Jerry Fann was born in 1948 in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Emanuel County High School in Swainsboro, Georgia, in May 1966, and then enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 2, 1966, completing basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in November 1966. Pvt Fann then attended Advanced Individual Training as an Infantry Direct Fire Crewman at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, from November 1966 to January 1967, followed by service as a Direct Fire Crewman with Company C, 2nd Battalion of the 35th Infantry Regiment in South Vietnam from February 1967 to January 1968. During this time, PFC Fann was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam on March 21, 1967, but managed to escape from his captors and make it back to his unit the same day. His next assignment was as a Team Leader and Machine Gunner with Company C, 1st Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment in West Germany, where he served from March 1968 until he was honorably discharged from the Army on August 12, 1969.