Charles Mathes (Chuck) Searcy

Chuck Searcy is International Advisor for Project RENEW, a partnership between Quang Tri Province and international NGOs.  Project RENEW’s mission is to make Quang Tri safe from the threat of explosive remnants of war (ERW) through Risk Education, EOD Quick Response teams, survey and data collection.  Since Project RENEW began in 2001 the accident rate has dropped from an average of 50 a year to one accident in the past year.

Searcy has represented three American veterans organizations in Viet Nam since 1995, including Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), and Veterans For Peace (VFP) which is today the only American veterans organization licensed and based in Vietnam.  He is a Life Member of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA).

Searcy is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a B.A. in political science.  He co-founded and managed a weekly newspaper, the Athens (Georgia) Observer, and for 12 years was editor and publisher.  In 1979 and 1980 he was Assistant Administrator for Public Communications for the U.S. Small Business Administration, and from 1986 to 1989 was Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Wyche Fowler of Georgia.  From 1989 to 1994 Searcy was Executive Director of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, a professional membership organization of some 3,000 attorneys.

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Searcy enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966.  He was trained as an intelligence analyst and served in the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion in Saigon from June, 1967 to June,1968.  Assigned to the Combined Intelligence Center, Vietnam (CICV), Searcy worked on classified intelligence assessments and reports.  His last year in the Army was spent at U.S. Army Europe headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany where he worked in the European intelligence collection unit.

In Hanoi Searcy was elected to eight terms as a member of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce until stepping aside.  Searcy is an active member of the the NGO Resource Center where he co-founded the Landmines Working Group.  He is now chairman of the Agent Orange Working Group.

In 2004, the National Friendship Medal of the State of Vietnam was awarded to Searcy with a citation signed by the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Hon. Tran Duc Luong.  The medal, which was presented at a ceremony by the nation’s Vice President, Mme. Truong My Hoa, is Vietnam’s highest honor for foreigners who have served the country.