Mr. John Carol Curry

Trained as a twin-engine pilot at Tuskegee Army Air Field, John Carol Curry served at Godman Field, Kentucky, and Lockbourne Army Air Base, Columbus, Ohio, before being honorably discharged from the military in August of 1946 at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

Curry was born on August 8, 1922, in Kilmarnock, Virginia, to William and Annie Curry. He, along with his brother William and sister Claudine, was educated in local schools. John was the 1939 valedictorian at Julius Rosenwald High School in Reedville, Virginia, winning a scholarship to Virginia State College in Petersburg, Virginia, where he majored in Animal Husbandry and Agricultural Engineering. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1943 in only three and a half years.

After being told that military enlistment would facilitate his entry into Officer Candidate School, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves in 1942 at Local Board No. 1 in Chesterfield, Virginia. He was working at the U.S. Post Office in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was called to active duty on June 21, 1943, earning the highest IQ score ever recorded to that date at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. He received basic training at Camp Pickett, Virginia, and Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He scored the second-highest score up to that date on Aviation Screening at Jefferson Barracks, where he was also a rifle instructor and on the crack drill team. Sgt. Honi Coles (a famous dancer) met the team when they got off the train. Later, they performed in St. Louis, where Cab Calloway was the headliner. They brought down the house.

John was sent to Kessler Field, Biloxi, Mississippi, for further testing. He passed with flying colors and was sent to Tuskegee Army Flying School as a pre-aviation cadet. John became a pilot and was assigned to Godman Field, Kentucky, 477th Bombardment Group, Tactical Training. He was later assigned to Lockbourne Army Air Base, Columbus, Ohio, 617th Bombardment Squadron, Tactical Training and Administration. His aviation service culminated as an Assistant Operations Officer and pilot for Flights of 825, C-47, and C-45s.

Curry graduated from the Tuskegee Army Flying School on August 4, 1945, in Class 45-E as a twin-engine pilot. He flew the PT-17, AT-6, and B-25 during training. Curry, who already had a commercial rating based on his military service, earned his FAA Certified Flight Instructor rating in 1947. As a CFI, he was able to train individuals who wanted to become private pilots. However, Black pilots, no matter how well trained, were not welcomed in the aviation industry post-World War II.

Curry's training in Animal Husbandry led to his employment as a Supervisory Animal Husbandman at the Walter Reed Institute of Research in Washington, DC, on January 26, 1948. He later served as Assistant Chief of Animal Husbandry from 1948 to 1961, then as Chief of Animal Husbandry and Chairman of the Department of Laboratory Animals from 1961 to 1977 before his retirement.

From 1949 to 1951, he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol. He took classes at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School in 1948, 1950, and 1954. He served on the Board of Examiners of the National Institutes of Health in 1955, the Board of U.S. Civil Service Examiners, the Department of Army Grievance Examiner Panel, and was a consultant to several corporations. While working at Walter Reed, Curry founded and presided over Caprice Enterprises, Inc., which provided animal serum used in the development of the Salk vaccine.

Shortly after John Curry arrived in Washington, DC, he was invited by a former teacher and his family to visit relatives in New Jersey. It was in Newark, New Jersey, in the summer of 1949, where he met his future wife. Named after the silent film star Gloria Swanson, Gloria Louise Vaughan was born in Little Washington, Pennsylvania, the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Columbus Vaughan. The Montclair, New Jersey, State Teachers College junior had captured John’s heart! They were married the very next year, on August 26, 1950, in Newark, New Jersey, with her retired WWII Navy Commando brother James giving her away.

John C. Curry’s passion for self-improvement allowed him to develop many talents. He took law courses at American University that proved beneficial when he served as a Metropolitan D.C. area Grievance Examiner, helping Walter Reed employees combat injustice. His professional associations included the Civil Air Patrol, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Flight Instructors Association, Air Force Association, American Association of Laboratory Animal Science (local and national), and the Dairy Science Association.

The Currys have two sons: John Elliott and Kermit Christopher; four grandchildren: Brittni Cara, Mark Elliott, Edward Wesley, and Kayce Cecelia; and two great-grandchildren: Jason Andrew II and Kehlani, along with additional immediate family members.