Don Pettit was born in 1945 in Tryon, North Carolina to Jasper and Beatrice Pettit. Don enlisted in the army in May of 1968 and went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for basic training and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for AIT. He was deployed to Vietnam and joined the reconnaissance unit of Alpha Company, 4^th Bn, 31^st Infantry, 196^th Light Infantry Brigade. Don served as platoon leader and later as night duty officer at the Battalion Tactical Operation Center and was promoted to Captain by the end of the war. Don married Barbara Umfleet in 2012.