LT Charles Jeffries, II

Charles Herndon “Charlie” Jeffries II was born on July 29, 1945, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. From a young age he displayed a blend of determination, good humor, and an innate sense of responsibility that would shape his path in both education and military service.

In June 1963, Jeffries entered the United States Naval Academy as a member of the Class of 1967. His time at Annapolis was marked by athletic achievement and a steadfast commitment to the Academy’s Honor Concept. A natural athlete, he threw the shot put in plebe track, while also playing soccer, football, and participating in battalion athletics. Beyond the field, he immersed himself in campus life—serving with the Naval Academy Club Activities, the Officers’ Christian Union, and as a Battalion honor representative.

Jeffries’ integrity and leadership earned him one of the Academy’s highest distinctions: the Brainerd Award, presented in 1967 to the midshipman who contributed most to strengthening the Honor Concept within the Brigade. Classmates remembered him as “unselfish and willing,” a steady thinker whose good humor and maturity won the respect of peers and superiors alike.

Commissioned upon graduation, Jeffries served as an Unrestricted Line Officer aboard USS Robison (DDG-12) before pursuing graduate education in civil engineering. He earned his Master’s degree from Purdue University in 1971, subsequently transferring to the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps (CEC). His first CEC assignment took him to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where he worked in the Public Works Department from 1971 to 1973. In October 1973, he deployed to the Philippines as officer in charge of a Seabee detachment with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, tasked with building a perimeter road around Subic Bay Naval Base.

On April 13, 1974, while leading his men on an inspection mission near Subic, Lt. Jeffries was killed in a daylight ambush carried out by insurgents. He was just 28 years old. The attack also claimed the lives of two fellow Civil Engineer Corps officers, including his former commanding officer, Captain Thomas Mitchell.

Lt. Jeffries’ legacy lives on in both the Naval Academy and the Seabee community. He held professional engineering credentials in Indiana and Pennsylvania, was a member of Chi Epsilon (the civil engineering honor society), and in 1976 a Seabee camp at Subic Bay was dedicated in his honor as Camp Jeffries. Today, his name endures at the U.S. Naval Academy’s Memorial Hall and in the Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme, California.

He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery, remembered not only as a Naval officer and engineer but as a devoted husband to his wife, and father to their two children.