A native of Greenville South Carolina, J. L. Bud Alley was educated in public schools there and attended Furman University, graduating in June1964 with a BS in Biology and a Commission into the US Army as a Second Lieutenant. He entered active duty that August under a trial program called the U2 whereby he had no additional military officer training and assumed command of a mechanized infantry platoon in the Second Infantry Division at Ft Benning. After five months he was selected as Communication Officer and sent to Combat Arms Communication School at Ft Sill Oklahoma. 

In July 1965 he was selected as Communication Officer for the Second Battalion of the Seventh Cavalry and subsequently served a complete one year tour of duty in South Vietnam with them. He was a participant in the bloodiest one day battle of the entire war on 17 November 1965 and again in the 4th worst battles in January of 1966 and the 13th worst in May of 1966. He was awarded the Combat Infantry Man’s Badge, the Silver Star for Gallantry, the Bronze Star for Heroism, the Purple Heart for wounds in action, the Air Medal for over 25 first wave Air assaults in hostile territory, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Presidential Unit Citation among others.

Upon his return from Vietnam he married Caroline Davis, his fiancee who waited for him that terrible year and they celebrated their 49th anniversary this past August. Alley entered the corrugated packaging industry and spent 41 years in various capacities in that business. They

have lived in Miami FL, Augusta GA, Greenville SC, Chattanooga TN, Greensboro NC and Brentwood TN. They have two children, Meg Evans living in Warrington PA and MIke Alley living in Chattanooga. They have four grandchildren.

Alley has obtained an MBA from Augusta State University (now Regents University ) and an MA in Public History from MTSU in 2011. His other interest include commercial acting and working with his Therapy Dog, Codi visiting local hospices and VA facilities. He is active in the VVA Chapter 203. In July he introduced his book, The Ghosts of the Green Grass, a biographical narrative of the Second Battalion of the Seventh Cavalry. The story is one that the Army has kept on the backwaters of its history. As a historian Alley weaves the faux pas of an earlier Seventh Cavalry (that of Gen, George A Custer) into his story of the 1965 soldiers.