Military life came naturally to Donn Starry. His father had fought in the fledgling tank corps during World War I, then sered long years in the National Guard. At age four, something of a mascot to his father’s outfit, Starry was made a brevet first lieutenant in the Kansas National Guard by Governor Clyde Reed. He still has the “commission” to prove it. He grew up riding horses and reading books. Year after year he accompanied his father to summer training at Fort Riley, Kansas.