Curtis "Colt" Terry was only sixteen years old when he joined the U.S. Army on October 2, 1945. At the time, he was 5 foot 7 inches, all of 126 pounds, with dark, dark brown hair and a front tooth that stood out at a 45-degree angle. He was not an attractive teenager. Deprived as a child in many ways and growing up without a father, he longed for stability and believed that he could find it in the Army. He certainly did not have stability in his early years.

Colt was born on Feb. 8, 1929. His father left his mother when Colt was four years old and his sisters were two and six years old. His mother struggled to support herself and her children alone in Kissimmee, Florida, then just a tiny hamlet where two highways crossed. As Colt described their life, “His mother was so poor that the stock market crash didn’t make any difference in her life.” Colt’s clothes were hand-me-downs and he was often teased about them.

His mother was Irish-English and his father Irish-English and German. His mother, born in Kentucky with the last name of Roy, was raised Catholic through high school. She raised Colt with the same Christian principles, although he was once caught stealing chickens by “fishing” for them over a fence using corn for “bait.” In spite of his brief run-in with the law, he learned from his mother a sense of decency that would follow him throughout his later life.

Colt served two tours in combat during the Korean War, one behind enemy lines, and three tours in combat in Vietnam. After the Korean War, he joined Special Forces as they were formed as one of their instructors. He served as a Green Beret for the next 23 years in roles from teaching parachuting and diving to leading patrols in the jungles of Vietnam. His military career was more varied than most and his experiences more extraordinary than all but a few. His story tells a side of military history not normally written.

Colt lived to age 77 although challenged with a health problem or two. His spirits remain high and like many challenges in his life, he faced the end of his life with the same bravery as his many military accomplishments.