John Stevens Berry Sr. is an attorney and the founder of the Berry Law Firm in Lincoln, Nebraska. A native of Onawa, Iowa, Berry graduated from Stanford University, Stanford, California, with a bachelor of arts degree in English with minors in philosophy and religion. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. He is a graduate of the Infantry Officer School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Judge Advocate General (JAG) School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In 1968 and 1969, Mr. Berry was the chief defense counsel for the largest general court martial jurisdiction in Vietnam, II Field Force Vietnam, numbering more than 80,000 soldiers. He also served as defense counsel on a temporary duty basis with the 101st Airborne, the 82nd Airborne, the 1st Infantry Division, the 1st Calvary Division, the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment, and the 5th Special Forces.
His efforts in the defense of the commander of the Green Berets in Vietnam and some of his officers on a charge of murder and conspiracy to commit murder is the basis of his Vietnam memoirs, Those Gallant Men (Presidio Press), which was a selection of the Book of the Month by the Military Book Club. Other books he has written include Darkness of Snow (poetry), and he was the lead author of Inside the Minds: Utilizing Forensic Science in Criminal Cases.
After his duty in Vietnam, Berry served as chief defense counsel at the Presidio of San Francisco. His military decorations and awards include the Bronze Star, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm Device, the Vietnam Medal of Honor 1st Class (Gold), the Vietnamese Medal of Honor 2nd Class (Silver), the Vietnamese Civic Action Medal, and other awards and decorations.
Berry is a member of the Melvin Belli Society and a member of the Baker Street Irregulars.
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