Chuck liked racing his cars up and down through the area's mountainous roads and fantasized about flying. He even took flying lessons when he was just 16. In 1941, he joined the Army. But after finding out that the Army’s definition of “infantry” included walking, he got a day-pass to go to town and instead went to take the Air Corps exam. He got caught for that about the same time as he received his acceptance into the Army Air Corps. His last school before being sent overseas was in San Angelo, Texas.

Serving with the 15AF, 460th BG, 762nd BS, he flew missions out of Foggia, Italy and was shot down over Vienna, Austria on his 38th mission, July 8, 1944, a bomging run over an . Stopping to fold up his parachute for a young couple who wanted the material for a wedding dress, Chuck was severely injured by civilians who turned him over first to the local police, then the German Army. After being interrogated at a Dulag Luft, he was sent to Luft 1 in Barth, Germany, on the North Sea. He was not a model prisoner, spending much time in solitary and plotting ways to escape. There were many attempts -– some near successes, but none that worked.

In early May 1945, as the war was ending, his German guards began leaving the camp, and he began walking east (the wrong direction) with a number of other POWs. They were picked up by the Russian Army, who sent them back to camp. Col. Zemke (the camp ranking officer) and his men, including Chuck, were then flown to France, to Camp Lucky Strike and finally boarded a ship headed back home. He and Ruth picked up the telegram announcing his release after he got back to Stroudsburg. In peacetime, Chuck served as an Air Force Photo Officer and as Defense Counsel with the new Air Force. Upon retiring from the military, he worked for the Treasury Department, first with the US Mint; later with the US Customs Service.

After he retired from the Federal Government in 1982 he became active with the American Ex-Prisoners of War. He served as Chapter Commander and later Department Commander in Maryland, and National Director-at-Large. In March 1987, he was appointed the first Executive Director for AXPOW with responsibility for the National Capitol Office, which he had opened in 1986. His daughter Chere recalls: "'Cut me a check, Sally' became one of his favorite expressions every time the office needed to buy something. Then-Treasurer Sally Morgan always responded back with 'Show me the line item, Chuck.'"

Chuck was a member of the Presbyterian Church, Masons, Scottish Rite, Shriners, Sojourners, Heroes of ’76, Capitol Hill Shrine Club and Advisor to DeMoley. In addition to AXPOW, his Veterans Association membership included: 15th AF Society, 28th Division Society, American Legion, MOPH, DAV, VFW, TROA and Caterpillar Club. He was also an early president of the Combined Veterans Council, and was convinced that "if only the veterans’ organizations would band together and speak with one voice, they would be invincible."

In early 1994, his health began deteriorating and he was forced to retire from the "best job in the world." At the Mid-Year conference, his daughter said his retirement party list read like a "Who’s Who" of Veterans Service Organization executives, with both Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown and Deputy Secretary Hershel Gober in attendance.

Chuck and Ruth moved to Cape Cod to be near family in 1999, but he never stopped wanting to get back into Washington politics. On Father’s Day just nine days before he died, he was asking around whether anyone was flying down to DC on a regular basis. He wanted to spend one week a month "educating" some of the new Congress.

Charles Marvin Williams, Jr. was interred at Arlington National Cemetery on July 24, 2002. Ruth joined him on March 17, 2011.