Teddy Sykes was born on Independence Day, July 4th, 1947, in Aberdeen, Mississippi, and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on June 26, 1967, and after completing basic training and Advanced Individual Training as an Infantryman, he served as an Infantryman with Company A, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment of the 196th Infantry Brigade at Chu Lai, South Vietnam, from December 1967 until he was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War by the viet cong in South Vietnam on January 9, 1968. He died of his wounds later on the same day he was captured, but was officially listed as Missing in Action and promoted through the ranks to Staff Sergeant before being declared dead after the war ended. His remains have never been returned to the United States.