Charles Sawyer featured speaker at Shelby County Memorial Day services

Monday, May 25, 2026 at 9:09 AM

By Johnny McCrory

Special services will honor the Memorial Day holiday Monday at the Shelby County Courthouse.

The feature speaker for Memorial Day is Chief Warrant Officer 5 Charles Sawyer. Sawyer enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1984 serving on active duty at Fort Riley, Kansas. Upon leaving active duty, he joined the Indiana Army National Guard beginning his aviation career as an OH-58 helicopter repairer. He was accepted into the Warrant Officer Flight Training Program in 1991, graduating flight school in 1992 as a OH-58 Aero Scout pilot.

CW5 Sawyer has two operational combat tours serving as the Tactical Operations Officer for F Co. 192^nd AVN in support of OIF 04-05 and Standardization Instructor Pilot for C Co. 1-137^th Assault in support of OIF 09-10.

As a Master Army Aviator, CW5 Sawyer has logged over 5000 flight hours with over 1000 hours of combat time.

Sawyer has served over 30 years and flown multiple military helicopters. He flew the UH 60 Blackhawk for two tours in Iraq in 2004-2005 and 2009-2010.

Sawyer's combat awards include two Air Medals, a Combat Action Badge, and the Legion of Merit award .