James Britt was born in Asheville, North Carolina in March 1914. His mother worked in a bank. His father served in World War One [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918] and worked in real estate. They had a farm to help make a living. They grew their own food. This helped during the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. After he graduated high school, he went to business college. Then he was drafted before the war started. He was sworn in on 28 October 1941. He was at boot camp in Fort Bragg, North Carolina when he heard on the radio about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. It made everyone busy. Britt was sent to the Pacific first, north of Australia to a group of islands. They were on guard duty for the Marines. He could type and take shorthand. He was sent to headquarters as a messenger until he went overseas. He worked for the message center the whole time he was there. They lived in tents on the island. There were huge fruit bats. It was difficult to find a place to wash. They would find a running stream to wash in. They had a wire cot and put sleeping bags on them.

James Britt went to OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school]. He was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma to an artillery school. He was in the classroom and the field. They practiced firing machine guns. Britt shot down a low-flying plane. They had to learn many different things including how to be an officer. Then he was sent to Europe. They had planes strapped to the deck. When they were doing a zig-zag pattern [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver], a carrier hit their ship at night. They went to England first and then to the coast of France. They crossed Europe into Germany. They landed at Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: The cigarette camp “Camp Lucky Strike” was a bustling tent city of 58,000 impatient American troops awaiting transportation back to the United States after Victory in Europe]. They unloaded the guns and started across France. All their guns were on wheels. Once they were in Germany, they were in contact with corps headquarters. They had to dig in and wait for information. As they continued forward, they kept digging trenches. There were many Germans surrendering. They would stack up their guns and walk into the camp. They found a camp full of Germans, SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS], and those who helped the Germans. They had to decide which Germans could go home and which had to go to Nuremberg to be put on trial [Annotator’s Note: The Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals held following World War II by the Allied forces under international law and the laws of war prosecuting German Nazis for committing war crimes]. They had to interview the people. Then they went to another camp and it was a Russian group who had been helping the Germans. They had to hold them until the Russians came to get them. On occasion, the German civilians would give them food. He was sent to two or three different units while waiting to be sent back to the States [Annotator’s Note: United States]. The war ended while he was in Germany. He had enough points to get out [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] . He liked the Army enough to stay in.

James Britt went back to Europe after the war. He was in a field observation battalion. He gathered intelligence about the ground. He was in Germany and had to make sure the Russians did not come across. In Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953], they had to make sure they did not get turned around. Korea was much worse than World War Two for Britt. He was there for 10 months. It was cold and finding places to sleep was difficult. His wife lived at home. They were testing weapons systems. This is when communication changed. Headquarters had to approve it before he was sent in.

James Britt retired in 1961. He was in the Army for 20 years. He had a daughter and a son. He tested equipment in Tucson [Annotator’s Note: Tucson, Arizona]. He decided to retire and move to Tucson. He got his organizational skills from the military. Every day he puts up his flag. Some kids come up and ask him about it.