Herron attended Indiana's Wabash College and was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity before accepting appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated in 1899.

The governor of Indiana appointed him as a brigadier general in the National Guard, intending to have him command troops from that state, but Herron could not procure a discharge from the Regular Army and remained on active duty.

At the end of the war his sustained superior efforts were recognized with the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the citation for which reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Field Artillery) Charles Douglas Herron (ASN: 0-777), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I, as Chief of Staff, 78th Division, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

While his stance ran counter to public opinion, he was credited with helping keep Japanese-Americans in Hawaii from being interned at the start of World War II, as happened in California and other Western states.

Herron also documented his concern about the military's ability to defend Hawaii, citing its vulnerability to attack by carrier based aircraft.