Born in Boyce, Louisiana, Jack left school after the eighth grade. He was working for Baird Baking Company in Shreveport in 1941 when America entered the war. The next day he enlisted at Fort Humbug in the U.S. Army. He shipped out with the 158^th Division and fought in New Guinea and on Luzon in the Philippines campaign. On New Guinea, African-American soldiers once fed the men in his unit after they ran out of food. Jack went into the occupation of Japan and helped set up a bakery. He calls the Japanese "gracious people," and says he was treated "terrific" in the country. After the war he continued his career in baking and retired in Shreveport.