PA PA - Charles R. Fletcher, 54, Philadelphia, May 1975

[Find Brenda]

***Cold Case: Missing Veteran from Philadelphia, PA***

Name: Charles R. Fletcher
From Philadelphia, PA, but was last seen in Glassboro, New Jersey in May of 1975*

Age at Disappearance: 54 years old
Race/Gender: Black male
Est. Height: 5'6" Est. Weight: 150 pounds
Hair Color: Short brown hair Facial Hair: mustache
Eye Color: Brown
Medical: was wounded in combat during World War II and may have had scars on his scalp as a result. He reportedly had metal plates in his head and arm. He had a scar above his right eye.

His family reported that due to his service related head injury, he sometimes experienced episodes of disorientation.

Narrative:
Charles R. Fletcher was last heard from in May of 1975. His family reported that their last contact with him was on Mother’s Day (May 11, 1975) when he called his mother to wish her well and that he would see her soon (*some outlets report he was last seen on May 1 or May 26, 1975).

He lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and frequented the areas of 20th and Cumberland in the city. Fletcher would also spend long periods of times with friends in Glassboro, New Jersey.

On the day he was last seen (date unconfirmed), Fletcher was in Glassboro and he told his friends that he was heading to Philadelphia. That was the last known contact with him.

Fletcher was a World War II combat veteran. He served in the Army with the 30th Infantry Division, 117th Infantry Regiment in Europe. He was wounded in the arm and head and received a Purple Heart.

His family reported that due to his service related head injury, he sometimes experienced episodes of disorientation. Fletcher would sometimes disappear for a few weeks or even a couple of months, but he usually kept in contact with his family.

Since his disappearance in 1975, there has not been any activity with his Social Security number or other benefits.

It is possible that he became disoriented and ended up in a medical facility somewhere as a John Doe patient. Though foul play is also a possibility, no evidence has surfaced to suggest that is the case and he did not have a criminal record.

If you have any information about this case, please call the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-685-3257

Sources:
Philadelphia Daily News (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) · Wed, Jun 26, 2013
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/13258
http://charleyproject.org/case/charles-r-fletcher
The Forgotten Cases

 

[glamourkitty1922]

Missing Veterans has a case open on him as well. Charles Fletcher
He still has loved ones searching for him. Here is an article on his sister Without a trace

 

[madamx]

Without a trace

Snip it from the article.


CHARLES FLETCHER vanished 38 years ago. If he's still alive, he's 92. But few people are missing him anymore.


Five of his 10 siblings have died, as have his ex-wife and two kids. The friends and cousins he socialized with at taprooms throughout North Philly have long since passed on. And no one knows if any of his World War II buddies are still around, since no one knows the names of the men with whom Fletcher fought in the U.S. Army's 117th Infantry.

Sooner or later, Fletcher's aging family members will be gone, and no one will wonder, "What happened to our Charles?"

 

[Diane Redfern]

Medical: was wounded in combat during World War II and may have had scars on his scalp as a result. He reportedly had metal plates in his head and arm. He had a scar above his right eye.

NamUs does not mention these details, only the scar. I've tried to check if there's any UIDs with metal plates, but I've found nothing.

 

[ifindedout]

Five of his 10 siblings have died, as have his ex-wife and two kids. The friends and cousins he socialized with at taprooms throughout North Philly have long since passed on. And no one knows if any of his World War II buddies are still around, since no one knows the names of the men with whom Fletcher fought in the U.S. Army's 117th Infantry.

BBM
Those names were probably lost in the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire, which claimed 80% of Army personnel records between 1913 and 1960.
National Personnel Records Center fire - Wikipedia

 

[ifindedout]

Missing Veterans has a case open on him as well. Charles Fletcher

Snipped for focus
The Missing Veterans site (I do realize the post is nearly 3 years old) has become malicious, it tries to change your settings and install a search tool. The site doesn't appear in Google searches.

 

[Pennysmom2]

Charles R. Fletcher – The Charley Project

Fletcher served in the 117th Infantry in the Army during World War II. He was wounded and received a Purple Heart. He had previously dropped out of sight for weeks or months at a time, but he's never been gone for this long before and he always kept in touch with his family.

Since his disappearance in 1975, he hasn't used his Social Security number or veteran's health benefits, cashed his disability checks or applied for credit anywhere.

Five of Fletcher's ten siblings are now deceased, as are his two children and his ex-wife. One sister is still searching for him and believes there's a chance he could be still alive. His case remains unsolved. Philadelphia police are investigating.

 

[Pennysmom2]

June 26, 2013

Without a trace

Sister holds out hope for brother who vanished almost four decades ago.

www.inquirer.com

 

[apearn]

June 26, 2013

Without a trace

Sister holds out hope for brother who vanished almost four decades ago.

www.inquirer.com

Are you able to copy and paste that article? I don't have a subscription and it wants one.

 

[apearn]

I did find this. Ancora psychiatric hospital is about 15 miles from Glassboro. I didn't find any updates on it yet. The height and weight is close but the age is way off.

 

[Pennysmom2]

Are you able to copy and paste that article? I don't have a subscription and it wants one.

Without a trace​

Sister holds out hope for brother who vanished almost four decades ago.

Marlene Hardy , 71, made a promise to her mother that she'd keep looking for her missing brother. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/Staff)

• by By Ronnie Polaneczky, Daily News Columnist | Columnist
  Published Jun. 26, 2013, 12:05 a.m. ET

CHARLES FLETCHER vanished 38 years ago. If he's still alive, he's 92. But few people are missing him anymore.

Five of his 10 siblings have died, as have his ex-wife and two kids. The friends and cousins he socialized with at taprooms throughout North Philly have long since passed on. And no one knows if any of his World War II buddies are still around, since no one knows the names of the men with whom Fletcher fought in the U.S. Army's 117th Infantry.

Sooner or later, Fletcher's aging family members will be gone, and no one will wonder, "What happened to our Charles?"
No one's life story should end that way.

The last time anyone heard from Fletcher was on Mother's Day in 1975. He called his mom to wish her well and promised to see her soon.

Since then, not a single sighting. Not a burp on any credit account. No electronic or paper trail showing that his disability checks had been cashed or his veteran health benefits accessed.

Still, his sister, Marlene Hardy, 71, isn't convinced her brother is dead.
"My mother lived to 96," so Fletcher comes from strong stock, Hardy says. "It's possible he's still out there somewhere."

The family always worried that something might happen to Fletcher. He was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries he suffered in the war - he had metal plates in his head and arm - and he suffered periods of disorientation that meant he sometimes went missing for a few weeks here, a few months there.

But, Hardy says, her big brother was also a free spirit who'd sporadically go AWOL because he needed space.
"He had girlfriends, he liked to have a good time - you know how men are," Hardy says. "But he was a good person."

And he always returned to the family's stomping grounds around 20th and Cumberland, or landed for long stretches with friends in Glassboro, N.J., where he was last seen. That day, Fletcher told his friends he was headed to Philly. And that was it.

Michael Brown doubts that Fletcher went missing through any shady behavior of his own.
"He had no criminal record," says Brown, a private detective hired by Hardy 23 years ago to take a fresh look at the case, which didn't attract much attention when Fletcher went missing. "I can't find a trace of him, and I'm the best at what I do. Mr. Fletcher is the only missing person I've never found."

That's why Brown still runs Fletcher's vital information - birth date, Social Security number, other official identifiers - through multiple databases every day. This case eats at him.
"You'd think, after all this time, something would've turned up," he says.

Fletcher is listed in the Philly Police Department's missing-persons database, and his DNA is on file with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice.
I asked the organization's communications manager, Todd Matthews, if Fletcher's family was foolish to expect that Fletcher - or his remains - would ever be identified given how much time has passed.
Matthews countered with the tale of a man who learned the whereabouts of his brother after 53 years (the brother had left town and started another life under a new name).

And the story of a New Jersey family who learned last month that their teenage relative, missing 41 years, had been a victim of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

And the ordeal of a Kentucky family who learned, 32 years after their relative went missing, that he had been murdered.

In those cases, what led to positive identification were advances in DNA testing, the use of social media, which didn't exist decades ago, and sophisticated photography that uses age progression or regression techniques to simulate what a long-missing loved one might look like today - or back in the day.
Hardy recently was able to use such photographic technology to "age" her brother's photo, and she has placed it onto posters that she's plastering around her brother's former hangouts. Maybe someone who has seen Fletcher as a very old man will put her in touch with him. Or maybe someone will remember something that will end this mystery.

"My mother never stopped looking for Charles," Hardy says. "She had a strong faith, so she got used to him being gone. But he was her son. Before she died, I promised her I'd keep looking for him."