Sergeant First Class Colley was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in North Korea on December 2, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were recovered in 2004 during the 36th Joint Recovery Operation on the eastern bank of the Chosin Reservoir, Changjin County, North Korea. In 2016 he was positively identified and account for. His name remains permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.