By TIM GUERCIO

The NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

NATCHEZ — When The Dart landed on Natchez Under the Hill Friday afternoon, Charles Tucker was sitting on the old church pew outside the Under the Hill Saloon watching the river flow.

Tucker was born in Natchez and so were his parents and grandparents, Tucker said.

“I graduated in 1965 from Sadie V. Thompson and two weeks after that I was drafted by the Army,” Tucker said.

Leaving Natchez for the first time, Tucker said he was sent to Ft. Belvoir in Virginia.

“I was a medic and with 13 hospitals on the base, we practiced on the soldiers all the time,” Tucker said.

After his two-year hitch in the Army, Tucker said he went to South Bend, Indiana, to stay with his uncle Robert Battieste.

The move turned out to literally be a career move.

Tucker’s uncle worked for AT&T, and Tucker said he was hired also soon after arriving in South Bend.

“They hired me right away, and sent me to Mexico and then to Nicaragua,” Tucker said. “We built out the entire telephone system for cities; switching over from the old party line system.”

Tucker said his career sent him to South American countries also, including Venezuela and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“I worked for AT&T International for 40 years,” Tucker said. “They sent me everywhere.”

Tucker said he has been back in Natchez for six years now.

“Do I like being back home?” Tucker said. “Oh my God do I. My favorite place in Natchez is Under the Hill. I’m here every day.”