One of seven children, Perry grew up in East Nassau, New York, 20 miles east of Albany. In 1946, at the age of 18, he hired on with the Davey Tree Expert Company of Kent, Ohio. During his three years with the company he was trained as a tree surgeon and traveled up and down the Atlantic coast. Perry made foreman during his 2nd year on the job. One of the highlights of those years was doing the tree work for Kate Smith at her summer home in Lake Placid, New York.
In May, 1948, Perry joined the Navy. After boot camp at Great Lakes, submarine school at New London, and a brief detail at Mare Island Shipyard, he spent four months on the USS Sperry (AS-12). He joined the crew of the USS Segundo (SS398) in March of 1949. In 1949 Perry qualified in submarines on the Segundo and started the climb up the long haul of torpedoman mate. While on the Segundo, he participated in the Mickie operation at Pearl Harbor. Another tour was to take him to Australia but the Korean conflict started. They wound up patrolling off the coast of Russia. Not much fun there.
One of the fun highlights of Perry’s sub service time was being selected to play the part of the helmsman in the movie “Submarine Command”. He wasn’t sure whether they wanted him for his fantastic voice saying “Aye, aye. Sir!” or for his interesting tattoos. Besides having the opportunity to rub elbows with William Holden, William Bendix, and Dorothy Malone, Perry got $300 for one weeks work plus his regular Navy pay. They also threw one hell of a party afterwards at Paramount Studios.
In July 1951, Perry transferred to the USS Menhaden (SS377). He was a member of the crew who put her back in commission for sea duty. At that time he became interested in marksmanship and began shooting in local competitions.
In July 1952, he joined the crew that put the USS Hammerhead (SS364) back in commission. During the yard time at Mare Island, Perry met several people who helped develop his skill in marksmanship and he began competing in Navy and local competitions. After breaking a leg playing softball in 1953 he spent some time at the U.S. Naval hospital, Mare Island. His reenlistment came up while Perry was in the hospital and he couldn’t pass the Navy physical. That broken leg kept Perry ashore for almost two years. While at Mare Island, Perry was able to continue his shooting competition and was awarded the Navy Distinguished Pistol Badge. When he was finally declared physically fit, he was reassigned to CO FASRON 110. Perry decided very quickly that duty with the naval air squadron was not his kind of billet. He was definitely a submariner.
In 1956 the Navy started a marksmanship program. Perry and about ten other marksmen who had been shooting matches were selected to go to Navy instructor school. They were to train other prospective marksmen and increase their own marksmanship ability. While attached to NTC San Diego, their base was the old Camp Elliot across from NAS Miramar. Their unit was called SATU (Small Arms Training Unit). During his Navy career Perry won the All Navy Pistol Championship 5 or 6 times. He became rifle distinguished in 1959. He was the ninth person in Naval history to become both pistol and rifle distinguished.
In January 1960, while enroute to CNATECTRA, Memphis, Tennessee as a Navy Small Arms Marksmanship Instructor (SAMI), he stopped ( He had his family with him.) and shot the 2nd All Service Pistol Championships that were being held at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He lucked out, won, and set a new All Service record.
While stationed at CNATECTRA, he helped develop some very fine rifle and pistol shooters. These individuals and teams did well in local, Atlantic Fleet, the All Navy, and the National Match Championships. Perry put his chiefs uniform on while at Memphis.
In November of 1963, Perry was reassigned and sent to Hawaii as SAMI for Com 14 HAWSEAFRON. Some great Navy shooters increased their marksmanship ability there and some went on to the All Navy teams that represented the Navy at the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio. Perry fired on the All Navy teams from about 1953 until he retired in 1970. Then he shot for the Navy Fleet Reserve team for several more years.
Returning to the Small Arms Training Unit (SATU), San Diego, California, in 1967, Perry worked on developing better shooting techniques and better lesson plans for the other SAMI’s in the Navy. His team also worked on developing better competition weapons.
During his time in the Navy, Perry brought home some special awards. In 1959, he was a member of the United States team sent to the Pan American Games. Even though the games were in Chicago, Illinois, USA, he had the privilege of competing with shooters from all over the western hemisphere. Two years later (1961) he was again chosen to represent the United States. This time as a member of the American team sent to the C.I.S.M. (Conseil International du Sport Militaire) Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Perry earned the Navy Achievement Medal in 1969 and received six Good Conduct awards. Then in 1975, he walked away with the National .45 Pistol Championship at the National Matches held in Camp Perry, Ohio.
After retiring from the Navy in 1970, Perry became an Air Security Officer – better known as the Sky Marshals. They became part of the U.S. Customs Service. By 1971 he had begun to compete in police combat competition. After about a year of flying, he became a U.S. Customs patrol officer in Seattle, Washington.
It’s a good thing he didn’t give up on his pistol shooting or he might not have met Margaret Ann Coates at a pistol match in Las Vegas, Nevada. She became Margaret Ann DeFino in 1971. She is still putting up with Perry’s travels and shooting.
In 1973, Perry and Margaret moved to Nogales, Arizona. Still with Customs Patrol, he was drawing double duty as a patrol officer and as S.A.M.I. for the local Customs officers. When Customs started a police competition team, he was selected as a firing member. Their team won the National Police Team Match at the National Pistol Championships in Camp Perry, Ohio, in 1974.
Perry is still competing but only in police combat shooting now. He started with U.S. Customs in Seattle and continued in Nogales. In the fall of 1975, Customs sent him to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia, to help develop their firearms training program. He helped develop the lesson plans and firing courses that put FLETC in commission. Many are still in use today. One of his most gratifying experiences as a lead instructor at FLETC was to train in marksmanship the U.S. Marine detachment that was aboard the Simon Lake at King’s Bay. The Simon Lake was the first sub-tender to be based at Kings Bay and the base had not yet built it’s own small arms training facility.
While at FLETC, Perry became Police Distinguished with revolver and Police Distinguished with semi-automatic pistol. In 1981, Perry was a firing member of the four-man FLETC team that won the National Police Revolver Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. The Georgia Police Marksmanship League began their Governor’s Twenty Award program in 1976. Perry has been a member of the Governor’s Twenty team for 24 consecutive years. He says that 2000 will probably be his last year of shooting competitions. Margaret has heard that story before.
Perry joined the National Rifle Association early in his shooting career and became a life member. After moving to Georgia, he joined the Fleet Reserve Association, Branch #30, in Brunswick. Recently, he became affiliated with the SubVets, Inc., Kings Bay Chapter, in St. Marys. In addition he is a life member of the Georgia Police Marksmanship Association and the Georgia Sport Shooting Association. He is also an active member of the Retired Navy Shooters Association and the Navy Competitive Shooters Reunion Association. Perry currently holds an NRA shooting referee credential which allows him to referee shooting competitions. He provides firearms instruction for small groups.
Perry retired from FLETC in 1987. He has been getting more involved in fishing and hunting and gardening. He’s done that and lots more.