Column: Lieutenant Colonel Chuck Cochran, USAF, Retired

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Dear readers,

Veterans Day was yesterday. It was originally known as Armistice Day to honor the veterans from the Great War, later known as World War I. It is now a day set aside to honor all military veterans.

I first learned about Armistice Day from my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Frances Liles, and later from my law partner, George Stubbs Sr. They were both among the living in 1918 and knew all about it firsthand.

Mrs. Liles was a friend of Paul Cross when they were both students in high school. Cross was a popular boy in her class, and he died in WWI.  Cross was a basketball player and to this day the award given to the most outstanding player at Shelbyville High School is the Paul Cross Award.

George Stubbs Sr. was a student in grade school on the day WWI ended.  His teacher walked the class from the old Hendricks school to the public square. George told me it seemed like everyone in the county had come to the public square to celebrate. 

Years ago, when writing my Veteran’s Day column, I would always look up a veteran of the Great War to interview. Martin Schultz is the last living WWI veteran that I visited. He taught music at both Southwestern and Shelbyville high schools.

This year I paid a visit to local veteran Chuck Cochran. I found him sitting outside on a beautiful November day with his dog Tucker. The only clouds in the sky were vapor trails left behind by jet airplanes. As an Air Force pilot, Chuck had left contrails across the sky all around the world.

Chuck was a graduate of Shelbyville High School in the class of 1948. He attended Indiana University and planned to be a lawyer. He was following in his father’s footsteps. Ralph Cochran had graduated from I.U. with a law degree in 1919.

Chuck was in his first year of law school in 1953 when he was called to active duty in the Air Force. He owed the Air Force two years of active duty having been in ROTC. Chuck planned on doing those two years and returning to law school.

Commissioned as Second Lieutenant, Chuck was given the responsibility for recruiting civilians for the Ground Observer Corps.  The Air Force had very few radar air defense early warning sites in those days. They depended on volunteers manning observation posts to spot Soviet airplanes. One of the observation posts was in Shelby County. Chuck has donated several items used by the Ground Observer Corps to the Grover Museum for a future display.

Plans change and Chuck’s return to law school was delayed for 25 years.  He entered pilot training and excelled. Chuck enjoyed flying. As an Air Force pilot, he flew 7,000 hours in eight different types of airplanes.  During the Vietnam war, he flew over 200 sorties in the combat zone for which he was credited with 87 missions and received two Air Medals.  

After retiring from the Air Force, Chuck returned to law school. He graduated from the University of Dayton in 1985 and ended his law career as a judge in Ohio. After retiring from his second career, he and his wife Char returned to Shelbyville. 

Chuck played basketball in high school and remains a Golden Bear fan today. He and his wife were regulars for years at all home games. Sadly, Char passed away a few years ago. 

These days, Chuck enjoys spending time with friends and his dog, Tucker. He is also known worldwide as an expert in certain makes of antique automobiles, but that’s another story. 

We should never forget that the freedom we all enjoy was provided by our veterans. To paraphrase President Ronald Reagan: Some spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world, but our veterans don’t have that problem.

See you all next week, same Schwinn time, same Schwinn channel.

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