Green beret
When visiting the Special Forces at Fort Bragg on 12 October 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked Brigadier General William P. Yarborough to make sure that the men under his command wore green berets for the visit. Later that day, Kennedy sent a memorandum which included the line: "I am sure that the green beret will be a mark of distinction in the trying times ahead". By America's entry into the Vietnam War, the green beret had become a symbol of excellence throughout the US Army. On April 11, 1962 in a White House memorandum to the United States Army, President Kennedy reiterated his view: "The green beret is a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom". To no avail, both Yarborough and Edson Raff had previously petitioned the Pentagon to allow wearing of the green beret. The President, however, did not fail them.
Edson Raff
After the war, in 1954, Raff would command the 77th Special Forces Group, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and is credited by Lieutenant General William Yarborough (who had served under Raff with the 509th in North Africa) as the "father" of the then-controversial green beret now routinely worn by U.S. Army Special Forces. Raff retired from the army in 1958. He died on March 11, 2003, at 95 years old.