MOULTRIE, Ga. — The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution honored Colquitt County resident Terry Turner Friday during the local chapter’s Independence Day celebration.

Turner received the DAR Distinguished Citizen Medal during the Let Freedom Ring event on the Colquitt County Courthouse Square, sponsored by the John Benning Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. It was presented to him by chapter Regent Nancy Coleman, chapter First Vice Regent Jean Gay and his wife, Susan Turner, a member of the chapter.

The DAR Distinguished Citizen Medal is presented by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution to recognize worthy citizens for their extraordinary service in the defense, promotion, and/or preservation of freedom for the United States, according to a release from the chapter. The award recognizes individuals who demonstrate honor, courage, leadership and patriotism in service of country on local, state or national level.  

Turner, who was born in Colquitt County and raised on a local farm, enlisted in the ROTC program at the University of Georgia after his high school graduation in 1963, the DAR said. 

“Upon graduation from UGA as a Distinguished Military Graduate, he was commissioned as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army,” Gay said at Friday’s presentation. “He served in Vietnam in 1969-70 as a combat advisor in a counterinsurgency program. After being discharged, his knowledge and experience in counterinsurgency was sought after by military leaders.  

“Turner returned to UGA for graduate school, receiving a Ph.D. in reproductive biology in 1974,” she continued. “He did post-graduate work at the University of Texas Medical School and then joined the Department of Urology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1978.  

“Believing that a well-educated populace and a well-trained medical profession were essential to a strong national defense, Dr. Turner spent his entire professional career teaching the next generation of doctors and scientists,” she said. “He did research on the biology and pathology of male fertility and infertility through the National Institute of Health grant.  He served as president of the American Society of Andrology (ASA), the national professional society for the biology and medicine of male fertility. In 2019, the society presented its most prestigious honor, the Distinguished Andrologist Award, to Dr. Turner.”

Turner retired from the University of Virginia in 2008. He and his wife returned to their native Colquitt County in 2014 to live on his family farm. Even in retirement he continued to serve the medical and education professions as a member of the faculty of the Georgia South Family Medicine residency program at Colquitt Regional Medical Center, Gay said.   

Turner has written three books under the penname David Donovan.  The first, “Once a Warrior King” (1985), detailed his experience with counterinsurgency in Vietnam and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Turner’s second book, “Murphy Station: A Memoir from the American South” (2010), deals with his growing up in a small town in the South during the 1950s and 1960s. He third book is titled “Counterinsurgency: What the United States Learned in Vietnam, Chose to Forget and Needs to Know Today” (2015).  

Turner received the Colquitt County Career Achievement Award in 2013 in recognition of both his scientific work and his writing.

“Always willing to share his insight on his Vietnam experience, in addition to writing books, Dr. Turner has given a lengthy interview for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project,” Gay said. “He has spoken at civic and community groups about both his military service and his medical research. He spoke at the Independence Day observance commemorating the centennial of World War I sponsored by the John Benning Chapter NSDAR, explaining how many of the events of that war changed the world.”  

Turner has served on the boards of the Colquitt County Arts Center and the Colquitt Regional Medical Center Foundation. He is very active in Moultrie First Presbyterian Church having served as a deacon and an elder among other roles. He works closely with the John Benning Chapter NSDAR, of which his wife is a member, especially with veterans’ projects such as Vietnam Veterans Day and Wreaths Across America.  

The award came as a surprise to Turner, who accepted it wearing a blue T-shirt with a picture of Earth from space and the caption “Good planets are hard to find.”

“If I had known this was coming I’d have worn a shirt,” he quipped to the audience after his wife pinned the medal on his T-shirt.

In addition to the award presentation, Friday’s event included patriotic music by Austin McCall and Wade Swartzentruber, the Pledge of Allegiance, the American’s Creed, the recognition of veterans and the ringing of bells in salute to freedom.