He was born as the seventh generation of his family on a farm on Big Dry Fork of the Meramec River at Elk Prairie, Missouri. John attended a one-room schoolhouse, finished high school in 1930, and worked on the farm for six years before going on to college in Rolla where he enrolled in ROTC. Graduating in 1939, he entered the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant on July 1, 1940. Joining the 11^th Armored Division, he arrived in France in 1945 as part of the Third Army under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr. "I saw nothing but combat. It was constant," he recalls of his service. He earned a Bronze Star with an Oak Leaf Cluster. John remained in Europe until 1947, a regimental commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel. When he returned he left the service as a full colonel and entered Texas A&M University where he earned a master's degree in civil engineering. He worked at Barksdale Air Force Base as an engineer until retiring in 1971.