UNION, S.C. (WSPA) – Charles Lott Sr. said he grew up a country boy from Union.
“The grandson of a sharecropper,” Lott Sr. told 7 NEWS. “Nobody talked anything to me about a college or away out… Nobody had ever went. And so I knew I wanted to do something.”
That put Lott Sr. on the steps of the Army recruiting station on Main Street and off to boot camp he went.
“I wanted to show my family, my Grandfather, that I could be something that would make me persevere,” Lott Sr. shared. “I knew that if I went back, I was a failure and I would be back into the mills. You know? Nothing wrong with mills, but I just didn’t want to do that.”
Lott Sr. said he originally wanted to be a truck driver but his test results showed he’d be a better fit as a Military Policeman.
“Meaning that you enforce military policies and procedures,” Lott Sr. said. “Not laws… Military policy and procedures.”
Lott Sr. said he did everything a civilian officer would do but on a military base.
“Patrolling the areas and protecting the soldiers,” Lott Sr. said. “Make sure that soldiers were doing what they were told to do, or they were going to get in trouble. So that’s what I did over there but I enjoyed it.”
Lott Sr. served for three years, until 1976.
He said at the end of his contract, he was ready to get out.
“I was happy to have that freedom. The structure didn’t bother me,” said Lott Sr..
From 1976 to 1993, he took on various jobs until he got hired at BMW to work security where he’d be for the next 15 years.
In 2008, he said the traffic got to be too much so he changed roles.
“I was a juvenile correctional officer until the last couple of years,” Lott Sr. said. “I was a Sergeant, a Juvenile Corrections Officer.”
He said the job was stressful, but given his resume, he was respected.
That lasted until it was time for him to retire.
“I told the lord, if he allowed me to retire, I would be a good volunteer,” said Lott Sr..
And that he is.
It started with volunteering in the schools.
“Talking to the kids, they even gave me an office and a couch,” he shared. “I’d call the parents or talk to the parent or grandparent. Excuse me, this type of thing… Give them snacks for good behavior.”
Now he’s on to his next mission of trying to help veterans get their entitled benefits.
An experience Lott Sr. said he knows all too well.
“Nobody told me about V.A. benefits,” Lott Sr. explained. “So I went to the V.A. in 2016. They talked about it and they filed a claim. That claim was denied and they said there’s nothing we can do.”
But because Lott Sr. was able to successfully file an appeal, he wants to show others how to do the same.
“There’s a lot of disadvantaged veterans who are not getting their benefits and I want to help them to be able to get there,” said Lott Sr.
With a clear servant’s heart, Lott Sr. said as long as his health allows it, he’ll continue to serve.
“To go out daily and to help people,” he explained.
Charles Lott Sr., Thank You for Your Service.
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