Standing With Charles.
Last year, the shitter community came together to support one of our own, Charles Bierkamper, during his battle with cancer. Unfortunately, his condition has taken a turn for the worse, and Charles and his family could use our support again.
For those who don't know Charles, he has been part of the CH-53 community for a long time. He was with HMM-302 from 2003 to 2007 as a Crew Chief and CDQAR, and later found his way back to working on shitters on the civilian side beginning in 2016.
When the community came together for Charles last time, the response told us everything we needed to know about the kind of man we were supporting. His name brought people out of the woodwork. Marines from different points in his career remembered him years later and wanted to help. Guys he trained talked about the influence he had on the mechanics they became. People who worked under him remembered the way he treated them. Even someone who had only flown with Charles once, on his first flight as a boot co-pilot, still remembered who was sitting in the Crew Chief seat years later.
You don't leave that kind of impression on people by accident. What stuck with us wasn't any single comment, it was the fact that there were so many of them. Charles clearly means a hell of a lot to the people who have crossed paths with him, and the amount of people willing to step up for him says more about the man than anything we could write here.
With what Charles and his family are going through now, another GoFundMe has been organized to help them. We're supporting that effort by reopening our own fundraiser through the store. We've added a direct donation option and will also have fundraiser merchandise available. Money collected through our fundraiser will be tracked separately from the rest of the store and directed toward Charles and his family.
If you would rather donate directly to the fundraiser organized for Charles, you can do so through the official GoFundMe here: Fundraiser by Charles Wells : Honoring Charles Bierkamper’s Final Days.
The CH-53 community is a small world. Some of us knew Charles personally, some know him through someone else, and some of us have never met him at all. At the end of the day, though, he's one of ours. That's why we're putting this together and why we're asking the community to show up for him and his family.
If you're able to donate or grab something from the fundraiser, we appreciate it. If money is tight, sharing the fundraiser and getting it in front of more people helps too. Please keep Charles and his family in your thoughts and prayers while they go through this.
Let's take care of our own.
Semper Fi. Keep Rippin'