A Brooklyn native, Chuck Mansfield graduated from Chaminade High School (Mineola, N.Y.) in 1962. Upon graduation four years later from the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.), he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. In 1965 he completed Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Va. The following year he graduated from The Basic School (Class 1-67, A Company), also located in Quantico. Later, he received an M.B.A. in finance from New York University, which he earned by attending evening classes.

In June 1968 he was assigned to WestPac Ground Forces in Vietnam where he served as radio relay platoon commander with the Third Marine Division’s Headquarters Battalion Communications Company. Based in Dong Ha approximately five miles south of the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, which then divided North and South Vietnam, he was responsible for approximately 100 Marines, half of whom were situated in Dong Ha; the rest were assigned to various outposts along the DMZ, as well as elsewhere in the northern I Corps Tactical Area of Responsibility.

Chuck served in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, the two bloodiest years of the war for both sides. Promoted to captain in 1969, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat “V”, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. He received an Honorable Discharge in 1972.

His first book No Kids, No Money and a Chevy: A Politically Incorrect Memoir (published by Xlibris, Philadelphia) focuses substantially on his service in the Corps and in Vietnam.