Black History Month: Joyce Terry
Originally published November 8, 2021
Veteran Joyce Terry holds a photo of herself in uniform when she was serving in active duty with the U.S. Army. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
Lexington native Joyce Terry, as well as her two brothers, watched the Veterans Day parade in uptown Lexington Thursday afternoon, November 11, along with fellow members of the Banks-Miller American Legion Post 255.
“I always go to the parade — Veterans Day makes me feel special,” said the 13-year veteran of the U.S. Army. “A lot of people are intrigued to find out I was actually in the military. Being a female, sometimes people think I’m wearing my veteran’s hat because of a husband, but I let them know I’m the one who served.”
The daughter of the late Foster and Sadie Terry, Joyce graduated from Lexington Senior High School in 1968 and planned on a career as a flight attendant. She worked at Dixie Furniture for a little over two years to make enough money to go to flight attendant school, from which she graduated. “I wanted to be able to travel and see something else.”
But a recession and layoffs in the airline industry at the time put an end to that dream. She was living in New York City and began working in the banking industry, which she did for several years. “But it was taking all I could make to stay there and it was hard to get promoted.”
One day, while flipping through Essence magazine, she came across a photo of a woman in a uniform. “I thought, wow, that’s really neat!” Terry added that she had seen the movie, “Private Benjamin,” about a young woman who joins the Army, which also made an impression on her.
Terry took the test to enter the Army and served in active duty from 1979 to 1989 and three years in the Army Reserve in Salisbury.
“I thought it was going to be more glamorous.” Terry admitted it took some time to get used to having drill sergeants curse at her and her fellow soldiers. “There were some supervisors that felt women didn’t need to be in the military.”
In basic training at Fort Gordon in Georgia, she fractured both of her ankles. But Terry persevered and got trained in telecommunications and served at bases in California and Germany. She re-enlisted and went back to school for personnel administration and served at bases in Indiana, Oklahoma, Virginia as well as Germany again.
While in Germany, she and her fellow soldiers, including an increasing number of women, took trains to visit England, Italy and Holland. Thus, she finally got to travel and see some of the world. “I probably never would have seen Europe otherwise,” she said. “And it wasn’t that expensive at the time.” Terry has maintained friendships with some of her fellow soldiers from her military days.
When she returned to Lexington in 1989, with two children by then, Lyle and Latrice, she began working in the kitchen at Lexington Memorial Hospital, which she did for four years. She then transferred to patient accounts to handle insurance and billing. Terry retired in 2006.
As she has gotten older, she has come to appreciate the Veterans Administration benefits she accrued while in the service. “The medical care has really been a great benefit.”
Terry’s brother, Foster Terry Jr., served in the Marines during the Vietnam War era, and brother, Vonzell, served in the Air Force. They are all retired and active members of Banks-Miller Post 255, which has about 100 members in the community service organization. Foster Jr. is the commander of the post, Vonzell is the chaplain and Terry is the adjutant. She still enjoys meeting other veterans. “Everybody has a story. It’s interesting to hear other people’s war stories.”
