James Garrett grew up in a community near Abilene, TX picking cotton on the family farm. He was the ripe old age of 17 when he was drafted to serve his country in World War Two. After Army basic training, he was trained to be a tail gunner on the B-24 bomber. He was promptly deployed to Europe and stayed there flying missions until the end of the war. He got out of the army and went back to Texas, got married, had 5 children, 6 grand children, and 3 great grand children (so far).