Charlie resigned from the Navy in June, 1941 to volunteer for the AVG.  He was placed in charge of the largest group of AVG (125) which sailed aboard the Dutch ship Jaegersfontaine from San Francisco for Rangoon on July 10, 1941.  Upon arrival at Kyedaw Airfield, Toungoo, Burma he as assigned duties as Acting Group Adjutant and in this capacity assisted in the organization and assignment of personnel of the Group.  He was designated a Flight Leader and operations officer of the 2nd Squadron.  Charlie was relieved of Adjutant duties in Mid-September.  When the optical gunsights did not function, he took on the task of adapting and redesigning them resulting in a gunsight superior to the old "ring and ball" sights.
After the 2nd Squadron was deployed to Rangoon in late December, '41, he flew experimental but ineffective missions against night attacks because close radar control was not available.
The AVG then seized the initiative by attacking Japanese airfields in Thailand.  While leading an attack on the airfield at Mesoht, Thailand, he was shot down by ground fire and captured, severely wounded.  He was the first allied pilot to be captured in Asia.  The Japanese let him recuperate from his wounds and tropical fevers and in July, 1942 put him in with British troops captured at Singapore.  For three years he experienced the conditions in POW camps along the River Kwai railway and was repatriated at the end of the war.  He is now the sole survivor of the four AVG pilots captured.