Dr. Jesse L. Wofford was born in the small, working community of Drew, Mississippi, where his family was in the farming and grocery business. Although he grew up during the Great Depression, the economic conditions didn't mean a lot to Wofford and his family; they worked through it. His childhood was "fanciful", and "dreamy," and he said he had a lot of fun as a kid. He went to the school right across from his home; his father was the superintendent of education for Drew, and his mother was a schoolteacher. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], Wofford was attending Millsaps College [Annotator's Note: in Jackson, Mississippi], and the school was very cooperative in his efforts to be an aviator, an experience he had always wanted. His training was widespread across the United States, and happened in "small steps" until he was ready to "tackle a B-17" [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. He described the plane as an "absolutely magnificent ship," and he had a ten man crew of "good guys" who looked out for each other.

While he was training with his ten man crew in Florida, Jesse Wofford's mother visited him and treated the whole crew to lunch. Eventually, they were assigned a brand new plane, and took it from Savannah, Georgia to north-eastern Canada, where they were "locked up" due to the weather. Although everyone else wanted to find out "what that next drink was like," Wofford felt his responsibilities as a pilot meant that he needed to be ready to fly at all times, and did not participate. When they could, the crew continued their flight by way of Iceland to England. Soon after they arrived, they delivered their new aircraft to another airfield where it was needed. When they returned to their home base [Annotator's Note: RAF Thorpe Abbots in Norfolk, England], they continued preparation for combat, and were anxious to get into the fight. His first missions were "very exciting," and Wofford said his crew was alert and cooperative, even after they came to the conclusion that part of their job was to "get shot at."

According to a report written by Jesse Wofford's tail gunner, on 10 January 1945, the crew witnessed a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] break through the low ceiling and crash into the base bomb dump, causing an explosion. Wofford explained that such an occurrence was not uncommon when a squadron was coming back from combat, sometimes damaged by German fire. He described one mission when they were coming back from Belgium, and he was running low on fuel. He landed his plane on a fighter field. It was too narrow and short for his big aircraft but he stopped the plane by pumping its brakes, and landed safely. Wofford also had one mission where the water in his breath condensed, turned to ice, and blocked his oxygen supply. His copilot redirected his airflow, and saved his life. Referring again to his tail gunner's report, Wofford confirmed that his first mission was to bomb a bridge in Mainz, Germany, and the second mission was to knock out an oil storage location. He said he didn't worry much about the German fighters, because he had a remarkable aircraft.

On a bombing mission over Berlin, Germany on 3 February 1945, Jesse Wofford's aircraft was badly damaged by German flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire], and he ordered all guns thrown overboard in order to get his aircraft, which was low on fuel, and crew back to base safely. Wofford remembers it as his most stressful mission; he was attacked from the ground, and lost two engines. He had to consider landing the plane in Sweden, and becoming a prisoner, but he decided against it, and once he made up his mind, there was never any question that he would get the aircraft back. Escorted by a P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft], Wofford got his plane back to England. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for that adventure.

Jesse Wofford thought the German Me-262s [Annotator's Note: German Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighter aircraft] were "spooky" because they were so fast. When he encountered them, he said he instinctively wanted to get out of their flying range. The main thing Wofford got out of lead crew training was learning to fly smoothly and without "bobbles." He remembers sometimes having escorts on a mission, but doubts it happened every time; when they were there, he had some sense of protection. In what may have been his last mission of the war, Wofford led a squadron to drop off food, rather than bombs, in Holland. He said it was "fascinating," and "unusual" to be delivering food to the starving civilians. [Annotator's Note: This mission was during Operation Chowhound, part of the Allied effort to air drop food to starving civilians in Holland at the very end of the war.] It was a joint effort of British and American planes, and among the supplies dropped on an abandoned airfield were slabs of bacon. It was an easy drop, and Wofford said he and his men felt wonderful about doing it. The loading was done so that the drop was efficient, and the people seemed grateful. He said everybody knew the war was just about over by then. He doesn't remember any major celebrations when the hostilities ended, and said everyone was so exhausted, they "didn't give a damn; it just didn't matter anymore." But he was glad that it was over.

Jesse Wofford wanted to go to medical school when he got out of the service so he spent a year before his discharge attending classes in Biarritz, France. There were English, American and a few German professors. He got back into the habit of reading and studying, and he really enjoyed that period in his armed forces career. He went to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] after his discharge.