Garnett ? Retired Army Col. Edson D. Raff, who bucked higher-ups to outfit Special Forces units with what would become their trademark green berets, has died. He was 95.

Raff came up with the distinctive beret in 1954 as a way to boost the flagging morale of a Special Forces unit of which he had been given command.

The berets improved the unit’s morale, but infuriated Pentagon brass.

The green beret was quickly adopted, in defiance of U.S. Army regulations, by Raff’s unit and other Special Forces units. Top generals tried to ban the berets, but Special Forces kept wearing them on training exercises.

The Pentagon relented after Special Forces soldiers donned the berets to welcome then-President Kennedy when he visited the Special Warfare Center. Kennedy encouraged Special Forces soldiers, who were just beginning to be deployed in Vietnam, to wear the berets.

Some historians said the battle over the Green Beret might have hampered Raff’s career — even though he was one of the Army’s most storied World War II paratroop commanders.

Raff took part in the first and last paratrooper assaults in Europe in World War II.

Raff, a 1933 graduate of West Point, joined the paratroops after reading about German paratroopers’ attacks in the early years of World War II.

Commanding a battalion in the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, he led the first paratrooper attack against Vichy French forces in French North Africa during the Torch landings, the first U.S. invasion of territory held by Nazi Germany and its allies.

Raff was personally promoted to colonel by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower after Raff’s small force of American and French forces held central and northern Tunisia.

Raff served in virtually every U.S. airborne action including the Battle of the Bulge.

After Raff retired, he spent much of his time in the South Pacific and enjoyed flying around Bora Bora, French Polynesia and Altutaki in the Cook Islands. He was named an honorary citizen of the Cook Islands for making mercy flights for the islands’ government.

Raff settled in Garnett, where he served as that city’s airport manager for several years.

Raff was born Nov. 15, 1907. He is survived by a son, a daughter, and several grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for March 22.