Jimmy Jefferson Jumper was born in 1923 in San Antonio, Texas.

He was the son of Delbert Lee Jumper a cotton farmer and U.S. Navy veteran of World War One.

[5] During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1941 and by December 1944 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant after completing an aviation cadet program at Moore Field, Texas during World War II.

In April 1953, he served as a liaison officer for Air Defense Command.

Jumper served in the Headquarters Air Defense Command in July 1964 and was a director of operational inspection.