LT. Charles “Chuck” Newhall, III
U.S. Army-Infantry
1st Battalion – 327th Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division - Delta Company
A Shau Valley, Vietnam ’67-’68
U.S. Army-Infantry
1st Battalion – 327th Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division - Delta Company
A Shau Valley, Vietnam ’67-’68
Influential Family and Military Upbringing
Charles “Chuck” Newhall, III was born November 18, 1944. Chuck comes from a family with a long military history dating back to 1630, well before King Phillip’s Rebellion. At least 150 family members have been killed or wounded in action during this time. His grandmother’s father, Captain Assa Abbott alone fought in both battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Shiloh and many of the other major battles of the Civil War. During WWII Chuck’s father was an Army Air Corp Colonel and responsible for the development, production, and allocation of fighter aircraft. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Reaction Motors that eventually merged into Thyocol. The combined company went on pioneer many innovations in the aerospace industry.
When Chuck was young his parents concluded they couldn’t devote the proper time to raising Chuck. His father was a burgeoning venture capitalist and he helped Lawrence Rockefeller manage his many venture investments. They decided it would be best for Chuck to live with his grandmother, Evangeline Abbott Newhall. “She was the greatest influence of my life.”
His grandmother was a loving but tough woman who made sure to instill in Chuck self-discipline and a never quit attitude that would serve him well in all aspects of his life. She sent Chuck to the Gilman School, a boarding school, at the beginning of the 7th grade. He spent his summers at a military summer camp. When he reached the age of 12 he attended the Shattuck School in Minnesota where his grandmother had been the Head Mistress for over 30 years. It was also a military boarding school. “It was like the Citadel for 12-year-olds. It was a hard, hard, place.” Chuck loved the school and felt it prepared him to plan for all eventualities. They also instilled a ‘Band of Brothers’ mentality in the students; they deprioritized ego and focused each student on doing what was right for the common good.
College and ROTC Training
Chuck graduated in 1963 and enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania where he was an English major and a member of the ROTC. He was put in the junior year program exempted from the ROTC training because of the extensive training he received at Shattuck. Chuck decided to join the 2nd Special Forces Reserves unit. He was jump (parachute) qualified by the time he was 18 and he was jungle warfare, light weapons and Special Forces qualified by the time he was 20. While he was attending Penn, Chuck was receiving invitations to attend debutante parties, where young women were introduced into society. During the summer before his senior year, he was invited to a party where he met Mary Washington Miller, known as Marci. Chuck and Marsi were married at the end of Chuck’s senior year.
After graduating from Penn in 1967 Chuck was commissioned as a Lieutenant and received orders to Fort Polk in Louisiana. There he was given the role of Basic Training Officer. This is not what Chuck had in mind. Chuck wanted to be a warrior, a present-day Spartan. He volunteered on five different occasions to deploy to Vietnam but to no avail. Anxious to get to Vietnam, he called his father and asked him if he could make some calls on his behalf and help him get into the fight. A few days later Chuck had orders to Vietnam.
The Vietnam War
Chuck took a commercial airline from Baltimore to San Francisco and then boarded a Tiger Air flight to Vietnam. Chuck’s orders stated that he was to report to a replacement battalion. He and the men he was with were part of troops to replace the heavy U.S. causalities from the Tet Offensive. When the door to the plane opened at the Bien Hoa Airport in Vietnam, he was overcome by the rancid smell and the incredible heat. Welcome to Vietnam July 28, 1968. The men were sorted into groups, loaded on a bus and driven to Long Binh, which was the largest Army base in Vietnam. After five days of orientation Chuck was sent to Camp Eagle, just north of Phu Bai in central Vietnam where he joined Company D of the 327th Regiment of the first Battalion of the 101st Airborne. One week later Chuck was conducting reconnaissance in force missions in the A Shau Valley.
A reconnaissance‐in‐force mission engages the enemy in combat compared to other reconnaissance that may gather information on the terrain or enemy strength and location. The intent of a reconnaissance‐in‐force is to discover a weakness and attack it.
The A Shau Valley borders Cambodia and Laos and is ringed by mountains covered with forests. Elephants, tigers and orangutans inhabit the valley. The jungle vegetation is exceptionally thick and is often described as triple canopy. There are Mahogany trees that can reach 150 feet forming a top canopy, a second layer of trees that can reach up to 60 feet and then a layer of dense underbrush. Chuck recalled, “It was beautiful.” In peacetime it would make an excellent tourist destination. During the war it served as a major highway for the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) to resupply its troops. The NVA would often ambush and attack American and South Vietnamese (ARNV) forces and retreat across the border into Cambodia and Laos. They knew American Rules of Engagement forbid U.S. troops to enter Cambodia and Laos.
Honored with The Bronze Star
On August 7th 1968, his 11th day in country, Company D received orders for a combat assault mission. Chuck was a First Lieutenant and the Platoon Leader of 3rd Platoon in Company D. To reach the LZ (Landing Zone) where they would board helicopters to take them to their objective, Company D had to cross a river. Soon the water was up to Chuck’s neck and his boots had completely sunken into the muddy riverbed. After a tough slog they reached the other side of the river. When the men emerged from the water, they found themselves covered in leaches.
When they arrived at the landing zone the NVA began an artillery attack. The men received orders to move back to the protection of a woodline approximately 100 meters away. Halfway across an open field a round landed in the middle of the squad killing the soldier directly in front of Chuck and injuring seven others. Hearing the cries for help from the wounded Chuck crawled back to help his men, despite heavy enemy fire and lack of cover. He was able to find the medic and together, they gave first aid to the wounded men. Chuck organized the platoon and directed their withdrawal to the wood line. When everyone had reached the wood line Chuck continued to organize his men and established security for the troops. He continued to do this until the helicopters arrived to medevac the men. The NVA continued to land rounds near the helicopters as they arrived. Despite this and a lack of protective cover, Chuck continued to organize and direct the evacuation. In recognition of his successful efforts to organize and medically stabilize his men while placing himself at great risk Chuck was awarded the Bronze Star with a “V” for valor. 40% of his men were killed or wounded and medevac’d in this engagement. Baptism by fire.
Honored with the Silver Star
On August 14th Chuck and his platoon received orders for a reconnaissance in force mission in the A Shau Valley. They hiked until they reached the base of the Dong So, an 1,100-foot hill connected by a ridgeline to another hill, Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill). There was no triple canopy jungle here. The forest on the Dong So had been defoliated with Agent Orange. Chuck and his men hiked through the toxic jungle waste. Chuck is one of the unlucky Vietnam Vets to suffer from the effects of Agent Orange, having battled Prostate Cancer, Parkinson’s Disease and PTSD.
2nd Platoon was given the mission of securing the hill. Chuck moved forward with the lead man and they discovered an NVA mortar element setting up their equipment. The NVA were well entrenched in camouflaged stone bunkers with heavy machine guns and RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades). They opened fire on the enemy to prevent the mortars from becoming operational. The NVA returned a withering hail of gunfire. Chuck estimated that there could have been 150 NVA troops. “We went up against a fully reinforced heavy weapons company. I had a platoon of 18 men, and we lost 70%.”
Chuck directed his platoon to maneuver against the bunkers. The fighting raged for three hours and the NVA was able to make their mortars operational. Now, under heavy mortar fire, Chuck directed his men to take cover. While moving about the battle space leading his men in return fire Chuck was hit with shrapnel from a mortar round which incapacitated his left arm and seriously injured the left side of his body. Although he was wounded and bleeding, he continued to lead his men against the enemy with grenades and small arms fire. He was ordered to withdraw but helped to carry the wounded to safety and directed his platoon to link up with the main body of Company D. Chuck refused medical aid and directed his men to cover a gap in their defensive perimeter. Eventually his wounds required he leave his command and receive treatment. Medevac helicopters arrived and took Chuck and his wounded comrades to Firebase Eagle. Chuck helped unload the wounded and a short time later more helicopters arrived to take them to a field hospital 20 minutes away. For his valor and courage Chuck received the Silver Star.
Chuck believes the NVA lost four times as many men as the U.S. and ARVN combined that day. He emphasized that the NVA was willing to sacrifice any number of soldiers because they knew the patience back in the US for the mounting numbers of killed and wounded was eroding. “The war was being fought in the newspapers, not on the ground” and the North Vietnamese knew that. “The NVA will continue to fight and sustain incredible levels of casualties until the U.S. loses its will to fight and withdraws”…..which eventually happened seven years later.
Taking the Dong So and Hamburger Hill were strategically important. “It was about closing down the route where the tanks were rolling into South Vietnam. You don’t hold the hills you capture and fight for, but you deny the enemy access to that critical piece of real estate.”
In the field hospital shrapnel was removed from Chuck’s wounds and he was quickly stitched and bandaged. The doctors wanted Chuck to stay in the hospital to prevent infection but he wanted to get back to his unit. While the medical staff was preoccupied treating the more seriously injured, Chuck jumped in a jeep and headed back to his company headquarters.
After the heavy losses in the fighting on Hamburger Hill the U.S. shifted its strategy and implemented the Vietnamization Policy. This new strategy had the ARVN doing the heavy fighting with the U.S. providing support. Chuck convinced the Battalion Commanding Officer to let him utilize a light observation helicopter to conduct reconnaissance. These are three seat helicopters with a machine gunner in the rear set and an observer next to the pilot. As the observer Chuck was responsible for knowing the exact coordinates of where they were at all times. When they drew NVA fire from the jungle floor, Chuck would call in the location and artillery fire would be on the way in less than 60 seconds. After three months this approach gathered a great amount of intelligence that proved useful after Chuck returned to the United States. In June of ’69 Chuck received a letter while in Vietnam that he was accepted at the Harvard Business School beginning in the fall of 1969.
Chuck talked about how close the firefights were. “You are fighting at a distance of 50 feet. That is why casualties were so high.” He drew the distinction with WWII and the war being fought in the Ukraine in 2023. “I had to kill a guy with a knife. He was trying to ambush us. He was wounded and had a rifle. I had dropped my rifle and I had to use my knife to defend myself.”
Chuck recalled one patrol when he was instructed to take his men across an open field and signal when they reached the wood line that it was safe for the rest of the company. While crossing the field Chuck heard incoming artillery. Chuck had been trained by a seasoned WWII veteran who told him to hit the deck whenever he heard incoming artillery rounds. Chuck called to his men to hit the deck but not everyone reacted fast enough. One man close to Chuck didn’t react and he was cut in half at the waist.
With 30 days to go in his tour, Chuck was considered “short”, meaning a short-timer with less than 30 days remaining in country. On his last night in Vietnam the NVA mortared his base. Emerging physically unscathed from his tour in Vietnam Chuck headed for home and for Marci. The invisible wounds would soon work their way to the surface.
Return to America: An MBA and a Career in Venture Capital
Back in Baltimore there was a party thrown by his parents to welcome him back home. While well-intentioned it was not well received by the invited guest in light of the political feelings about the war. The party was over within 20 minutes. In August Chuck and Marci packed their car and headed off for a month-long vacation at the Nantucket cottage of Marci’s parents.
After a restful vacation and the opportunity to get to know each other again, the couple headed for Boston where Chuck would begin his MBA at the Harvard Business School (HBS). Marsi had found an apartment while Chuck was still in Vietnam. During his second year at HBS Chuck found himself drawn to venture capital. When the interview process started, Chuck was drawn to T Rowe Price (TRP). He liked their approach that was built around investing in and holding well-managed growth companies. His interviews went well, and he accepted a position based in Baltimore, near the family home. He and Marsi were reacquainted with old friends and made new friends at TRP. It was 1972 and T Rowe Price was generating very strong results from its growth investment strategy. Around this time Chuck’s parents decide to move to Florida and he and Marci bought their home.
The energy crisis hit the U.S. economy in 1972 and growth stock valuations took a huge hit. This general revaluation combined with two of TRP’s largest investments, Polaroid and Xerox developing significant operating problems along with the use of all of TRP’s operating cash flow used to buy out the retiring CEO put TRP in a precarious position. Chuck had been hired by TRP to raise a Venture fund that was put on hold. With each day that passed the stress level at TRP increased, and along with his demanding travel schedule put significant stress on his marriage. In the midst of all of this tumult, his son Ashton was born.
At the suggestion of a respected colleague at TRP Chuck decided to start his own venture firm. He named the new entity New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Chuck recruited two other partners and by 1977 the firm was up and going. This was a challenging fundraising environment and Chuck went without a salary for close to 18 months. The $400,000 of personal investment Chuck had infused into NEA was also at risk. Life was difficult. Marsi supported Chuck but Chuck’s demanding travel schedule was weighing heavily on her. By June of 1978 NEA had closed on its first fund totaling $16.5MM.
As with all business cycles, the downturn hit its trough and then began to improve as the 1970’s drew to a close with the economy rebounding. The Newhall’s welcomed their second son, Adair. The demands of NEA and having two children with significant learning disabilities were a strain on the marriage. Marsi had been displaying radical personality changes and by March of 1982 Chuck described his marriage as “an uneasy truce.” Marci was on the verge of completing her master’s degree but what wasn’t apparent was Marsi’s inner struggle with depression.
Overcoming Personal and Family Tragedy
On the morning of March 13th Marci left the house before Chuck woke up. It was Saturday and Chuck would be handling chores around the house and taking care of the boys. By 4pm there had been no word from Marsi. While putting away laundry Chuck noticed the .22-caliber pistol his grandmother had given him was gone. Chuck checked with Marsi’s mother, and she had not heard from Marsi either. She suggested Chuck check their 18 acres of woodlands. Around 5pm on March 13th, 1982, Chuck found Marsi dead from a gunshot wound. Chuck would later learn that there had been eight other suicides over the past 20 years in Marci’s extended family. Chuck was now alone with his 3- and 6-year-old sons and his PTSD demons from Vietnam.
Chuck has spent many years in counseling to deal with Marsi’s suicide and his PTSD. Despite this he was able to function at NEA and as a member of the boards of the companies NEA owned. Chuck remarried in 1983. His wife Amy has helped him deal with Marsi’s suicide and address his PTSD. Amy was able to get Chuck to modify his work schedule so he could be home for dinner and be a full-time father to the boys. Having been married for over 35 years Chuck has been able to reinvent himself. He is an involved father and a successful venture capital investor. The couple is happily married, but as Chuck told a young Marine officer he met, “my wife would say I am hell to live with on a day-to-day basis.”
Chuck, America is grateful for your service to your country, the sacrifices you and your family have made and all that you have endured, both the visible and invisible. As you wrote in your book, Fearful Odds, “Warriors were trained to create hell for our enemies and that can spill over into civilian life. We can be hell to live with no doubt.”
Nil Desperandum!
Charles “Chuck” Newhall, III was born November 18, 1944. Chuck comes from a family with a long military history dating back to 1630, well before King Phillip’s Rebellion. At least 150 family members have been killed or wounded in action during this time. His grandmother’s father, Captain Assa Abbott alone fought in both battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Shiloh and many of the other major battles of the Civil War. During WWII Chuck’s father was an Army Air Corp Colonel and responsible for the development, production, and allocation of fighter aircraft. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Reaction Motors that eventually merged into Thyocol. The combined company went on pioneer many innovations in the aerospace industry.
When Chuck was young his parents concluded they couldn’t devote the proper time to raising Chuck. His father was a burgeoning venture capitalist and he helped Lawrence Rockefeller manage his many venture investments. They decided it would be best for Chuck to live with his grandmother, Evangeline Abbott Newhall. “She was the greatest influence of my life.”
His grandmother was a loving but tough woman who made sure to instill in Chuck self-discipline and a never quit attitude that would serve him well in all aspects of his life. She sent Chuck to the Gilman School, a boarding school, at the beginning of the 7th grade. He spent his summers at a military summer camp. When he reached the age of 12 he attended the Shattuck School in Minnesota where his grandmother had been the Head Mistress for over 30 years. It was also a military boarding school. “It was like the Citadel for 12-year-olds. It was a hard, hard, place.” Chuck loved the school and felt it prepared him to plan for all eventualities. They also instilled a ‘Band of Brothers’ mentality in the students; they deprioritized ego and focused each student on doing what was right for the common good.
College and ROTC Training
Chuck graduated in 1963 and enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania where he was an English major and a member of the ROTC. He was put in the junior year program exempted from the ROTC training because of the extensive training he received at Shattuck. Chuck decided to join the 2nd Special Forces Reserves unit. He was jump (parachute) qualified by the time he was 18 and he was jungle warfare, light weapons and Special Forces qualified by the time he was 20. While he was attending Penn, Chuck was receiving invitations to attend debutante parties, where young women were introduced into society. During the summer before his senior year, he was invited to a party where he met Mary Washington Miller, known as Marci. Chuck and Marsi were married at the end of Chuck’s senior year.
After graduating from Penn in 1967 Chuck was commissioned as a Lieutenant and received orders to Fort Polk in Louisiana. There he was given the role of Basic Training Officer. This is not what Chuck had in mind. Chuck wanted to be a warrior, a present-day Spartan. He volunteered on five different occasions to deploy to Vietnam but to no avail. Anxious to get to Vietnam, he called his father and asked him if he could make some calls on his behalf and help him get into the fight. A few days later Chuck had orders to Vietnam.
The Vietnam War
Chuck took a commercial airline from Baltimore to San Francisco and then boarded a Tiger Air flight to Vietnam. Chuck’s orders stated that he was to report to a replacement battalion. He and the men he was with were part of troops to replace the heavy U.S. causalities from the Tet Offensive. When the door to the plane opened at the Bien Hoa Airport in Vietnam, he was overcome by the rancid smell and the incredible heat. Welcome to Vietnam July 28, 1968. The men were sorted into groups, loaded on a bus and driven to Long Binh, which was the largest Army base in Vietnam. After five days of orientation Chuck was sent to Camp Eagle, just north of Phu Bai in central Vietnam where he joined Company D of the 327th Regiment of the first Battalion of the 101st Airborne. One week later Chuck was conducting reconnaissance in force missions in the A Shau Valley.
A reconnaissance‐in‐force mission engages the enemy in combat compared to other reconnaissance that may gather information on the terrain or enemy strength and location. The intent of a reconnaissance‐in‐force is to discover a weakness and attack it.
The A Shau Valley borders Cambodia and Laos and is ringed by mountains covered with forests. Elephants, tigers and orangutans inhabit the valley. The jungle vegetation is exceptionally thick and is often described as triple canopy. There are Mahogany trees that can reach 150 feet forming a top canopy, a second layer of trees that can reach up to 60 feet and then a layer of dense underbrush. Chuck recalled, “It was beautiful.” In peacetime it would make an excellent tourist destination. During the war it served as a major highway for the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) to resupply its troops. The NVA would often ambush and attack American and South Vietnamese (ARNV) forces and retreat across the border into Cambodia and Laos. They knew American Rules of Engagement forbid U.S. troops to enter Cambodia and Laos.
Honored with The Bronze Star
On August 7th 1968, his 11th day in country, Company D received orders for a combat assault mission. Chuck was a First Lieutenant and the Platoon Leader of 3rd Platoon in Company D. To reach the LZ (Landing Zone) where they would board helicopters to take them to their objective, Company D had to cross a river. Soon the water was up to Chuck’s neck and his boots had completely sunken into the muddy riverbed. After a tough slog they reached the other side of the river. When the men emerged from the water, they found themselves covered in leaches.
When they arrived at the landing zone the NVA began an artillery attack. The men received orders to move back to the protection of a woodline approximately 100 meters away. Halfway across an open field a round landed in the middle of the squad killing the soldier directly in front of Chuck and injuring seven others. Hearing the cries for help from the wounded Chuck crawled back to help his men, despite heavy enemy fire and lack of cover. He was able to find the medic and together, they gave first aid to the wounded men. Chuck organized the platoon and directed their withdrawal to the wood line. When everyone had reached the wood line Chuck continued to organize his men and established security for the troops. He continued to do this until the helicopters arrived to medevac the men. The NVA continued to land rounds near the helicopters as they arrived. Despite this and a lack of protective cover, Chuck continued to organize and direct the evacuation. In recognition of his successful efforts to organize and medically stabilize his men while placing himself at great risk Chuck was awarded the Bronze Star with a “V” for valor. 40% of his men were killed or wounded and medevac’d in this engagement. Baptism by fire.
Honored with the Silver Star
On August 14th Chuck and his platoon received orders for a reconnaissance in force mission in the A Shau Valley. They hiked until they reached the base of the Dong So, an 1,100-foot hill connected by a ridgeline to another hill, Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill). There was no triple canopy jungle here. The forest on the Dong So had been defoliated with Agent Orange. Chuck and his men hiked through the toxic jungle waste. Chuck is one of the unlucky Vietnam Vets to suffer from the effects of Agent Orange, having battled Prostate Cancer, Parkinson’s Disease and PTSD.
2nd Platoon was given the mission of securing the hill. Chuck moved forward with the lead man and they discovered an NVA mortar element setting up their equipment. The NVA were well entrenched in camouflaged stone bunkers with heavy machine guns and RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades). They opened fire on the enemy to prevent the mortars from becoming operational. The NVA returned a withering hail of gunfire. Chuck estimated that there could have been 150 NVA troops. “We went up against a fully reinforced heavy weapons company. I had a platoon of 18 men, and we lost 70%.”
Chuck directed his platoon to maneuver against the bunkers. The fighting raged for three hours and the NVA was able to make their mortars operational. Now, under heavy mortar fire, Chuck directed his men to take cover. While moving about the battle space leading his men in return fire Chuck was hit with shrapnel from a mortar round which incapacitated his left arm and seriously injured the left side of his body. Although he was wounded and bleeding, he continued to lead his men against the enemy with grenades and small arms fire. He was ordered to withdraw but helped to carry the wounded to safety and directed his platoon to link up with the main body of Company D. Chuck refused medical aid and directed his men to cover a gap in their defensive perimeter. Eventually his wounds required he leave his command and receive treatment. Medevac helicopters arrived and took Chuck and his wounded comrades to Firebase Eagle. Chuck helped unload the wounded and a short time later more helicopters arrived to take them to a field hospital 20 minutes away. For his valor and courage Chuck received the Silver Star.
Chuck believes the NVA lost four times as many men as the U.S. and ARVN combined that day. He emphasized that the NVA was willing to sacrifice any number of soldiers because they knew the patience back in the US for the mounting numbers of killed and wounded was eroding. “The war was being fought in the newspapers, not on the ground” and the North Vietnamese knew that. “The NVA will continue to fight and sustain incredible levels of casualties until the U.S. loses its will to fight and withdraws”…..which eventually happened seven years later.
Taking the Dong So and Hamburger Hill were strategically important. “It was about closing down the route where the tanks were rolling into South Vietnam. You don’t hold the hills you capture and fight for, but you deny the enemy access to that critical piece of real estate.”
In the field hospital shrapnel was removed from Chuck’s wounds and he was quickly stitched and bandaged. The doctors wanted Chuck to stay in the hospital to prevent infection but he wanted to get back to his unit. While the medical staff was preoccupied treating the more seriously injured, Chuck jumped in a jeep and headed back to his company headquarters.
After the heavy losses in the fighting on Hamburger Hill the U.S. shifted its strategy and implemented the Vietnamization Policy. This new strategy had the ARVN doing the heavy fighting with the U.S. providing support. Chuck convinced the Battalion Commanding Officer to let him utilize a light observation helicopter to conduct reconnaissance. These are three seat helicopters with a machine gunner in the rear set and an observer next to the pilot. As the observer Chuck was responsible for knowing the exact coordinates of where they were at all times. When they drew NVA fire from the jungle floor, Chuck would call in the location and artillery fire would be on the way in less than 60 seconds. After three months this approach gathered a great amount of intelligence that proved useful after Chuck returned to the United States. In June of ’69 Chuck received a letter while in Vietnam that he was accepted at the Harvard Business School beginning in the fall of 1969.
Chuck talked about how close the firefights were. “You are fighting at a distance of 50 feet. That is why casualties were so high.” He drew the distinction with WWII and the war being fought in the Ukraine in 2023. “I had to kill a guy with a knife. He was trying to ambush us. He was wounded and had a rifle. I had dropped my rifle and I had to use my knife to defend myself.”
Chuck recalled one patrol when he was instructed to take his men across an open field and signal when they reached the wood line that it was safe for the rest of the company. While crossing the field Chuck heard incoming artillery. Chuck had been trained by a seasoned WWII veteran who told him to hit the deck whenever he heard incoming artillery rounds. Chuck called to his men to hit the deck but not everyone reacted fast enough. One man close to Chuck didn’t react and he was cut in half at the waist.
With 30 days to go in his tour, Chuck was considered “short”, meaning a short-timer with less than 30 days remaining in country. On his last night in Vietnam the NVA mortared his base. Emerging physically unscathed from his tour in Vietnam Chuck headed for home and for Marci. The invisible wounds would soon work their way to the surface.
Return to America: An MBA and a Career in Venture Capital
Back in Baltimore there was a party thrown by his parents to welcome him back home. While well-intentioned it was not well received by the invited guest in light of the political feelings about the war. The party was over within 20 minutes. In August Chuck and Marci packed their car and headed off for a month-long vacation at the Nantucket cottage of Marci’s parents.
After a restful vacation and the opportunity to get to know each other again, the couple headed for Boston where Chuck would begin his MBA at the Harvard Business School (HBS). Marsi had found an apartment while Chuck was still in Vietnam. During his second year at HBS Chuck found himself drawn to venture capital. When the interview process started, Chuck was drawn to T Rowe Price (TRP). He liked their approach that was built around investing in and holding well-managed growth companies. His interviews went well, and he accepted a position based in Baltimore, near the family home. He and Marsi were reacquainted with old friends and made new friends at TRP. It was 1972 and T Rowe Price was generating very strong results from its growth investment strategy. Around this time Chuck’s parents decide to move to Florida and he and Marci bought their home.
The energy crisis hit the U.S. economy in 1972 and growth stock valuations took a huge hit. This general revaluation combined with two of TRP’s largest investments, Polaroid and Xerox developing significant operating problems along with the use of all of TRP’s operating cash flow used to buy out the retiring CEO put TRP in a precarious position. Chuck had been hired by TRP to raise a Venture fund that was put on hold. With each day that passed the stress level at TRP increased, and along with his demanding travel schedule put significant stress on his marriage. In the midst of all of this tumult, his son Ashton was born.
At the suggestion of a respected colleague at TRP Chuck decided to start his own venture firm. He named the new entity New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Chuck recruited two other partners and by 1977 the firm was up and going. This was a challenging fundraising environment and Chuck went without a salary for close to 18 months. The $400,000 of personal investment Chuck had infused into NEA was also at risk. Life was difficult. Marsi supported Chuck but Chuck’s demanding travel schedule was weighing heavily on her. By June of 1978 NEA had closed on its first fund totaling $16.5MM.
As with all business cycles, the downturn hit its trough and then began to improve as the 1970’s drew to a close with the economy rebounding. The Newhall’s welcomed their second son, Adair. The demands of NEA and having two children with significant learning disabilities were a strain on the marriage. Marsi had been displaying radical personality changes and by March of 1982 Chuck described his marriage as “an uneasy truce.” Marci was on the verge of completing her master’s degree but what wasn’t apparent was Marsi’s inner struggle with depression.
Overcoming Personal and Family Tragedy
On the morning of March 13th Marci left the house before Chuck woke up. It was Saturday and Chuck would be handling chores around the house and taking care of the boys. By 4pm there had been no word from Marsi. While putting away laundry Chuck noticed the .22-caliber pistol his grandmother had given him was gone. Chuck checked with Marsi’s mother, and she had not heard from Marsi either. She suggested Chuck check their 18 acres of woodlands. Around 5pm on March 13th, 1982, Chuck found Marsi dead from a gunshot wound. Chuck would later learn that there had been eight other suicides over the past 20 years in Marci’s extended family. Chuck was now alone with his 3- and 6-year-old sons and his PTSD demons from Vietnam.
Chuck has spent many years in counseling to deal with Marsi’s suicide and his PTSD. Despite this he was able to function at NEA and as a member of the boards of the companies NEA owned. Chuck remarried in 1983. His wife Amy has helped him deal with Marsi’s suicide and address his PTSD. Amy was able to get Chuck to modify his work schedule so he could be home for dinner and be a full-time father to the boys. Having been married for over 35 years Chuck has been able to reinvent himself. He is an involved father and a successful venture capital investor. The couple is happily married, but as Chuck told a young Marine officer he met, “my wife would say I am hell to live with on a day-to-day basis.”
Chuck, America is grateful for your service to your country, the sacrifices you and your family have made and all that you have endured, both the visible and invisible. As you wrote in your book, Fearful Odds, “Warriors were trained to create hell for our enemies and that can spill over into civilian life. We can be hell to live with no doubt.”
Nil Desperandum!