Hailing from a small north Texas town, Charley Paddock grew up to become an Olympic gold medalist. Between serving in both world wars, Paddock worked as a newspaper executive. Those communications skills benefited him when he became an aide and public relations officer to Marine Corps Maj. Gen. William Upshur during World War II.
Upshur never achieved Olympic glory, but he achieved something much more valorous. The highlight of his four-decade military career came in 1915, when he was awarded the Medal of Honor during the Haitian Campaign.
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Upshur and Paddock worked together when the former was commander of the Department of the Pacific. The two men’s careers ended abruptly on July 21, 1943, when the Navy PBY Catalina aircraft on which they were aboard crashed near Sitka, Alaska. All six passengers were killed.
Who Was Charley Paddock?
Before becoming an acclaimed sprinter on the world stage, Paddock served in field artillery during World War I. It was not a job for the meek, and Paddock was certainly not that. He was a fighter, as one might expect of someone who battled to survive after weighing only 7½ pounds when he was 7 months old.
Although there is no surviving accounts of whether Paddock emerged from the Great War unscathed, he was very fortunate if he did. Roughly 60% of the battlefield casualties during the Great War occurred as a result of exploding artillery shells, according to the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
Paddock won two sprint races at the 1919 Inter-Allied Games and ran track at the University of Southern California after the war. He competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, where he thrived on the world stage. Paddock captured a gold medal in the 100-meter dash and 4 x 100-meter relay and collected a silver medal in the 200.
Four years later in Paris, Paddock went home with another silver in the 200. The 1924 Olympics is the basis for the Academy Award-winning movie “Chariots of Fire,” in which actor Dennis Christopher (“Breaking Away”) portrays Paddock. Paddock qualified for his third Olympics in 1928, but he did not medal during those games in Amsterdam.
A world-record-setting track athlete, Paddock became a successful newspaperman. He might have continued along that career path if not for the Japanese’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. After serving in the Army during WWI, Paddock enlisted in the Marine Corps.
‘Success or Utter Annihilation’
By the time Paddock first met Upshur, the Marine already was in the midst of a distinguished military career. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1904, Upshur served with distinction in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, as well as during World War I. It was in Haiti, however, that Upshur’s bravery earned him the nation’s highest military award for valor.
On October 24, 1915, approximately 400 Haitian Caco bandits attacked Upshur and a mounted detachment from the 15th Company of Marines as they crossed a river. Outnumbered 10 to 1, the Marines withstood constant fire as they sought to regroup. As the day dawned, squads commanded by Upshur, First Lt. Edward Ostermann and Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Daly surprised the Cacos and claimed a Haitian stronghold, Fort Dipitie.
“The manner in which they fought during that long night, the steady, cool discipline, that prevented demoralization is remarkable,” the expeditionary commander recalled. “Had one squad failed, not one man of the party would have lived to tell the story. The actual assault upon the enemy… was splendid. It meant success or utter annihilation.”
Along with Upshur, Ostermann and Daly also received Medals of Honor.
A Tragic Ending
During World War II, Upshur and Paddock worked closely in the Pacific theater. Just like on the track, where he was proficient at multiple races, Paddock filled various roles under the major general. He was an aide-de-camp and worked in public relations, no doubt excelling in those positions because of his background.
A little more than 1½ years after Upshur was appointed to lead the Pacific Department, he, Paddock, and four others were inspecting Marine operations in Alaska when their plane crashed. Everyone onboard died.
In an instant, their lives ended. The Olympic hero who once was “the world’s fastest human” was gone, and so was a Medal of Honor recipient who dedicated his life to the Marines.
Paddock died three weeks before his 43rd birthday. Upshur, who is buried in the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery, was 61 years old.
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