Jack arrived in Japan just in time for the surrender. Born in Wrightwright, Texas, he moved with his family to El Dorado, Arkansas. His father owned a restaurant, but lost it in the Depression. "Most people don't know what the Depression was like," Jack says. "It was brutal." After finishing high school in 1942, he attended the University of Arkansas where he was a cheerleader. He was drafted into the U.S. Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant. In March of 1945, he shipped out to the Philippines, and took charge of a service company on Luzon. He later sailed into Tokyo Bay the morning of the Japanese surrender on the USS Missouri (BB-63). Jack worked as an adjutant at the regimental level, handling "about ninety percent of the food and clothing that came in and out of Tokyo and Yokohama," he says. He also served as commander of an African-American company. After his separation from service he returned to the University of Arkansas for one semester. He moved to Shreveport and worked as a reporter and chief scout for oil companies. He still works, researching leases in parish and county courthouse records.