Always Remembered and Honoured Commander Charles K. Springle

Commander Charles K. Springle, 52, of Wilmington, N.C., died May 11 from injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident at Camp Liberty, Iraq.

The Navy officer who was among five service members fatally shot by a soldier Monday at Camp Liberty, Iraq, was a licensed clinical social worker who had worked with Marines, a spokesman in Iraq said.

Cmdr. Charles K. Springle, 52, of Wilmington, N.C., who went by his middle name" Keith", had been sent to the 55th Medical Company in Iraq as an individual augmentee from a counseling center on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

A Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said Springle leaves a wife, who is a civilian nurse, and two adult children. His son, a Marine, recently returned from a tour in Iraq. His daughter is married to a Marine(,who had also recently been deployed to Iraq.)

On Classmates.com, this family photo was posted by Keith Springle on his profile:

Springle had attended East Carteret High School ,Beaufort, NC, and graduated from Sanford Central High School, Sanford, NC, in 1975. He then attended University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 1977-1979.

On Classmates.com,Keith Springle wrote:

In 2007 I am entering 24-years of marriage, approaching the end of a military career, and living in Europe. We raised two kids, primarily overseas (Southern Europe and Asia). Along the way I picked up my Ph.D. Currently I serve in the hospital in Landstuhl Germany ...
We expect to return to N.C. (Camp Lejeune) in early 2008.

and in 2009 he wrote:

I have begun another deployment, this time to Iraq, where I will work in a Combat Stress Center. Our son returned from Iraq in October after 7-months. Our son-in-law is in Iraq, expecting to return late Feb early Mar time-frame.

Springle was based out of the community counseling center at Camp Lejeune before he was deployed to Iraq in late January,2009.

"[He was] a terrific individual, engaging, fun to be around," said Bob Goodale with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program. "I missed him when he left and now I'm sick at the prospect of not seeing him again."

Goodale says Springle volunteered to train health professionals on how to help returning servicemembers and their families. Bob Goodale says, "Although his job was hard, he gave it his all. He was thoroughly professional, but he was also a man of grace and good humor, and just a joy, being around him."

Relatives also say he was dedicated to his job, and helping others. Springle's cousin Al Dudley says, "I just hate he had to be a victim of something so senseless when he was trying to do so much good."

Keith Springle is survived by his wife of 26 years, Susan,

and by his son and daughter, and by his father, Charles Edward Springle.

Let us NEVER FORGET.

[This profile courtesy of the Living Legends Team, Soldiers' Angels]