Born in Cotton Valley, Louisiana, Mike left school in the eighth grade and went to work. He entered the U.S. Army Air Forces on November 21, 1942. After training he was assigned to the motor pool at what is now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Field in Dayton, Ohio. There, he says he saw "the first helicopter that ever flew." He shipped overseas in 1943 to Calcutta, India, where he serviced planes flying supplies into China. He describes his days as "loading and unloading, moving stuff, sitting around doing nothing, and playing with your monkey." He was discharged at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Mississippi on February 3, 1946. "I've learned a lot and I think it made me a better man serving my country," Mike says, summing up his service experience. He worked for International Paper Company in Springhill, Louisiana, for thirty-two years before retiring on March 29, 1979.