LTC Charles A. Hammaker

Commanding Officer of the 720th MP Battalion, 18th MP Brigade
5 February 1972 to August 1972 ~ Republic of South Vietnam

    LTC Hammaker served as Battalion Commander from 5 February 1972 to May 1972.

     During his tour as commander the battalion was: assigned security for the United States Army Republic of Vietnam (USARV) Headquarters; ammunition resupply convoy escorts from Long Binh Post to Lai Khe during the Communist Easter (Spring) Offensive; the 2nd reassignment of the 615th MP Company to the battalion; Overseeing the end of battalion convoy escort operations, and the battalions stand down and deactivation on 13 August 1972.

     After the colors were cased LTC Hammaker was then reassigned to serve as Deputy Commander and Deputy PM HQ USARV.

Photographs

     In June of 1952 Charles A. “Chuck” Hammaker was commissioned as an ROTC 2nd. Lieutenant in the U.S. Army infantry, and attended the Infantry School Basic Officers Course in September. In February 1953 he was assigned his first duty station as a Platoon Leader in Company F, 2nd Infantry Regiment at the Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania.

     From 1953 to 1954 he served in South Korea as a Platoon Leader with Company D, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, Platoon Leader and Operations Officer, 88th MP Company, X Corps where he was also the Commander of the X Corps Honor Guard for General Bruce Clark until it was deactivated. He was then assigned as the Operations Officer of the 622nd MP Company.

     In October 1954 he transferred to the Southwest Command at Otsu, Japan, and served initially as the Administrative Officer, Provost Marshal Section, then as Assistant Confinement Officer, and Confinement Officer-Okubo, Chief of CID, SWC at Otsu. He transferred to IX Corps Sendai, serving initially as Platoon Leader in the 212th MP Company, and in 1955 as the Commander 76th CID, AFFE (Sendai). In 1956 he served as Provost Marshal, 5th Cavalry Regiment at Camp Schimmelfeni.

     He returned stateside to Fort Ord, California as the Commanding Officer H Company, 10th Infantry Division, and in 1957 as the Operations Officer, Provost Marshal Office, Commanding Officer 293rd MP Company. In January 1959 he attended and graduated MP AA #2, at Fort Gordon, Georgia. From MP School he was assigned to France as the Detachment Commander and Provost Marshal, 521st MP Detachment, Ingrandes General Depot until October 1962, followed by an assignment as the Commanding Officer 202nd MP Company and Depot Provost Marshal, also at Ingrandes.

     In September 1963 he returned to Fort Gordon as the Assistant Secretary, U.S. Army MP School, and earned a secondary MOS as the Fort Gordon Information Officer. From August 1964 until June 1967 he served as the Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, until receiving orders for South Vietnam

     From June 1967 to August 1968 LTC Hammaker served as the Chief, Prisoner of War Branch, Provost Marshal MACV before returning stateside to attend Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

      After graduation he returned to Japan as the Commanding Officer, 96th MP Battalion, U.S. Army Pacific Area Command, Okinawa, Executive Officer, 1st MP Group and Deputy Provost Marshal, Ryukyus, before returning to Vietnam in 1972 and assignment with the 720th.