Photo By Lori Stewart | 1st Sgt. Joseph Gaquin (left), CSM Charron (center), and CSM William Dials at CSM...... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
CSM CHARRON RETIRES FROM ASA
On Jul. 24, 1969, in a ceremony on the parade field at Vint Hill Farms, Virginia, Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Clifford “Biff” Charron, the first command sergeant major of the U.S. Army Security Agency (USASA), retired from the Army. The ceremony culminated Charron’s twenty-six years of service, nineteen of those in Army intelligence.
Clifford L. Charron was born in February 1923 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in August 1943 and, during World War II, saw combat in Europe. He served with the 24th Infantry Division during the first months of the Korean War before being transferred to the Joint Military Advisory Group in Japan, where he remained until the war ended.
In 1953, Charron transferred to Military Intelligence and became the Third Army G-2 at Fort McPherson, Georgia, while completing his training at the Intelligence School at Fort Riley, Kansas. Thereafter, all his assignments were with the ASA. Most notably, he recalled serving “many long hours” in the late 1950s as the senior intelligence analyst at USASA Europe in Frankfurt, Germany, during the Polish and Hungarian uprisings, and as the 320th ASA Battalion’s operations sergeant at Bad Aibling Station during the unrest in Lebanon. He served a year as sergeant major of Detachment 4 in Sinop, Turkey, and two years as the G-3 operations sergeant at ASA headquarters at Arlington Hall Station.
In early 1966, when the Army chief of staff announced the new enlisted grade of command sergeant major, the ASA commander queried his unit commanders and sergeant majors about who should be the first to fill that position in the organization. Upon his staff’s recommendation, Maj. Gen. Charles J. Denholm bestowed that rank and responsibility on Charron in July 1966, even though the rank would not become part of the Army’s structure for another year.
In his new position, CSM Charron showed his concern for the morale and well-being of ASA’s enlisted soldiers and their families. In two years, he took seventy-eight trips to visit with ASA soldiers around the world, from those in the largest field stations in the United States and Europe to the four-man direction-finding teams in remote areas of South Vietnam. He highlighted the significant work being conducted by the various units in his “As I See It” column published in ASA’s monthly newsletter, The Hallmark.
Charron also left an enduring legacy for ASA and its personnel. Inspired by a 303d Radio Research Battalion initiative to raise funds for a memorial honoring the unit’s fallen soldiers in Vietnam, Charron spearheaded the establishment of the ASA Benefit Association. Officially chartered in October 1967, the association accepted donations from ASA personnel to provide relief funds and education benefits to families of ASA members killed in the line of duty. Additional money, roughly $9,000, was raised to install a permanent memorial honoring ASA personnel killed in action. CSM Charron was the driving force in the planning, designing, and construction of this memorial, which was unveiled on May 9, 1969, and still stands at the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command headquarters at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
CSM Charron retired on Jul. 24, 1969, after turning over his responsibilities to Cmd. Sgt. Maj. William C. Dials. In his final “As I See It” column, he called his three-year tenure as the ASA CSM “the highlight of my military career.” About ASA’s soldiers, he wrote, “I will never stop wondering in amazement how much you have contributed to make this command what it is today."
Charron went on to build a post-military career in the life insurance business and became heavily involved in Special Olympics and the American Legion. Twenty years after retirement, in 1989, CSM Charron was inducted into the MI Hall of Fame. He passed away on Oct. 12, 2002, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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| Date Taken: | 07.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2025 14:25 |
| Story ID: | 543234 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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