family members, including his wife, Susan; his daughter, Sarah Monday; and his son, Corporal Charles K. Springle Jr.
Family members received words of consolation from, among others, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Springle was the 460th casualty from Iraq buried at Arlington.
Army Sergeant John M. Russell, 44, of Sherman, Texas, has been charged in the killing, which is under investigation. Four other service members were also killed: Major Matthew P. Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Staff Sergeant Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, New Jersey; Specialist Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Missouri; and Private First Class Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Maryland.
Springle and Houseal were assigned to the 55th Medical Company, based in Indianapolis. Bueno-Galdos and Yates were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, based at Grafenwoehr, Germany. Barton was assigned to the 277th Engineer Company, 420th Engineer Brigade, based at Waco, Texas.
Springle's cousin, Alton Dudley, talked to the Associated Press last month about Springle growing up in the fishing village of Lewiston, North Carolina.
“It was a carefree life,” Dudley said. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”
According to the University of North Carolina's School of Social Work, Springle received two degrees from the university: a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1979 and a master's degree in social work in 1984. He also received a doctorate in social work in 2003 from the University of Alabama.
With the Washington Monument in the background, the honor guard readies the caisson for the remains of Commander Charles K. Springle before interment ervices at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday, June 16, 2009
With the Washington Monument in the background, the honor guard readies the caisson for the remains of Commander Charles K. Springle before interment services at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The honor guard carries the remains of Commander Charles K. Springle during interment services at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Susan Springle, left, her son U.S. Marine Corporal Charles K. Springle, Jr., and other family members, sit during interment services for her husband Commander Charles K. Springle, Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at Arlington National Cemetery
Susan Springle, left, her son U.S. Marine Corporal Charles K. Springle, Jr., and other family members sit during interment services for her husband Commander Charles K. Springle, Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at Arlington National Cemetery
The flag is unfurled over the remains of Commander Charles K. Springle during interment services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Susan Springle receives a flag from U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael Mittelman during interment services for her husband Commander Charles K. Springle, Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at Arlington National Cemetery
Susan Springle receives condolences from Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael G. Mullen during interment services for her husband Commander Charles K. Springle, Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at Arlington National Cemetery
SPRINGLE, CHARLES K
CDR US NAVY
- DATE OF BIRTH: 04/17/1957
- DATE OF DEATH: 05/11/2009
- BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 8841
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
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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