J. B. Bridges began his military service October 3, 1941. Inducted at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, he traveled to Camp Croft in Spartanburg, South Carolina, for basic training and cook’s school. He spent about three years at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he attained the rank of Staff Sergeant (mess sergeant). In April 1945, he was shipped to Fontainebleau, France, where he served with the 239th General Hospital Company, Paris, France until the end of the war in Europe. He was discharged at Fort Knox, Kentucky in January 1946.