Born in New Haven, CT, the son of the late Charles Decko Sr. and the late Frances Cesarei Decko, Charles Cashmere “Chuck” Decko Jr. was an avid golfer as a teenager and captained the golf team at Hillhouse High School in New Haven. Chuck was appointed to West Point through a Connecticut National Guard competitive appointment. He was a corporal assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 208th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group.
Chuck played on the West Point golf squad during his plebe and yearling years, and sang with the Catholic Choir throughout his cadet career and with the Glee Club cow and firstie years. He loved the Academy. His fondest memories of West Point were its natural beauty, the importance of discipline and integrity instilled by the instructors, and the fun of singing with the Glee Club and the Catholic Choir. Chuck’s singing was a highlight of his cadet career, with appearances on episodes of the Ed Sullivan Show, Carnegie Hall concerts, joint singing engagements with women’s colleges, and social events around the country. He was always a hit with the ladies’ choral groups wherever the Glee Club appeared. Chuck’s time at the Point was marked by his strict attention to bells and bugle calls—his books always closed when the bell rang, and he was always in the sack at taps. While he struggled a bit with academics, the struggle never made him late for bed nor impacted his social calendar. His good looks attracted the attention of the ladies; he never lacked a pro drag, nor missed an opportunity to help the Academy when important visitor escorts were needed, (e.g., King Faisal’s princess).
After graduation and the basic Artillery course, Chuck was assigned to the 63rd Artillery Group (Air Defense) and stationed at a Nike Ajax site in Cromwell, CT, close to where he was born. He shared an apartment with classmate Ray Andrews during this period. This first assignment was not without frustration, as the Nike Ajax system was being phased out.
In May 1962 Chuck married Nancy Lee Adams and went to Vietnam as an advisor later that same year. Their first son, Jeffrey, was born in New Britain, CT. Their second son, Mark, was born in Germany, where Chuck and Nancy spent his next assignment. Jeffrey graduated from the Culinary Institute of America as a chef, while Mark graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in finance. Chuck and Nancy had two grandchildren, Ariel and Maxwell, by Jeffrey and his wife, Lesley. Chuck and Nancy divorced in 1984.
Chuck thoroughly enjoyed his years of assignments in Western Europe—living, working and playing there was a marvelous experience. He spent four years (1963-67) working first with a Belgian Air Force air defense missile battery in Germany, with a German Air Force air defense rocket battalion, and then with the German II Corps HQ staff. Returning to the States for the Artillery Officer Advanced Course, Chuck found himself assigned to the new Air Defense Artillery Branch in 1968.
Chuck served as field artillery liaison to the 173rd Airborne Brigade at LZ English in Vietnam, and from August 1973 to December 1974 he earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas.
Returning to Europe (1978-81), he served on the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe headquarters’ staff near Mons, Belgium as the senior U.S. air defense missile staff officer. This job called for extensive travel to numerous capitols throughout Western Europe; it was an assignment he truly loved. Chuck returned from Europe to a job in the Pentagon and retired from the Army on February 1, 1984.
Chuck’s second career started with BDM Inc. as a project manager in late 1984, and he later was as a system analyst with The Analytic Science Corporation (TASC) in Rosslyn, VA in late 1986. At TASC, he was a contract manager in support of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (“Star Wars”) at the Pentagon. He found the work challenging, busy, and very rewarding because of the program’s high visibility in both the Department of Defense and the media. Chuck retired from TASC in 1995.
While working with TASC, Chuck met Ava, the love of his life, in 1988. They were together for six years. Chuck cared for Ava throughout her protracted bout with cancer; they were married prior to her passing in 1994.
Chuck married Debra Jane Black in August 1999; however, this third marriage ended in divorce in 2011. He lived in a comfortable McLean, VA condominium from 2011 through most of 2015, when signs of early dementia set in. The illness escalated mid-2016 when he moved to a nursing facility in Fredericksburg, VA, where he succumbed to Alzheimer’s related complications on March 31, 2017.
Chuck is survived by his two sons, Jeffrey C. Decko and Mark C. Decko; two grandchildren, Ariel Nicole Decko and Maxwell Joshua Decko; and brothers Gary Decko, Arthur Decko, and Kenneth Decko. Chuck was interred at Arlington National Cemetery on April 18, 2018.