Notable Nu’s · Military Service
EP 468 · UCLA Class of 1957
Born
1934, Modesto, CA
High School
Modesto High School, Modesto, CA
Pledged EP
1954
UCLA
Class of 1957
Gerald “Jerry” Coffee flew reconnaissance missions over Cuba during the Missile Crisis, was shot down over North Vietnam in 1966, and endured seven years as a prisoner of war. He came home and spent the rest of his life teaching others what he had learned about faith, endurance, and the human spirit.
Born in Modesto, California in 1934, Gerald “Jerry” Coffee graduated from Modesto High School and enrolled at UCLA, where he pledged the Epsilon Pi Chapter of Sigma Nu in 1954. During his time as a brother he excelled in the pool during intramural competition and on the UCLA Varsity Ski team.
His chapter memories were vivid decades later: a near-miss run-in with a Navy destroyer while diving for lobsters at night, managing to keep a Volkswagen bus upright with a half dozen howling Sigma Nu’s in the back on ski trips to Dodge Ridge (“Always very hairy maneuvering that VW bus in the snow on icy roads”), and the house dog “John Bourbon of Galey,” who was, by all accounts, very hard on the ping pong balls.
He graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957 and immediately joined the Navy.
In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Lieutenant Coffee was flying F-8 Crusaders when he was assigned to fly low-level photographic reconnaissance missions over Cuba. The photos he brought back were ultimately used by United States Ambassador Adlai Stevenson at the United Nations to prove the existence of Soviet missiles on the island.
For this mission Coffee was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was later featured in the History Channel series The Man, The Moment, and the Machine, and his mission is documented in Michael Dobbs’ book One Minute to Midnight.
In February 1966, while flying combat missions over North Vietnam in his RA-5C reconnaissance jet, Coffee was downed by enemy fire. He parachuted safely but was captured immediately. For the next seven years he was held as a prisoner of war in the Communist prisons of North Vietnam, enduring conditions that tested every reserve of faith and character he possessed.
He was repatriated in February 1973. After returning to operational duties, he served 28 years of active duty in the Navy before retiring as a Captain. His military decorations include the Silver Star, two awards of the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars, the Air Medal, two Purple Hearts, and the Vietnam Service Medal with 13 stars.
After retiring from the Navy, Captain Coffee became one of America’s most sought-after speakers, addressing thousands each year across corporate America and international audiences. In a poll of corporate meeting planners he was named one of America’s Top Ten Speakers. He holds the National Speakers Association’s highest rating of CSP and membership in the Speaker’s Hall of Fame (CPAE).
He appeared on Larry King Live, Talk Back Live, NBC News, and numerous television and radio programs. His story was adapted into the award-winning play Prisoner. His bestselling memoir Beyond Survival went into five printings and was condensed by Reader’s Digest.
Captain Gerald L. Coffee passed away on November 13, 2021, at age 87, survived by his wife Susan, six children, and nine grandchildren. His legacy — faith, patriotism, and the indestructibility of the human spirit — lives on at Epsilon Pi through the Gerald L. Coffee Memorial Scholarship, the chapter’s highest honor.
Notable Nu’s is a series celebrating distinguished members of the Epsilon Pi Chapter of Sigma Nu at UCLA.
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