Born into a family of seven in 1931 in Crowley, Harry Jerry couldn’t attend college after high school graduation. Instead, Jerry stepped onto the pages of military history.

Jerry enlisted in the United States Army in 1950. The military was still racially segregated despite then-President Harry Truman’s executive order to end the practice two years earlier.

Jerry landed in the Korean War, a member of the 24th Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit created after the Civil War. Attached to the 25th Infantry Division, the regiment was one of the first combat units assigned to the Korean Peninsula.

Jerry was part of a machine gunner’s platoon thrown into the middle of the action.

“Korea was a hilly place,” said Jerry, 87. “We were on one hill. The enemy was on another hill.

“We’d give the rifle troops cover under fire. That was with .30-caliber heavy machine guns.”

As the nation celebrates Veterans Day 2018, Jerry lives in Opelousas with a small case of medals to recall his military service. He was a member of “Deuce Four,” the nickname of the black regiment that fought in World War I and II, the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War and other conflicts.

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The 24th Infantry faced racial discrimination throughout its history, much of which historians did not document until later years. It was dissolved in 1951 and revived in 1996. The modern unit was part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Jerry served a year in Korea before returning to the states for two years at Fort Polk. He remains grateful that he served without injury and was able to attend college because of his military service.

“I spent most of my time (in Korea) in combat," said Jerry. “Thank God I wasn’t hurt.

“But I got my education. Uncle Sam paid for my education.”

After his Army discharge, Jerry enrolled at Southern University, where he graduated in 1956 in social studies. He started his teaching career in Simmesport.

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Jerry met his first wife, the late Rosena White, who was from St. Landry Parish. They settled in Opelousas, where Jerry became the first black teacher at Opelousas High School in the early 1970s.

A father with two daughters and two grandsons, Jerry and his current wife, Mary, have been married for 18 years. He retired with 30 years in education in 1983.

Jerry remains active in the American Legion and his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi.

“I enjoyed teaching, but I really don’t miss it. I’m enjoying my retirement right now.”