From Cold Water Flat to Colonel

Born in a Boston tenement a decade before the Great Depression, Walter Betley joined the Army to fight in World War II. The son of Polish immigrants, he could hardly have known his enlistment would mark the start of a career that would include service in both the Korean and Vietnam wars, and see him rise to the rank of colonel. This two-time Bronze Star honoree tells his own story, from losing his father when he was ten years old to battling the Chinese in the harrowing U.S. withdrawal from Korea's Chosin Reservoir. Betley's humble narrative acknowledges a trust in a higher power advancing his life and career, as well as a profound belief in the value of education. Read more