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become our most visible symbol and it will remain so. The Ranger tan beret will represent for the Ranger of the 21st century what the black beret represented - a unit that leads the way in our conventional and special operations forces."
As a former member of those special operations forces, Melton said the reason the Green Beret cannot be changed it that it was issued by an executive order.
On Dec. 10, 1961, President John F. Kennedy bestowed the Green Beret upon Melton's special forces as its official headgear. Many believe JFK chose green because of his fondness for Ireland.
In issuing the proclamation, Kennedy called the Green Beret "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom."
The Airborne's maroon beret is also protected by executive order.
"If the Army used the old-fashioned way, if they made the men earn the black beret, then I say give it to them. But to simply issue them is a disgrace," said Melton, who earned his beret the old-fashioned way.
Raised in the county's Canada section, Melton is the son of the late Woodford and Lillie Mae Crawford Melton. His dad was a World War I veteran.
When Melton went to Korea, he served in the 24th Infantry Division and was wounded in the leg. The metal replacement used to repair his injury still sets off airport alarms, he said.
When he returned to the states - Fort Jackson, S.C. - he applied to be a highway patrolman. But the Army shipped him to Fort Bragg. Though he told Army officials he was supposed to get out of the service and be a highway patrolman, the next thing he knew he was assigned to Special Forces.
"It was so secret, nobody knew where the headquarters were," said Melton.
Little did Melton know that Col. Aaron Bank and Gen."Wild Bill" Donovan in 1952 were forming Special Forces for unconventional warfare and that he, the country boy from Canada, was among the 1,500 selected for this prestigious initial team. Forgetting all about the highway patrol, Melton found himself in jump school.
"I learned right away that jumping was only a mode of transportation," said this soldier, who became an expert at it, especially in the dark of night.
Next they put him through deep sea diving, and he became expert at that, too.
"When they shipped me to Garmisch, I didn't even have to pay to ski," Melton said of the famous Alpine slopes where he learned to become an expert skier, too.
"During survival school, we trained day and night; we'd just take a nap once and awhile," Melton said.
He learned martial arts, specializing in a silent form of killing. He learned to be a radio control officer and how to decipher codes. His fingers also became adept at setting explosives. He even trained as a medic, and on one mission to Iran he delivered six babies in a small village. In the Special Forces, Melton found his calling.
"I never knew I was any good at that kind of thing, I never had any training," he said. "But for a kid from Canada, I did all right; I always excelled and was at the top of my class."
What pushed him so? "You are dropped in enemy lines all by yourself. You don't want to go in there not knowing everything. Knowing everything is what gets you back," said Melton, who devoted 20 years to these secret missions.
"The hardest thing for a country boy like me was learning all the different languages and dialects. You didn't dare go into a country and not know how to speak the language fluently. Russian was especially hard for me. I could barely conjugate English verbs and tenses, and then here's this language with more tenses than I can count."
Behind enemy lines most times the Green Berets were not issued food rations.
"We were taught to survive off the land," said Melton, who ate his share of "grubs" while ambushing raids, destroying enemy lines of communication, committing sabotage and gathering intelligence.
In all of his efforts, Melton was consistently rated "highest caliber," "exceptional intelligence," "good judgment" and "initiative" by his commanding officers.
Now he devotes his time to the family nursery he runs with his wife, Christa; daughter, Raya Denton; and son-in-law, Jay Denton, a former member of the 82nd Airborne. His son, Robert Melton, is an investment banker in Asheville.
But he still keeps in touch with his Green Beret buddies, many of whom are upset that the recent decision by one man - Gen. Shinseki - can outweigh contributions of more than 25,000 Rangers who served our nation since 1951.
"In our day, morale was high in the military," said Melton. "But it seems to be at a low now. But you can't improve the morale of the force just by changing berets.
"And, here's another thing we need to think of in light of this month's incident where our Navy spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter - Gen. Shenseki has awarded a $23 million contact with Chinese companies to manufacture the Black Berets. Whatever happened to ŒBuy American?'" said this still-proud patriot.
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