Charles Lanphier was born on May 7, 1918, in Omaha, Nebraska. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve on July 25, 1941, and went on active duty in the U.S. Navy on October 15, 1941. Lanphier entered Aviation Cadet training with the U.S. Navy on January 22, 1942, was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps on June 25, 1942, and was designated a Naval Aviator at NAS Miami, Florida, on July 31, 1942. He deployed to Hawaii in September 1942, and joined VMF-214 as an F4U Corsair pilot at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, Hawaii, in October 1942. Lt Lanphier deployed with VMF-214 aboard the escort aircraft carrier USS Nassau (CVE-16) in February 1943, and was assigned to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides in March 1943. He began flying combat missions in the Solomon Islands with VMF-214 the same month, and he was credited with the destruction of 2 enemy aircraft in aerial combat between April and August 1943. Lt Lanphier was forced to bail out over enemy territory in southern Bougainville and was taken as a Prisoner of War by the Japanese on August 28, 1943, and he died in captivity from starvation in the Rabaul POW Camp on May 15, 1944. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain with date of rank from May 1, 1944. After World War II ended, Capt Lanphier's remains were repatriated back to the United States and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on April 5, 1949. He was the brother of Col Thomas G. Lanphier, who participated in the mission to shoot down Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on April 18, 1943.

His 2nd Air Medal Citation reads:

For meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight as a Section Leader of a Marine Fighting Squadron against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands Area, August 4, 1943. When his group of escort planes encountered a formation of twelve enemy Zeros while covering our fighter craft on a strafing mission to the Shortland Islands, First Lieutenant LANPHIER fought his plane with skill and daring, shooting down one of the hostile planes. The splendid airmanship and valiant devotion to duty displayed by First Lieutenant LANPHIER were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.