WP-ORG Main Image
View a eulogy for Charles Walton Roades, USMA '55, who passed away on April 26, 2010.

Charles Walton Roades

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Tom Sims on May 26, 2010:

CHARLES W. ROADES

Former Senior DOD Representative
and Vice Chairman, National HUMINT
Requirements Tasking Center
SES-5 Ret

Mr. Roades was born in Evansville, Indiana, on 3 March 1931. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy from the State of Colorado in July of 1951 and was graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Military Engineering in 1955, with a commission as a 2nd LT in the U.S. Air Force. He served in operational flying assignments after completing Pilot Training. In 1963, after graduate study, he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in English Literature by the University of Washington, Seattle. He is a graduate of the Air Force Command and Staff College [1966] and Distinguished Graduate of the Air War College [1973]. He was awarded a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology by Troy State University, Alabama, in 1973. He is a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, of the NATO [SHAPE] Senior Officers' Course and the Federal Executive Institute [1987] in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Mr. Roades early military service included two years Enlisted service in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and 3 years Enlisted service in the Air Force. He completed the Russian language course at the Army Language School [now the Defense Language Institute] in Monterey, Califomia, and served in the newly organized Air Force Security Service, with duty in Korea during the early months of the Korean conflict. He retumed from Korea to enter the U.S. Military Academy in 1951 and entered the Air Force upon graduation from West Point. His early commissioned assignments included completion of pilot training and subsequent operational postings in airlift and troop carrier organizations through 1961. In 1963, after graduate study in Seattle, then Captain Roades was assigned to the Department of English at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he served for 5 years as both Assistant and Associate Professor.

He was then assigned to special operations duty in Thailand during his Southeast Asia tour. On return, he was assigned to the Air Defense Command Staff in Colorado Springs in 1969 in the Plans Directorate. Following promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in 1972, he attended the Air War College in Alabama, where he was a Distinguished Graduate. His next assignment was as Chief of the North America Branch, JCS, J-5, with responsibilities for Canadian US military relationships and attendant NATO issues. Upon promotion to Colonel in 1976, he was selected to serve as the Air Force Attache' in the USDAO, Moscow, USSR. That tour extended from 1977 to 1979, following completion of Attache' and language refresher training, given by the Defense Intelligence Agency.

From 1979 to 1984, Colonel Roades served as Special Assistant and subsequently Executive Officer to the Chief of Staff, SHAPE Hq., Mons, Belgium. In 1984 he retumed to the Defense Intelligence Agency as Special Assistant to the Director of Attaches for HUMINT matters. He retired from active duty in July 1985 after 34 years of active military service. Mr. Roades became a member of the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service [DISES] in December of 1985 in the Directorate of Attaches and Operations. In April of 1987 he assumed the position of Deputy Director, in which he served until June of 1992, when he was selected by the Director, DIA, for a position with the National HUMINT Requirements Tasking Center, with duty at Headquarters, CIA. Mr. Roades served in the grade of SES-5 until his retirement in June of 1997.

Mr. Roades' military flying experience of more that 7000 hours includes multi-engine and single reciprocating engine aircraft and single and multi-engine jet aircraft. His military awards and decorations include awards for service, achievement and foreign service. His civilian awards include the Intelligence Community Distinguished Service Medal and the Director's Medal from the Defense Intelligence Agency, certificates of achievement and bonuses for outstanding executive performance. He was a life member of the Daedalians Society, an organization devoted to flying and the promotion of the military's posture in the flying mission.

Mr. Roades and his wife, Viviane, who died in 2003, resided in McLean, VA. Since 2005, Mr. Roades has relocated to a retirement community, Leisure World, near the city of Leesburg, VA. His son, Charles W. Roades, Jr., is a Graduate of UVA and the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a former Air Force Officer. He lives in Vienna, VA, with his wife Sara and their four children, and is employed by the Advisory Board, Management Consultants to the medical profession. Mr. Roades has another son, Christopher, who is a practicing architect in Los Angeles, CA; his wife, Mina, is also a practicing Landscape architect.

Chuck Roades
FEB 2008

Previous Eulogy   Next Eulogy
admin

West-Point.Org (WP-ORG), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, provides an online communications infrastructure that enable graduates, parents, and friends of the military academy to maintain and strengthen the associations that bind us together. We will provide this community any requested support, consistent with this purpose, as quickly and efficiently as possible. WP-ORG is funded by the generosity of member contributions. Our communication services are provided in cooperation with the AOG (independent of USMA) and are operated by volunteers serving the Long Gray Line. For questions or comments, please email us at feedback@west-point.org.