Andrew L. Dunavant was born in 1893 in Curve, Tennessee. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 26, 1918, in Brownsville, Tennessee. He was 21 years of age. He served with the American Expedition Force in France from August 1918 through May 1919 (during World War I).

Upon returning to the United States, with the rank of Corporal, he was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where he was honorably discharged on June 18, 1919.