Charlie Shobe

(Born 1940 Petersburg, WV and Died 2011)
Served in Vietnam, 1967 Marine Corps, 1st Battalion,
4th Marine Regiment, 3d Marine Division, DMZ, Dong Ha,
C-2 Firebase, Con Thien, Camp Evans, and the Khe Sanh area,/reaction-force platoon commander, December 1967

Throughout his life, Charlie Shobe enjoyed travels to wild and exotic parts of the world, produced treasured works of art, jammed on his bass guitar with fellow musicians and loved big gatherings of family and friends--especially by the pool. He loved skiing, scuba diving, and gardening. He shared his joy of life with his students, friends, and family. Charlie was a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1968. As a professional artist, his paintings of this experience are on display in the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago,IL. Charlie was one of a small group of the original Vietnam Veterans Artists Group whose works toured the United States and led to the creation of the National Museum. Though he was proud to have volunteered for military service, he became a lifelong advocate for peace and diplomacy "Flying over the DMZ with the company payroll in a metal ammo box, I sit on the floor of a windy, rattling old helicopter, watching the hundreds of bomb craters pass below; filled with water, surreal, like the surface of some imaginary green planet."